bims-chumac 2021-11-07 papers

Issue of 2021–11–07
four papers selected by
Thomas Krichel, Open Library Society

Arch Sex Behav. 2021 Nov 02.

Trait/Financial Information of Potential Male Mate Eliminates Mate-Choice Copying by Women: Trade-Off Between Social Information and Personal Information in Mate Selection.

Xinge Liu, Cuihu Zhang, Xinlei Wang, Xinran Feng, Junhao Pan, Guomei Zhou.

Mate-choice copying occurs when people rely on the mate choices of others (social information) to inform their own mate decisions. The present study investigated women's strategic trade-off between such social learning and using the personal information of a potential mate. We conducted two experiments to investigate how mate-choice copying was affected by the personal information (e.g., trait/financial information, negative/positive valence of this information, and attractiveness) of a potential male mate in short-/long-term mate selection. The results demonstrated that when women had no trait/financial information other than photos of potential mates, they showed mate-choice copying, but when women obtained personality trait or financial situation information (no matter negative or positive) of a potential mate, their mate-choice copying disappeared; this effect was only observed for low-attractiveness and long-term potential partners. These results demonstrated human social learning strategies in mate selection through a trade-off between social information and personal information.

Keywords: Attractiveness; Mate selection; Mate-choice copying; Personal information; Social information; Social learning

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-021-02044-2

Front Neurosci. 2021 ;15 718847

Roles of P300 and Late Positive Potential in Initial Romantic Attraction.

Guangjie Yuan, Guangyuan Liu, Dongtao Wei.

Initial romantic attraction (IRA) refers to a series of positive reactions to potential romantic partners at the initial encounter; it evolved to promote mate selection, allowing individuals to focus their mating efforts on their preferred potential mates. After decades of effort, we now have a deeper understanding of the evolutionary value and dominant factors of IRA; however, little is known regarding the brain mechanisms related to its generation and evaluation. In this study, we combined classic event-related potential analysis with dipole-source analysis to examine electroencephalogram (EEG) signals generated while participants assessed their romantic interest in potential partners. The EEG signals were categorized into IRA-engendered and unengendered conditions based on behavioral indicators. We found that the faces elicited multiple late positivities, including P300 over the occipital-parietal regions and late positive potentials (LPPs) over the anterior regions. When compared to faces that did not engender IRA, faces that did engender IRA elicited (1) enhanced P300 over the parietal regions and heightened neural activity in the insula and cingulate cortex and (2) larger LPPs over the anterior regions and heightened neural activity in the orbitofrontal cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, cingulate cortex, frontal eye field, visual cortex, and insula. These results suggest IRA is generated and evaluated by an extensive brain network involved in emotion processing, attention control, and social evaluations. Furthermore, these findings indicate that P300 and LPP may represent different cognitive processes during IRA.

Keywords: P300; attention control; emotion processing; late positive potential; mate selection; romantic attraction

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2021.718847

Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2021 Dec 20. 376(1840): 20200388

Vocal modulation in human mating and competition.

Susan M Hughes, David A Puts.

The human voice is dynamic, and people modulate their voices across different social interactions. This article presents a review of the literature examining natural vocal modulation in social contexts relevant to human mating and intrasexual competition. Altering acoustic parameters during speech, particularly pitch, in response to mating and competitive contexts can influence social perception and indicate certain qualities of the speaker. For instance, a lowered voice pitch is often used to exert dominance, display status and compete with rivals. Changes in voice can also serve as a salient medium for signalling a person's attraction to another, and there is evidence to support the notion that attraction and/or romantic interest can be distinguished through vocal tones alone. Individuals can purposely change their vocal behaviour in attempt to sound more attractive and to facilitate courtship success. Several findings also point to the effectiveness of vocal change as a mechanism for communicating relationship status. As future studies continue to explore vocal modulation in the arena of human mating, we will gain a better understanding of how and why vocal modulation varies across social contexts and its impact on receiver psychology. This article is part of the theme issue 'Voice modulation: from origin and mechanism to social impact (Part I)'.

Keywords: acoustic communication; attraction; dominance; pitch; sexual selection; voice

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2020.0388

Arch Sex Behav. 2021 Nov 05.

Makeup and Its Application Simulation Affect Women's Self-Perceptions.

Natália Machado Anchieta, Anthonieta Looman Mafra, Roberta Tokumori Hokama, Marco Antonio Correa Varella, Jailson de Almeida Melo, Luana Oliveira da Silva, Caio Santos Alves da Silva, Jaroslava Varella Valentova.

Appearance modification is ancient, universal and influences other and self-perceptions. It has been rarely addressed how expectation of appearance modification would affect women's self-perception. We analyzed self-assessments of women without makeup and after having makeup professionally applied at four increasing levels (light, moderate, heavy 1, and heavy 2 makeup). In the simulation phase, women were treated with colorless cosmetics. Fifty Brazilian women (Mage = 24.26 years; SD = 5.53) rated themselves on attractiveness, health, self-esteem, femininity, satisfaction with appearance, age, dominance, confidence, and competence in all experimental conditions. Women in the simulation phase considered themselves more feminine, healthier, and with higher self-esteem than without makeup. In the real makeup phases, these ratings were higher than in the simulation phase. Appearance satisfaction and attractiveness did not differ between simulation and the real makeup phases, both being higher than without makeup. Confidence increased only in real makeup phases, but there was no effect on competence. Thus, real appearance modification and/or an expectation thereof can differently affect specific domains of self-evaluation.

Keywords: Appearance; Attractiveness; Cosmetic usage; Self-esteem; Self-evaluation

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-021-02127-0