bims-chumac Biomed News
on Context effects on human mate choice
Issue of 2021–06–06
six papers selected by
Thomas Krichel, Open Library Society
  1. Within-Person Variability in First Impressions From Faces.
  2. Materialism, wives' relative earnings, and marital satisfaction among South Korean couples: Actor and partner effects.
  3. The Ginevra de' Benci Effect: Competence, Morality, and Attractiveness Inferred From Faces Predict Hiring Decisions for Women.
  4. Marriage intentions, desires, and pathways to later and less marriage in Japan.
  5. Feeling Good About Your Partners' Relationships: Compersion in Consensually Non-Monogamous Relationships.
  6. The effects of health shocks on family status: do financial incentives encourage marriage?
  1. Perception. 2021 May 30. 3010066211019727
    Within-Person Variability in First Impressions From Faces.
    Taylor Gogan, Jennifer Beaudry, Julian Oldmeadow.
      Perceptions of an individual can change dramatically across different images of their face. Questions remain as to whether some traits are more sensitive to image variability than others. To investigate this issue, we constructed a database of 340 naturalistic images consisting of 20 photos of 17 individuals. In this preregistered study, 95 participants rated all 340 images on one of three traits: trustworthiness, dominance, or attractiveness. Across images, participants' trustworthiness ratings tended to vary more than dominance, which in turn varied more than attractiveness; however, the relative differences between traits depended on the identity in question. Importantly, despite the variability in ratings within identities, there were substantial differences between individuals, suggesting that these trait judgements are based to some degree on relatively invariant facial characteristics. We found greater between-identity variability for attractiveness judgements compared to trustworthiness and dominance. Future research should further investigate the extent to which each trait dimension is tied to the identity of the faces.
    Keywords:  face perception; first impressions; social judgements; social perception; trait judgements
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1177/03010066211019727
  2. J Fam Psychol. 2021 Jun 03.
    Materialism, wives' relative earnings, and marital satisfaction among South Korean couples: Actor and partner effects.
    Kyoung Ok Seol, Sangeun Baek, Jiyoung Kim.
      This study examined the relationship between spousal levels of materialism and marital satisfaction while considering the moderating role of wives' relative earnings, using the Actor Partner Interdependence Model (APIM). A total of 301 South Korean heterosexual married couples completed the survey. We found that wives' materialism had actor and partner effects on both spouses' marital satisfaction. Husbands' level of materialism was not associated with their own marital satisfaction but had a positive association with wives' marital satisfaction. The interaction between wives' materialism and their relative earnings significantly predicted both spouses' marital satisfaction. That is, the negative relationship between wives' materialism and both spouses' marital satisfaction was stronger when wives' relative earnings were higher. However, wives' materialism was not related to either partner's marital satisfaction when wives' relative earnings were low. These results can be illuminated by gender differences in mating preferences, and characteristics of materialists and South Korean culture. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1037/fam0000872
  3. Front Psychol. 2021 ;12 658424
    The Ginevra de' Benci Effect: Competence, Morality, and Attractiveness Inferred From Faces Predict Hiring Decisions for Women.
    Michela Menegatti, Sara Pireddu, Elisabetta Crocetti, Silvia Moscatelli, Monica Rubini.
      The present study examined the role of morality, competence, and attractiveness as perceived from faces in predicting hiring decisions for men and women. Results showed that for both female and male applicants, facial competence significantly predicted the hiring decision directly and indirectly, through the mediation of the overall impression. Decisions concerning female applicants were, however, significantly predicted by multiple dimensions-that is, facial morality, facial competence, and attractiveness-with the mediation of the overall impression. Facial competence was the only significant predictor of impression and, in turn, hiring decision about men. These findings resonate the motto Virtutem forma decorat, "Beauty adorns virtue," painted by Leonardo da Vinci on the reverse side of the portrait of Ginevra de' Benci, and suggest that women's chances of getting a job are less than those of men whenever they do not show a moral and competent and attractive face.
    Keywords:  attractiveness; competence; facial traits; impression formation; morality; personnel selection; sex discrimination
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.658424
  4. Demogr Res. 2021 Jan-Jun;44:44 67-98
    Marriage intentions, desires, and pathways to later and less marriage in Japan.
    James M Raymo, Fumiya Uchikoshi, Shohei Yoda.
       BACKGROUND: Understanding the trend toward later and less marriage is particularly important in low-fertility societies where alternatives to marriage are limited and childbearing outside of marriage remains rare.
    OBJECTIVE: Our goal in this paper is to advance our understanding of the wide variety of explanations offered for later and less marriage in Japan by focusing explicitly on marriage intentions and desires.
    METHODS: Using two sources of nationally representative data, we describe the prevalence of positive, negative, and passive marriage intentions and desires among men and women who have never been married. We also examine socioeconomic differences in intentions, patterns of marriage desires across young adulthood, and relationships between marriage desires and outcomes. By linking three pathways to later and less marriage (rejection of marriage, failure to realize marriage desires, and unplanned drifting into singlehood) to specific theoretical frameworks, we generate indirect insights into explanations for later and less marriage.
    CONCLUSIONS: Although the large majority of unmarried men and women want to marry, less than half of respondents married across nine waves of the Japanese Life Course Panel Survey. Among those who remained unmarried, roughly two-thirds can be classified as 'drifting' into singlehood, about 30% as 'failing to realize marriage desires,' and no more than 5% as 'rejecting marriage.'
    CONTRIBUTION: By extending the small body of research on marriage intentions and desires, this study provides a framework for thinking broadly about explanations for later and less marriage in Japan and highlights the importance of both failure to realize marriage desires and unplanned drifting into singlehood.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.4054/demres.2021.44.3
  5. Arch Sex Behav. 2021 Jun 01.
    Feeling Good About Your Partners' Relationships: Compersion in Consensually Non-Monogamous Relationships.
    Sharon M Flicker, Michelle D Vaughan, Lawrence S Meyers.
      Compersion is a well-known term in polyamorous communities that connotes the positive emotion an individual may experience in relation to their partner's relationship with another partner. We know little about this emotion or about the factors that facilitate or inhibit its expression. The lack of a standardized measure for compersion has likely contributed to its neglect in the empirical literature. We sought to remedy this gap by creating a reliable and valid quantitative scale, The COMPERSe (Classifying Our Metamour/Partner Emotional Response Scale), through a multi-stage, bottom-up process grounded in a qualitative understanding of consensually non-monogamous (CNM) individuals' lived experience of compersion. This paper describes the thematic analysis of qualitative data (n = 44) which underpinned item generation, revision of the item pool based on researcher, practitioner, and community member feedback, exploratory (n = 310) and confirmatory factor analyses (n = 320) to ascertain the factor structure of the data, and examination of convergent and divergent validity. Results supported the use of a three-factor scale (Happiness about Partner/Metamour Relationship, Excitement for New Connections, and Sexual Arousal), which demonstrated excellent internal consistency as well as strong divergent and convergent validity.
    Keywords:  Compersion; Consensual non-monogamy; Emotion; Jealousy; Polyamory; Relationships
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-021-01985-y
  6. Eur J Health Econ. 2021 Jun 02.
    The effects of health shocks on family status: do financial incentives encourage marriage?
    Andree Ehlert.
      This paper asks whether marriage decisions of unmarried mature couples are driven by the prospect of financial advantages for the later widowed after one partner has suffered a serious health shock. We hypothesize that, in contrast to traditional marriage models, such health shocks may induce unmarried couples to obtain economic benefits, such as survivors' pensions in particular, through marriage in advance of one partner's death. This question has not yet been studied empirically. Hazard models capturing unobserved effects are applied to longitudinal data of the German Socioeconomic Panel. It turns out that the probability of marriage after male partners' health shocks can increase significantly depending on the amount of expected survivors' pensions for the (likely) surviving female partners. In contrast, an increased probability of marriage after health shocks to women (depending on the expected financial benefits to men) was not found. These findings are supported by various robustness checks. Economic and political implications are discussed and the results are placed in an international context.
    Keywords:  Frailty; Germany; Hazard model; Health shock; Marriage; Old-age poverty; SOEP; Survivor’s pension; Unobserved heterogeneity; Widow
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1007/s10198-021-01319-8
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