bims-chumac 2022-10-23 papers

Issue of 2022–10–23
four papers selected by
Thomas Krichel, Open Library Society

Arch Sex Behav. 2022 Oct 19.

Consistency of Eye Coloration Across Different Relationship Partners.

Amy V Newman, Thomas V Pollet, Kristofor McCarty, Nick Neave, Tamsin K Saxton.

Studies have indicated that people are attracted to partners who resemble themselves or their parents, in terms of physical traits including eye color. We might anticipate this inclination to be relatively stable, giving rise to a sequential selection of similar partners who then represent an individual's "type". We tested this idea by examining whether people's sequential partners resembled each other at the level of eye color. We gathered details of the eye colors of the partners of participants (N = 579) across their adult romantic history (N = 3250 relationships), in three samples, comprising two samples which made use of self-reports from predominantly UK-based participants, and one which made use of publicly available information about celebrity relationship histories. Recorded partner eye colors comprised black (N = 39 partners), dark brown (N = 884), light brown (N = 393), hazel (N = 224), blue (N = 936), blue green (N = 245), grey (N = 34), and green (N = 229). We calculated the proportion of identical eye colors within each participant's relationship history, and compared that to 100,000 random permutations of our dataset, using t-tests to investigate if the eye color of partners across an individual's relationship history was biased relative to chance (i.e., if there was greater consistency, represented by higher calculated proportions of identical eye colors, in the original dataset than in the permutations). To account for possible eye color reporting errors and ethnic group matching, we ran the analyses restricted to White participants and to high-confidence eye color data; we then ran the analyses again in relation to the complete dataset. We found some limited evidence for some consistency of eye color across people's relationship histories in some of the samples only when using the complete dataset. We discuss the issues of small effect sizes, partner-report bias, and ethnic group matching in investigating partner consistency across time.

Keywords: Consistency of preferences; Evolutionary psychology; Eye color; Mate choice

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-022-02450-0

Front Neural Circuits. 2022 ;16 943888

Hearing, touching, and multisensory integration during mate choice.

Constanze Lenschow, Ana Rita P Mendes, Susana Q Lima.

Mate choice is a potent generator of diversity and a fundamental pillar for sexual selection and evolution. Mate choice is a multistage affair, where complex sensory information and elaborate actions are used to identify, scrutinize, and evaluate potential mating partners. While widely accepted that communication during mate assessment relies on multimodal cues, most studies investigating the mechanisms controlling this fundamental behavior have restricted their focus to the dominant sensory modality used by the species under examination, such as vision in humans and smell in rodents. However, despite their undeniable importance for the initial recognition, attraction, and approach towards a potential mate, other modalities gain relevance as the interaction progresses, amongst which are touch and audition. In this review, we will: (1) focus on recent findings of how touch and audition can contribute to the evaluation and choice of mating partners, and (2) outline our current knowledge regarding the neuronal circuits processing touch and audition (amongst others) in the context of mate choice and ask (3) how these neural circuits are connected to areas that have been studied in the light of multisensory integration.

Keywords: audition; mate choice; multisensory integration; neural circuit; somatosensation

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fncir.2022.943888

PLoS One. 2022 ;17(10): e0274860

Originality in online dating profile texts: How does perceived originality affect impression formation and what makes a text original?

Tess van der Zanden, Alexander P Schouten, Maria B J Mos, Emiel J Krahmer.

This paper investigates origins and consequences of perceived profile text originality. The first goal was to examine whether the perceived originality of authentic online dating profile texts affects online daters' perceptions of attractiveness, and whether perceptions of (less) desired partner personality traits mediate this effect. Results showed the positive impact of perceived profile text originality on impression formation: text originality positively affects perceptions of intelligence and sense of humor, which improve impressions of attractiveness and boost dating intention. The second goal was to explore what profile text features increase perceptions of profile text originality. Results revealed profile texts which were stylistically original (e.g., include metaphors) and contained more and concrete self-disclosure statements were considered more original, explaining almost half of the variance in originality scores. Taken together, our results suggest that perceived originality in profile texts is manifested in both meaning and form, and is a balancing act between novelty and appropriateness.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0274860

Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw. 2022 Oct 21.

Self-Disclosure Valence on Facebook: Effects on Social Attractiveness and User Reactions.

Helen Wanqi Zhang, Alexandros Nikolaidis-Konstas, Jessica J Good.

With the growing popularity of social media, people are sharing more personal information online. This study explored how online self-disclosure post valence (positive vs. negative) affects participants' willingness to interact with the discloser. In a between-subjects online experiment, 382 CloudResearch participants were randomly assigned to view either positive or negative fictitious Facebook self-disclosure status updates. Participants rated the social attractiveness of the discloser and reported their reactions to the posts. As predicted, they perceived the positive discloser as more socially attractive. Additionally, they were more likely to react to positive posts and ignore negative posts. Specifically, participants were more likely to react to the positive self-discloser with a like/emoji. However, they were more willing to private message the negative self-discloser. The perceived social attractiveness of the discloser mediated the relationship between post valence and participants' willingness to ignore or react to the posts. Our results suggest that, compared with negative self-disclosers, positive self-disclosers may receive more public reactions to their posts because they are perceived as more socially attractive. Despite being perceived as less socially attractive, participants reported a higher willingness to private message the negative self-discloser, which we believe indicates their will to help. The results of the study provide further insight into computer-mediated communication norms and suggest that the valence of self-disclosures may elicit different reactions.

Keywords: Facebook; computer-mediated communication; self-disclosure; social attractiveness; social media

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2022.0018