SOCIAL INFLUENCE, DESIRABILITY AND RELATIONSHIP INVESTMENT: THE EFFECTS OF RESOURCEFULNESS AND SEXUAL PERMISSIVENESS

2006 ◽  
Vol 34 (5) ◽  
pp. 593-602 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arthur H. Perlini ◽  
Tanya L. Boychuk

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of social information about a prospective mate on evaluations of attractiveness, social desirability, and desired relationship. Men and women rated opposite-sex targets with (or without) peer information on the target's relative level of resourcefulness and sexual promiscuity; that is, high resourcefulness/high promiscuity, low resourcefulness/low promiscuity, or no peer information. The findings indicated no effect of these variables on physical attractiveness; however, on ascriptions of social desirability, men and women differed as a function of the social information condition. Likelihood of engaging in sex, dating and marriage with the target varied as a function of sex. Deeper levels of engagement (i.e., dating, marriage) were affected by the type of social information available to judges. Results are discussed in terms of sexual strategy theories of mate preference.

2008 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 147470490800600 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew P. Clark

Proceptive signals may influence judgments of opposite-sex attractiveness because these signals indicate high mate quality and/or non-threatening behavior but they may also signal high probable rate of return for mating effort. If so, individuals observing these signals may be sensitive to where the signals are directed to; signals directed toward other individuals may not predict what signals would be directed toward the observer. To explore these possibilities I made use of video stimuli composed of mock interviews with actors. Each actor did one proceptive and one unreceptive interview. Each interview was presented as being directed toward participants or toward an opposite sex interviewer. Proceptivity enhanced the attractiveness of opposite-sex actors and an interaction between proceptive state and signal direction was found, with this pattern varying substantially between actors. The possibility that this variation is mediated by the physical attractiveness and sex of the actors will be discussed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Farid Pazhoohi ◽  
Francesca Capozzi ◽  
Alan Kingstone

Physical appearance influences our perceptions, judgments, and decision making about others. While the current literature with regard to the perceptions and judgments of nondisabled people’s attractiveness is robust, the research investigating the perceived physical attractiveness and judgments of physically disabled individuals is scarce. Therefore, in the current study, we investigated whether people with physical disabilities are perceived by the opposite sex as more or less attractive relative to nondisabled individuals. Our results, based on over 675 participants, showed a positive effect for women’s attractiveness ratings of men with physical disabilities, but not men’s attractiveness ratings of physically disabled women. Moreover, social desirability bias was positively associated with attractiveness ratings of physically disabled individuals, meaning those with higher tendency to be viewed favorably by others rated physically disabled individuals more attractive. Finally, our results revealed that attractiveness ratings of individuals with physical disabilities are positively associated with extroversion and empathy in both men and women, and positively with agreeableness and negatively with neuroticism in women. In conclusion, our study showed women rate men with physical disabilities as higher on attractiveness than nondisabled men, which is also influenced by their social desirability bias.


1988 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. 553-554 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ma. Asuncion Lara-Cantu ◽  
Monica Suzan-Reed

Extensive research has been carried out on Bern's Masculinity and Femininity scales, but little has been reported on the validity of the Social Desirability scale, so correlations were obtained for the Marlowe and Crowne Social Desirability Scale and Bern's scales, as well as a factor analysis of Bern's inventory, and mean sex differences for Bern's Social Desirability items. 478 first-year undergraduate students, aged 18 to 22 yr., 214 men and 264 women, were subjects. Correlations of Marlowe-Crowne scores were .42 with Bern's Social Desirability, .20 with Masculinity, and .13 with Femininity. Factor analysis of responses to Bern's inventory gave four factors: the social desirability items had high loadings, and no single social desirability factor was found that included the items of this scale in a representative number. Finally, nine of Bern's social desirability items were differentially endorsed by men and women. These results suggest that Bern's Social Desirability scale measures socially desirable characteristics, although the items do not form a cohesive scale and are not independent of sex.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Farrelly ◽  
Laura King

Although previous research has found that altruism is an important trait in human mate choice, much of this has concentrated on female preferences only. Subsequently, the current study explored how both men and women desire altruistic partners who varied in physical attractiveness for both short and long term romantic relationships. A sample of 136 women and 53 men viewed profiles of members of the opposite sex of either high or low physical attractiveness, alongside scenarios that described them as either being altruistic or not. Participants then rated each targets’ desirability as both a short and long term partner. As hypothesised, altruism was rated more desirable, particularly for long term relationships, by both men and women. However there were inconsistent findings when physical attractiveness was accounted for, which did not support the hypotheses nor directly replicate previous findings. Overall it was concluded that although the study provided strong support for the desirability of altruism being due to mutual mate choice, the additional effects of examining other mate choice traits such as attractiveness shows much is still to be known. Study materials and data available at DOI 10.17605/OSF.IO/STXPF


1990 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret Y. MacDonald

In an elegant discussion of the roles of women in the Pauline congregations, Wayne Meeks has drawn attention to Paul's apparently deliberate attempt to make parallel statements about the respective obligations of males and females in 1 Cor 7 and in 1 Cor 11. 2–16. In the same study, Meeks makes a second observation about 1 Cor 11. 2–16: ‘If the passage places most emphasis on the female, that must be because in Corinth it is the charismatic women who are donning the attire of the opposite sex’. There is indeed a fairly wide consensus that the problem underlying the instructions about head attire in 1 Cor 11 is with women. Is there a connection between the antics of the women of 1 Cor 11 and Paul's exhortations in 1 Cor 7? Are we to conclude that 1 Cor 7 also responds to a situation instigated by females? Or, does the fact that the parallelism in 1 Cor 7 is even more extensive than in 1 Cor 11 imply that, in his discussion of marriage and celibacy, Paul was equally concerned with the practices of men and women?


2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (6) ◽  
pp. 855-867 ◽  
Author(s):  
John T. Kulas ◽  
Rachael Klahr ◽  
Lindsey Knights

Abstract. Many investigators have noted “reverse-coding” method factors when exploring response pattern structure with psychological inventory data. The current article probes for the existence of a confound in these investigations, whereby an item’s level of saturation with socially desirable content tends to covary with the item’s substantive scale keying. We first investigate its existence, demonstrating that 15 of 16 measures that have been previously implicated as exhibiting a reverse-scoring method effect can also be reasonably characterized as exhibiting a scoring key/social desirability confound. A second set of analyses targets the extent to which the confounding variable may confuse interpretation of factor analytic results and documents strong social desirability associations. The results suggest that assessment developers perhaps consider the social desirability scale value of indicators when constructing scale aggregates (and possibly scales when investigating inter-construct associations). Future investigations would ideally disentangle the confound via experimental manipulation.


2013 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 209-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benoît Testé ◽  
Samantha Perrin

The present research examines the social value attributed to endorsing the belief in a just world for self (BJW-S) and for others (BJW-O) in a Western society. We conducted four studies in which we asked participants to assess a target who endorsed BJW-S vs. BJW-O either strongly or weakly. Results showed that endorsement of BJW-S was socially valued and had a greater effect on social utility judgments than it did on social desirability judgments. In contrast, the main effect of endorsement of BJW-O was to reduce the target’s social desirability. The results also showed that the effect of BJW-S on social utility is mediated by the target’s perceived individualism, whereas the effect of BJW-S and BJW-O on social desirability is mediated by the target’s perceived collectivism.


Author(s):  
Ann Marie Ryan ◽  
Jacob Bradburn ◽  
Sarena Bhatia ◽  
Evan Beals ◽  
Anthony S. Boyce ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Vasilios Gialamas ◽  
Sofia Iliadou Tachou ◽  
Alexia Orfanou

This study focuses on divorces in the Principality of Samos, which existed from 1834 to 1912. The process of divorce is described according to the laws of the rincipality, and divorces are examined among those published in the Newspaper of the Government of the Principality of Samos from the last decade of the Principality from 1902 to 1911. Issues linked to divorce are investigated, like the differences between husbands and wives regarding the initiation and reasons for requesting a divorce. These differences are integrated in the specific social context of the Principality, and the qualitative characteristics are determined in regard to the gender ratio of women and men that is articulated by the invocation of divorce. The aim is to determine the boundaries of social identities of gender with focus on the prevailing perceptions of the social roles of men and women. Gender is used as a social and cultural construction. It is argued that the social gender identity is formed through a process of “performativity”, that is, through adaptation to the dominant social ideals.


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