Sascha Schwarz

Red - Take a Closer Look

Color research has shown that red is associated with avoidance of threat (e.g., failure) or approach of reward (e.g., mating) depending on the context in which it is perceived. In the present study we explored one central cognitive process that might be involved in the context dependency of red associations. According to our theory, red is supposed to highlight the relevance (importance) of a goal-related stimulus and correspondingly intensifies the perceivers’ attentional reaction to it. Angry and happy human compared to non-human facial expressions were used as goal-relevant stimuli. The data indicate that the color red leads to enhanced attentional engagement to angry and happy human facial expressions (compared to neutral ones) - the use of non-human facial expressions does not bias attention. The results are discussed with regard to the idea that red induced attentional biases might explain the red-context effects on motivation.

Words Won’t Fail Experimental Evidence on the Role of Verbal Proficiency in Mate Choice

Applying sexual selection theory to language, it can be assumed that high verbal proficiency increases attractiveness, but male more than female attractiveness, because women have higher costs regarding reproduction and are thus more selective in mate choice. These predictions were tested experimentally. In the first study, videos were used as the stimuli for opposite-sex participants where an actor/actress performed verbal self-presentations. The content was alike but was delivered with three levels of verbal proficiency with respect to lexical, grammatical, and fluency features. The main effect of verbal proficiency on attractiveness was supported, but the interaction effect was not supported between verbal proficiency and sex according to which male more than female attractiveness is affected by verbal proficiency. In the second study, only audio tracks from the videos were used. Both effects were significant, supporting the assertion that language plays a significant role in mate choice, especially for male attractiveness.

Interindividuelle Unterschiede in Beziehungspräferenzen Das Konstrukt Beziehungsorientierung (BZO) und seine Messung

Zusammenfassung. Beziehungsorientierung (BZO) ist ein neues zweidimensionales Konstrukt zur Operationalisierung von Beziehungspraferenzen. Demnach konnen Menschen sowohl kurzzeitorientiert als auch langzeitorientiert sein. In einer Querschnitt-Untersuchung mit 284 Versuchspersonen und einer Langsschnitt-Untersuchung mit 287 Versuchspersonen konnten die testtheoretischen Eigenschaften sowie die diskriminante und konvergente Validitat der Skalen zur Erfassung der Kurz- (KZO) und Langzeitorientierung (LZO) uberpruft werden. Beide Dimensionen konnten reliabel und valide gemessen werden. Hohe KZO ging mit einer unrestriktiven soziosexuellen Orientierung, einem spielerischen Liebesstil (Ludus) und einer hedonistischen Gegenwartsorientierung einher. Hohe LZO impliziert jedoch keine restriktive soziosexuelle Orientierung. Zudem zeigten sich Korrelationen der LZO mit allen Liebesstilen, der Zukunftsorientierung und dem Kinderwunsch. Die Bedeutung dieses neuen Konstrukts fur die sozialpsychologische Beziehungsforsc...

Tears or Fears? Comparing Gender Stereotypes about Movie Preferences to Actual Preferences

This study investigated the accuracy of gender-specific stereotypes about movie-genre preferences for 17 genres. In Study 1, female and male participants rated the extent to which 17 movie genres are preferred by women or men. In Study 2, another sample of female and male participants rated their own preference for each genre. There were three notable results. First, Study 1 revealed the existence of gender stereotypes for the majority of genres (i.e., for 15 of 17 genres). Second, Study 2 revealed the existence of actual gender differences in preferences for the majority of genres (i.e., for 11 of 17 genres). Third, in order to assess the accuracy of gender stereotypes on movie preferences, we compared the results of both studies and found that the majority of gender stereotypes were accurate in direction, but inaccurate in size. In particular, the stereotypes overestimated actual gender differences for the majority of movie genres (i.e., 10 of 17). Practical and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.