The Psychology of Attractiveness Podcast

With gay marriage now legal in the USA (not to mention, Sweden, New Zealand, Uruguay, and the Pitcairn Islands), let’s look at how same-sex attraction develops during adolescence. Is same-sex attraction stable during teenage years, and what are lesbians’ first memories of same-sex attraction? Download the MP3 Participate in my research! The psychology of fail videos (women only) How do you help others? Rate me! Rate, review, or listen in iTunes or in Stitcher. Read the transcript! How Same-Sex Attraction Changes During Adolescence Two new research studies show how LGBT identities form during adolescence.The articles covered in the show: Hu, Y., Xu, Y., & Tornello, S. L. (in press). Stability of self-reported same-sex and both-sex attraction from adolescence to young adulthood. Archives of Sexual Behavior. Read summaryMcClelland, S. I., Rubin, J. D., & Bauermeister, J. A. (in press). “I liked girls and I thought they were pretty”: Initial memories of same-sex attraction in young lesbian and bisexual women. Archives of Sexual Behavior. Read summary

Many of us wish we were more confident, but is self-assuredness or arrogance attractive? Is it possible to be overconfident when it comes to love? And is there a male propensity to overestimate how attractive we are to women? We find out in this episode. Download the MP3 Participate in my research! The psychology of fail videos (women only) How do you help others? Rate me! Rate, review, or listen in iTunes or in Stitcher. Read the transcript! Are We Attracted to Arrogance? Do Men Overestimate Women’s Sexual Interest? Don Draper is the epitome of the overconfident man. But do women find overconfident (or arrogant) men attractive?The articles covered in the show: Murphy, S. C., von Hippel, W., Dubbs, S. L., Angilletta Jr., M. J., Wilson, R. S., Trivers, R., et al. (in press). The role of overconfidence in romantic desirability and competition. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. Read summaryPerilloux, C., Muñoz-Reyes, J. A., Turiegano, E., Kurzban, R., & Pita, M. (in press). Do (non-American) men overestimate women’s sexual intentions? Evolutionary Psychological Science. Read summary

Swollen bums and flushed faces: we know that chimpanzees and other primates advertise their fertility with conspicuous physical transformations, but what about humans? In this episode we look at skin colour and the menstrual cycle. Download the MP3 Rate me! Rate, review, or listen in iTunes or in Stitcher. Read the transcript! Do Women’s Faces Change Color Over the Menstrual Cycle?I and my collaborators photographed women multiple times over their cycle and analysed patches of cheek skin for colour changes. Image modified from a photo by Alix Klingenberg.The articles covered in the show: Burriss, R. P., Troscianko, J., Lovell, P. G., Fulford, A. J. C., Stevens, M., Quigley, R., Payne, J., Saxton, T. K., & Rowland, H. M. (2015). Changes in women’s facial skin color over the ovulatory cycle are not detectable by the human visual system. PLoS One. Read paper

We know that pregnant women get cravings for unusual foods, but does pregnancy also affect what women desire in a man? We also look at a new experiment that shows once and for all whether men prefer larger or smaller breasts. You'll be surprised by the results! Download the MP3 Participate in my research! The psychology of fail videos (women only) How do you help others? Rate me! Rate, review, or listen in iTunes or in Stitcher. Read the transcript! Are Bigger Breasts Best? Pregnancy and Desire Does a woman change her taste in men when she is pregnant? Joanna Malinowska/freestocks.orgThe articles covered in the show: Dixson, B. J., Duncan, M., & Dixson, A. F. (in press). The role of breast size and areolar pigmentation in perceptions of women’s sexual attractiveness, reproductive health, sexual maturity, maternal nurturing abilities, and age. Archives of Sexual Behavior. Read summaryLimoncin, E., Ciocca, G., Gravina, G. L., Carosa, E., Mollaioli, D., Cellerino, A., et al. (in press). Pregnant women's preferences for men's faces differ significantly from nonpregnant women. The Journal of Sexual Medicine. Read summary

Decisions, decisions. We find out how our rational minds go all screwy when we're faced with attractive rivals or sexual competitors. Three new experiments show how sexual rivalry primes men to be cruel, self-centred, and prone to risk. Download the MP3 Participate in my research! The psychology of fail videos (women only) How do you help others? Rate me! Rate, review, or listen in iTunes or in Stitcher. Read the transcript! Handsome Men Make Other Men Want to Gamble Competition Piques Men’s Interest in Sex How Does Competition Affect Men’s Morality? Arm wrestling is a bit daft, but it doesn't do any harm, right? Perhaps not. New research shows that competition can influence men's psychology in unexpected ways.The articles covered in the show: Chan, E. Y. (in press). Physically-attractive males increase men's financial risk-taking. Evolution and Human Behavior. Read summaryGorelik, G., & Bjorklund, D. F. (in press). The effect of competition on men’s self-reported sexual interest. Evolutionary Psychological Science. Read summaryTrémolière, B., Kaminski, G., & Bonnefon, J.-F. (2015). Intrasexual competition shapes men's anti-utilitarian moral decisions. Evolutionary Psychological Science, 1(1), 18-22. Read summary

We strap on our beer goggles and find out how alcohol influences attractiveness. Also, you have a penis! Well, half of you do, and we discover what happens to men’s sexual thoughts when they’re reminded of what they’re packing in their tighty whities. Download the MP3 Participate in my research! The psychology of fail videos (women only) How do you help others? Rate me! Rate, review, or listen in iTunes or in Stitcher. Read the transcript! Paying Attention to your Genitals Changes the Kind of Relationships you Seek Reverse Beer Goggles This cool dude is probably experiencing high 'genital salience'. Ladies looking for commitment should steer clear.The articles covered in the show: Fetterman, A. K., Kruger, N. N., & Robinson, M. D. (2015). Sex-linked mating strategies diverge with a manipulation of genital salience. Motivation and Emotion, 39(1), 99-103. Read summaryVan Den Abbeele, J., Penton-Voak, I. S. A., A. S., Stephen, I. D., & Munafò, M. R. (in press). Increased facial attractiveness following moderate, but not high, alcohol consumption. Alcohol and Alcoholism. Read summary

Is beauty contagious? How the average attractiveness of a group of people is influenced by its members. Also, how the ratio of men to women in our social group meddles with our mating psychology. Download the MP3Rate me! Rate, review, or listen in iTunes or in Stitcher. Read the transcript! Why a Skewed Chinese Sex Ratio Doesn't Spell Disaster Attractive Friends Make You Look More Attractive One man and four women: new research shows how our 'mating strategies' (how we seek partners and what we find attractive) are influenced by the relative numbers of men and women we encounter.The articles covered in the show:Schacht, R., & Borgerhoff Mulder, M. (2015). Sex ratio effects on reproductive strategies in humans. Royal Society Open Science, 2, 140402. Read summaryvan Osch, Y., Blanken, I., Meijs, M. H. J., & van Wolferen, J. (in press). A group’s physical attractiveness is greater than the average attractiveness of its members: The group attractiveness effect. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. Read summary

Meet the parents! Two new experiments show how choosing a partner can send shockwaves across the generations. We’ll find out how parents meddle in their children’s love lives, and how sexy sons lead to handsome fathers. Download the MP3Rate me! Rate, review, or listen in iTunes or in Stitcher. Read the transcript! Sexy Sons Make Fathers Seem Sexier How Parents Meddle in Their Kids’ Love Lives Robert De Niro kept a close eye on Ben Stiller in the Focker movie franchise. But how successful are meddling parents at interfering in their children's love lives? The articles covered in the show:Apostelou, M., Kasapi, K., & Arakliti, A. (2015). Will they do as we wish? An investigation of the effectiveness of parental manipulation of mating behavior. Evolutionary Psychological Science, 1(1), 28-36. Read summaryProkop, P. (in press). The putative son’s attractiveness alters the perceived attractiveness of the putative father. Archives of Sexual Behavior. Read summary

With a little help from my friends: How we use 'coalitional mate retention' tactics to prevent our partner cheating. We take a look at two new experiments that uncover how our friends work to keep our partners faithful. Download the MP3Rate me! Rate, review, or listen in iTunes or in Stitcher. Read the transcript! Friends Help Friends Keep Partners Faithful New research shows how friends work to keep our partners faithful, and reveals how they decide to expose any infidelities they detect.The articles covered in the show:Barbaro, N., Pham, M. N., & Shackelford, T. K. (in press). Solving the problem of partner infidelity: Individual mate retention, coalitional mate retention, and in-pair copulation frequency. Personality and Individual Differences. Read summaryPham, M. N., Barbaro, N., Mogilski, J. K., & Shackelford, T. K. (2015). Coalitional mate retention is correlated positively with friendship quality involving women, but negatively with male-male friendship quality. Personality and Individual Differences, 79, 87-90. Read summary

Why do women wear make up? I interview Alex Jones of Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania about his new research into cosmetics and 'facial contrast' (follow @AlexJonesPHD on Twitter). Also, how did Kim Kardashian break the Internet? Was it her massive bum, or the pronounced curvature of her lower back? Download the MP3Rate me! Rate, review, or listen in iTunes or in Stitcher. Read the transcript! How Kim Kardashian’s Curvy Back Broke the Internet. Why do women wear make up? I interview Alex Jones of Gettysburg College PA about his new research that suggests make up works by enhancing female-typical 'facial contrast'.The articles covered in the showJones, A. L. (2015). Cosmetics alter biologically-based factors of beauty: evidence from facial contrast. Evolutionary Psychology, 13(1), 210-229. Read summaryJones, A. L., & Kramer, R. S. S. (2015). Facial cosmetics have little effect on attractiveness judgments compared with identity. Perception, 44, 79-86. Read summaryLewis, D. M. G., Russell, E. M., Al-Shawaf, L., & Buss, D. M. (in press). Lumbar curvature: A novel evolved standard of attractiveness. Evolution and Human Behavior. Read summaryThe images Alex and I mentioned in the show Richard Russell's "The Illusion of Sex" placed third in the 2009 Illusion of the Year Contest. Most people perceive the face on the left as female, and the face on the right as male. In fact, the photographs show the same face (a computer-generated androgynous face): the only difference is that the contrast of the face on the left is higher than the that of the face on the right. The effect is so strong, it is difficult not to see a woman and a man. A figure from Alex's paper. The white lines encircle the 'features' (eye, eyebrow, and mouth) and the black lines the surrounding areas. It was the contrast between the features and the surrounding skin that Alex measured. He confirmed that facial contrast is higher in women than in men. His other research showed that women exaggerate these sex differences with make up. This figure is from the Lewis paper, and shows how he manipulated back curvature. Men preferred a curvature of around 45 degrees. Listen in to find out why.

How democracy is undermined by the psychology of attractiveness: we discover why good looking candidates have an advantage come polling day, either because their beauty distracts from their extreme policies, or (if they're very lucky) because their constituents are ill. Download the MP3Rate me! Rate, review, or listen in iTunes or in Stitcher. Remember David Cameron's allegedly airbrushed poster from 2010? Well, he might have been onto something...The articles covered in the show:Herrmann, M., & Shikano, S. (in press). Attractiveness and facial competence bias face-based inferences of candidate ideology. Political Psychology. Read summaryZebrowitz, L. A., Franklin, R. G., & Palumbo, R. (2015). Ailing voters advance attractive congressional candidates. Evolutionary Psychology, 13(1), 16-28. Read summary

Consumer psychology meets the psychology of attraction: how female fertility influences desire for variety in products. And look but don’t touch: observing male behaviour in lingerie stores. Download the MP3Rate me! Rate, review, or listen in iTunes or in Stitcher. More chocolate is always better than less chocolate. But new research shows that women are more interested in getting a good variety of chocolate (and other consumer products) when they're most fertile.The articles covered in the show:Moule, K. R., & Fisher, M. (2014). You can look but you cannot touch: Male behaviors observed in lingerie stores. Human Ethology Bulletin, 29(4), 4-17. Read paperDurante, K. M., & Rae Arsena, A. (in press). Playing the field: The effect of fertility on women’s desire for variety. Journal of Consumer Research. Read summary

Why do women have sex? We find out, using the YSEX? questionnaire. Also, how to stop the ‘thin ideal’ messing with our minds. And forget Star Wars - it’s time for Sperm Wars: are men turned on by pornography that depicts ‘sperm competition’? Download the MP3Rate me! Rate, review, or listen in iTunes or in Stitcher. Read the transcripts! Why Do Women Have Sex? How to Kill the Thin Ideal What Kind of Porn do Men Prefer? Most women in the media are skinny, and consumers are taking this 'thin ideal' to heart. But what happens if we tell them that men prefer larger women?The articles covered in the show:Armstrong, H. L., & Reissing, E. D. (in press). Women’s motivations to have sex in casual and committed relationships with male and female partners. Archives of Sexual Behavior. Read summaryMeltzer, A. L., & McNulty, J. K. (in press). Telling women that men desire women with bodies larger than the thin-ideal improves women’s body satisfaction. Social Psychological and Personality Science. Read summaryProkop, P. (2015). Perception of intensity of sperm competition on the part of males. Personality and Individual Differences, 76, 99-103. Read summary

We all know the stereotype of the handsome jock who scores on and off the field, but is there a real link between beauty and ball skills? Also, the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, but what can a person's food preferences tell you about the kind of relationships they're after? And we find out how to use science to craft the most effective internet dating profile. Score! Download the MP3 Rate me! Rate, review, or listen in iTunes or in Stitcher. Ronaldo scores loads of goals and is handsome as a Ken doll fresh from the factory. But are his ball skills and his beauty linked? Enrique Lin/FlickrThe articles covered in the show:Rosar, U., Hagenah, J., & Klein, M. (in press). Physical attractiveness and monetary success in German Bundesliga. Soccer & Society. Read summaryAl-Shawaf, L., Lewis, D. M. G., Alley, T. R., & Buss, D. M. (in press). Mating strategy, disgust, and food neophobia. Appetite. Read summaryStrassberg, D. S., & English, B. L. (in press). An experimental study of men’s and women’s personal ads. Archives of Sexual Behavior. Read summary

"I’ll have what she’s having": why younger women are more prone to pursuing the partners of their peers. We also find out whether high heels really do put you one step ahead of the competition, and why women who engage in anal sex engage in anal sex. I mean seriously, why?? Download the MP3Rate me! Rate, review, or listen in iTunes or in Stitcher. Do high heels or flats make a woman more attractive? Nicolas Gueguen took to the streets of France to find out. Jake Guild/FlickrThe articles covered in the show:Little, A. C., Caldwell, C. A., Jones, B. C., & DeBruine, L. M. (in press). Observer age and the social transmission of attractiveness in humans: Younger women are more influenced by the choices of popular others than older women. British Journal of Psychology. Read summaryGuéguen, N. (in press). High heels increase women’s attractiveness. Archives of Sexual Behavior. Read summaryReynolds, G. L., Fisher, D. G., & Rogala, B. (in press). Why women engage in anal intercourse: Results from a qualitative study. Archives of Sexual Behavior. Read summary