Effects of bowing on perception of attractiveness

Bowing is a greeting behavior. The present study examined the modulation effect of bowing on perception of attractiveness. In each trial, a portrait digitized from university yearbooks was presented on a computer screen. The portrait was mildly tilted toward participants to simulate a greeting bow (...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Attention, perception & psychophysics perception & psychophysics, 2015-07, Vol.77 (5), p.1697-1714
Main Authors: Osugi, Takayuki, Kawahara, Jun I.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis of Variance
Beauty
Behavioral Science and Psychology
Cognitive Psychology
Computers
Experiments
Face
Female
Femininity
Humans
Individual Characteristics
Interpersonal Attraction
Interpersonal Relationship
Judgment - physiology
Male
Masculinity
Nonverbal Communication
Nonverbal Communication - psychology
Perception - physiology
Perceptions
Personal relationships
Personality Traits
Personnel Selection
Physical Characteristics
Posture - physiology
Psychology
Studies
Young Adult
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Summary:Bowing is a greeting behavior. The present study examined the modulation effect of bowing on perception of attractiveness. In each trial, a portrait digitized from university yearbooks was presented on a computer screen. The portrait was mildly tilted toward participants to simulate a greeting bow (25-degree angle). Participants evaluated the subjective attractiveness of the face using a visual analog scale (0-100). The mean attractiveness judgment of the bowing portrait was significantly higher relative to that of the bending-backward or standing-still control conditions (Experiment 1 ). Additional control experiments revealed that alternative accounts relying on apparent spatial proximity and physical characteristics could not solely explain the effect of bowing (Experiment 2 ) and indicated that the effect was specific to objects perceived as faces (Experiment 3 ). Furthermore, observers’ in-return bowing behavior did not reduce the bowing effect (Experiment 4 ), and bowing motion increased the ratings of subjective politeness and submissiveness (Experiment 5 ). Finally, tilting the 3D faces elicited the same effect from observers as did tilting the still photos (Experiment 6 ). These results suggest that a tilting motion of portraits (or images of face-like objects) mimicking bowing enhances perceived attractiveness, at least as measured in a culture familiar with greeting by bowing.
ISSN:1943-3921
1943-393X
DOI:10.3758/s13414-015-0879-4