Comfort, William, de Andrade, Bianca, Wingenbach, Tanja S. H. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1727-2374, Causeur, David and Boggio, Paulo (2021) Implicit responses in the judgment of attractiveness in faces with differing levels of makeup. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 17 (1). pp. 29-42. ISSN 1931-3896 (Print), 1931-390X (Online) (doi:10.1037/aca0000408)

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Abstract

Makeup is a form of body art which has been used for over 7000 years and is present in the great majority of human cultures, often used to enhance facial attractiveness and to accentuate features that represent femininity. This study examined how cumulative levels of facial makeup influenced approach and avoidance tendencies and on facial muscle responses associated with emotional response obtained through facial electromyography (EMG) in a passive viewing task. Experiment 1 employed the joystick variant of the approach-avoidance task, where 30 subjects categorised female faces by visual orientation (portrait/landscape) in 7 cumulatively-added makeup levels. In Experiment 2, facial EMG was recorded from 40 subjects in the passive viewing of the same images. The present study shows that makeup application modulates implicit responses and reveals two distinct implicit preferences, behavioural and affective, with a male behavioural preference for heavy eye cosmetics, a female behavioural preference for light makeup, and an overall affective preference in both men and women for makeup accentuating visual contrast in the eye and mouth regions. These results are consistent with the conception that perceptual cues underlying cosmetic enhancement are key determinants in aesthetic facial preferences.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	cosmetics; facial attractiveness; facial electromyography; approach-avoidance task
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group:	Faculty of Education, Health & Human Sciences Faculty of Education, Health & Human Sciences > Institute for Lifecourse Development Faculty of Education, Health & Human Sciences > School of Health Sciences (HEA)
Last Modified:	13 Jul 2023 10:29
URI:	http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/36128

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