The attractiveness of average faces is not a generalized mere exposure effect

Social Cognition

Volumn 23, Issue 3, 2005, Pages 205-217

  Rhodes, Gillian ^a   Halberstadt, Jamin ^b   Jeffery, Linda ^b   Palermo, Romina ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA   (Australia)

^b UNIVERSITY OF OTAGO   (New Zealand)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 24144432214     PISSN: 0278016X     EISSN: 0278016X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1521/soco.2005.23.3.205     Document Type: Review

References (35)

1. Beale, J. M., & Keil, F. C. (1995). Categorical effects in the perception of faces. Cognition, 57, 217-239.
2. Bornstein, R. F. (1989). Exposure and affect: Overview and meta-analysis of research, 1968-1987. Psychological Bulletin, 106, 265-289.
3. Bruce, V., Doyle, T., Dench, N., & Burton, A. M. (1991). Remembering facial configuration. Cognition, 38, 109-144.
4. Franks, J. J., & Bransford, J. D. (1971). Abstraction of visual patterns. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 90, 65-74.
5. Gordon, P. C., & Holyoak, K. J. (1983). Implicit learning and generalization of the "mere exposure" effect. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 45, 492-500.
6. Halberstadt, J., & Rhodes, G. (2000). The attractiveness of non-face averages: Implications for an evolutionary explanation of the attractiveness of average faces. Psychological Science, 11, 285-289.
7. Halberstadt, J., & Rhodes, G. (2003). It's not just the average face that's attractive: The attractiveness of averageness in computer-manipulated birds, fish and automobiles. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 10(1), 149-156.
8. Halberstadt, J., Rhodes, G., & Catty, S. R. (2003). Subjective and objective familiarity as explanations for the attraction to average faces. In F. Columbus (Ed.), Advances in Psychology Research, (pp 91-106). New York: Nova Science Publishers.
9. Krosnick, J. A., Betz, A. I., Jussim, L. J., & Lynn, A. R. (1992). Subliminal conditioning of attitudes. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 2, 152-162.
10. Langlois, J. H., Kalakanis, L., Rubenstein, A. J., Larson, A., Hallam, M., & Smoot, M. (2000). Maxims or myths of beauty? A meta-analytic and theoretical review. Psychological Bulletin, 126, 390-423.
11. Langlois, J. H., & Roggman, L. A. (1990). Attractive faces are only average. Psychological Science, 1, 115-121.
12. Langlois, J. H., Roggman, L. A., & Musselman, L. (1994). What is average and what is not average about attractive faces? Psychological Science, 5, 214-220.
13. Manza, L., Zizak, D., & Reber, A. S. (1998). Artificial grammar learning and the mere exposure effect: Emotional preference tasks and the implicit learning process. In M. A. Stadler & P. A. Frensch (Eds.), Handbook of implicit learning, (pp 201-222). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
14. Møller, A. P., & Swaddle, J. P. (1997). Asymmetry, developmental stability, and evolution. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
15. Monin, B. (2003). The warm glow heuristic: When liking leads to familiarity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 1035-1048.
16. Morph (Version 2.5) (1992). [Computer software]. San Diego: Gryphon Software Corporation.
17. Park, J. H., Faulkner, J., & Schaller, M. (2003). Evolved disease-avoidance processes and contemporary anti-social behavior: Prejudicial attitudes and avoidance of people with physical disabilities. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 27(2), 65-87.
18. Photoshop (Version 4.0) (1996). [Computer Software]. Adobe Systems, Incorporated.
19. Posner, M. I., & Keele, S. W. (1968). On the genesis of abstract ideas. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 77, 353-363.
20. Rhodes, G., Halberstadt, J., & Brajkovich, G. (2001). Generalization of mere exposure effects to averaged composite faces. Social Cognition, 29, 57-70.
21. Rhodes, G., Harwood, K., Yoshikawa, S., Nishitani, M., & McLean, I. G. (2002). The attractiveness of average facial configurations: Cross-cultural evidence and the biology of beauty. In G. Rhodes & L. A. Zebrowitz (Eds.). Facial attractiveness: Evolutionary, cognitive and social perspectives. Westport, CT: Ablex.
22. Rhodes, G., Jeffery, L., Watson, T. L., Clifford, C. W. G., & Nakayama, K. (2003). Fitting the mind to the world: Face adaptation and attractiveness aftereffects. Psychological Science, 14, 558-566.
23. Rhodes, G., Sumich, A., & Byatt, G. (1999). Are average facial configurations only attractive because of their symmetry? Psychological Science, 10, 52-58.
24. Rhodes, G., Yoshikawa, S., Palermo, R., Simmons, L. W., Peters, M., Lee, K., & Halberstadt, J. (2004). The contribution of familiarity and perceived health to the appeal of average faces. Unpublished data.
25. Rhodes, G., & Zebrowitz, L. A. (2002). Facial attractiveness: Evolutionary, cognitive and social perspectives. Westport, CT: Ablex.
26. Rhodes, G., Zebrowitz, L. A., Clark, A., Kalick, S. M., Hightower, A., & McKay, R. (2001). Do facial averageness and symmetry signal health? Evolu tion & Human Behavior, 22, 31-46.
27. Rosch, E. (1978). Principles of categorization. In E. Rosch & B. B. Lloyd (Eds.), Cognition and categorization, (pp. 27-47). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
28. Solso, R. L., & McCarthy, J. E. (1981). Prototype formation: Central tendency model vs. attribute frequency model. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 17, 10-11.
29. Solso, R. L., & Raynis, S. A. (1979). Prototype formation from imaged, kinesthetically, and visually presented geometric figures. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance, 5, 701-712.
30. Thornhill, R., & Gangestad, S. W. (1999). Facial attractiveness. Trends in Cognitive Science, 3, 452-460.
31. Thornhill, T., & Møller, A. P. (1997). Developmental stability, disease and medicine. Biological Reviews, 72, 497-548.
32. Walton, G. E., & Bower, T. G. R. (1993). Newborns form "prototypes" in less than 1 minute. Psychological Science, 4(3), 203-205.
33. Zajonc, R. B. (1968). Attitudinal effects of mere exposure. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology Monograph Supplement, 9, 2-27.
34. Zebrowitz, L. A., Hall, J. A., Murphy, N. A., & Rhodes, G. (2002). Looking smart and looking good: Facial cues to intelligence and their origins. Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin, 28, 238-249.
35. Zebrowitz, L. A., & Rhodes, G. (2004). Sensitivity to "bad genes" and the anomalous face overgeneralization effect: Accuracy, cue validity, and cue utilization in judging intelligence and health. Submitted to Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 28, 167-185.