Christopher A. Thorstenson

Women’s Facial Redness Increases Their Perceived Attractiveness: Mediation Through Perceived Healthiness

In the present research, we investigated whether the red-attraction relation that has been observed for men viewing women may also be observed with regard to women’s facial redness. We manipulated facial redness by slightly increasing or decreasing the redness on the faces of baseline pictures of target women, and then had men judge the attractiveness of the women. We also examined healthiness perceptions as a mediator of the redness-attraction relation, along with several other candidate mediator variables. A series of experiments showed that increased redness led to increased ratings of attractiveness, and decreased redness led to decreased ratings of attractiveness. Perceived healthiness was documented as a mediator of the influence of female facial redness on male perceptions of attractiveness, and this mediation was independent of other candidate mediator variables. The findings highlight the importance of attending to facial coloration as an attraction-relevant cue and point to interesting areas for subsequent research.

Facial Redness Increases Men’s Perceived Healthiness and Attractiveness:

Past research has shown that peripheral and facial redness influences perceptions of attractiveness for men viewing women. The current research investigated whether a parallel effect is present when women rate men with varying facial redness. In four experiments, women judged the attractiveness of men’s faces, which were presented with varying degrees of redness. We also examined perceived healthiness and other candidate variables as mediators of the red-attractiveness effect. The results show that facial redness positively influences ratings of men’s attractiveness. Additionally, perceived healthiness was documented as a mediator of this effect, independent of other potential mediator variables. The current research emphasizes facial coloration as an important feature of social judgments.

Emotion-color associations in the context of the face.

Facial expressions of emotion contain important information that is perceived and used by observers to understand others’ emotional state. While there has been considerable research into perceptions of facial musculature and emotion, less work has been conducted to understand perceptions of facial coloration and emotion. The current research examined emotion-color associations in the context of the face. Across 4 experiments, participants were asked to manipulate the color of face, or shape, stimuli along 2 color axes (i.e., red-green, yellow-blue) for 6 target emotions (i.e., anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, surprise). The results yielded a pattern that is consistent with physiological and psychological models of emotion.

Sadness Impairs Color Perception

At the request of the authors, the following article has been retracted by the Editor and publishers of Psychological Science: Thorstenson, C. A., Pazda, A. D., & Elliot, A. J. (2015). Sadness impairs color perception. Psychological Science. Advance online publication. doi:10.1177/0956797615597672.At the request of the authors, the following article has been retracted by the Editor and publishers of Psychological Science: Thorstenson, C. A., Pazda, A. D., & Elliot, A. J. (2015). Sadness impairs color perception. Psychological Science. Advance online publication. doi:10.1177/0956797615597672

Facial redness, expression, and masculinity influence perceptions of anger and health

ABSTRACT Past research has found that skin colouration, particularly facial redness, influences the perceived health and emotional state of target individuals. In the current work, we explore several extensions of this past research. In Experiment 1, we manipulated facial redness incrementally on neutral and angry faces and had participants rate each face for anger and health. Different red effects emerged, as perceived anger increased in a linear manner as facial redness increased. Health ratings instead showed a curvilinear trend, as both extreme paleness and redness were rated as less healthy than moderate levels of red. Experiment 2 replicated and extended these findings by manipulating the masculinity of both angry and neutral faces that varied in redness. The results found the effect of red on perceived anger and health was moderated by masculine face structure. Collectively, these results show that facial redness has context dependent effects that vary based on facial expression, appearance, and differentially impact ratings of emotional states and health.

Face color facilitates the disambiguation of confusing emotion expressions: Toward a social functional account of face color in emotion communication.

Facial expressions of emotion include both muscular and color modulations that contribute to the accurate perception of emotion. However, some emotion categories share common facial-muscular features during the dynamic expressive sequence, which can lead to confusion and misidentification. The current research posits that a potential social function of facial-color expression lies in its ability to disambiguate confusing facial-muscular emotion expressions. In Experiment 1, participants were asked to rate and categorize confusing emotion expressions (i.e., mixed anger-disgust) that varied in facial color (i.e., CIELAB a*, red-green axis). The results showed that changes in facial color facilitated the disambiguation of the confusing emotion expressions for both ratings and categorizations. In Experiment 2, participants were asked to change the color on faces with either disgust, confusing, or anger expressions, to match the emotion being expressed. The results showed that participants differentially used color information to make the faces maximally expressive. Additionally, participants in Experiment 2 consistently applied facial color changes regardless of disambiguating information provided by either explicit instructions or validated expressions. The findings from the current research support a social functional account of facial color in the communication of emotion; facial color makes a unique contribution to emotion expression, independent of facial musculature. (PsycINFO Database Record