The Effect of Beautification Strategies on Mating Popularity Judged by Men from the People's Republic of China.

Contemporary women frequently employ beautification strategies. The impact of such strategies, such as plastic surgery, on mating popularity in different mate contexts remains unclear. To investigate this issue, the current study conducted two experiments. In Experiment 1, beautification strategies were manipulated using three images of the same female with different conditions (natural, makeup, and plastic surgery). The results indicated that when the beautification strategies were not informed, surgical-enhanced and makeup targets were perceived as significantly more attractive, loyal, and popular among potential mates than natural targets. However, when participants were informed of the beautification strategies, both natural and makeup targets showed a significant increase in perceived loyalty and mating popularity. In contrast, surgically enhanced targets saw a reduction in these dimensions. Experiment 2 aimed to reduce the confounding effect of facial attractiveness by using vignettes. The results indicated that the mating popularity of natural targets was significantly higher than that of makeup or surgically enhanced targets, with surgically enhanced targets being the least popular. Moreover, the results revealed the mediating role of perceived loyalty in the impact of beautification strategies on long-term mating popularity. This study sheds light on the potential stigmatization and negative bias toward beautification strategies in the mating market. Additionally, it provides guidance for women who intend to enhance their mate popularity through plastic surgery.

The Voice of Morality: The Two-Way Relationship Between the Beauty of Voice and Moral Goodness.

BACKGROUND: Morality is a point of great concern to us in our social interactions. We also assess people's morality based on a variety of external factors. Research has found that the beauty of faces can influence people's moral assessments, and that moral assessments can in turn influence our judgments about the beauty of faces. In real life, the voice is a very important communication mediu. People can gain knowledge of individuals through their voices. However, the relationship between voice beauty and moral goodness has never been investigated. OBJECTIVES: So, the present study investigated the two-way relationship between voice beauty and moral goodness traits during impression formation. METHOD: We collected empirical data from 32 college students in China followed the impression formation paradigm in Experiment 1 and collected empirical data from 32 college students in China followed moral priming paradigm. RESULTS: The results of Experiment 1 showed that high attractive voices were more likely to be judged to have higher moral goodness levels. Conversely, the results of Experiment 2 showed that the moral priming condition revealed a higher score for the voice than the immoral condition. The results showed that the bidirectional validation of voice beauty-moral goodness was significant, that is, participants tend to rate high attractive voices with higher moral goodness levels, and rate moral people's voices with higher beauty. CONCLUSION: Based on these results, we found a two-way relationship between the beauty of voice and morality, and once again demonstrated the role of voice in message transmission.

Does a beautiful environment make food better - The effect of environmental aesthetics on food perception and eating intention.

Generally, people prefer to dine in beautiful environments. Previous studies have reported that environmental factors affect an individual's perception of food; however, little is known about the effect of environmental aesthetics on food perception. In Experiment 1, we used photographs of restaurant (1a) or non-restaurant (1b) environments with high or low aesthetic value, paired with images of foods, and participants were asked to rate the visual, olfactory, and gustatory aesthetic value of the food. Results showed significantly higher ratings for food perception in all three sensory modalities in the high aesthetic value environment, together with positive emotion and the desire to eat, compared with the low aesthetic environment. Experiment 2 extended the study to two real-world environments (one high and one low aesthetic value) and actual food consumption. The results also found higher aesthetic ratings in the olfactory and gustatory systems and greater desire to eat again in an environment with high aesthetic value than in an environment with low aesthetic value. This research also explored the mediating role of emotion in the relationship between environmental aesthetics and food perception and found a significant mediating relationship. In conclusion, environmental aesthetics play an important role in food perception, and these findings provide insights into increasing positive food perception in daily life.

The impact of action observation and motor imagery on the aesthetic preference of Chinese calligraphy.

The creation of artwork requires motor activity. However, few empirical studies have directly explored the relationship between the experience of an artist's action and aesthetic experience. This study aimed to examine the effect of observing and imagery of the artist's action on the participants' aesthetic preferences. In Experiment 1 and 2, we took hard-pen and brush-pen Chinese calligraphy images as the stimulus, respectively, to explore the influence of action observation on the aesthetic preference by manipulating the artists' actions. The results of both Experiment 1 and 2 show that when participants observed the artists' actions, they tended to report a higher preference for calligraphy images compared with the control condition. In Experiments 3 and 4, we used instructions to manipulate the motor imagery tasks and investigated the effect of imaging the artist's action on the participants' aesthetic preferences. The results showed that both kinesthetic imagery and visual imagery increased the participants' preference. In general, our study shows that both action observation and motor imagery contribute to participants' aesthetic preferences. The results are discussed in terms of how artists' actions possibly influence the aesthetic preference of Chinese calligraphy.

The Impact of Motor Imageries on Aesthetic Judgment of Chinese Calligraphy: An fMRI Study.

Previous behavioral studies on aesthetics demonstrated that there was a close association between perceived action and aesthetic appreciation. However, few studies explored whether motor imagery would influence aesthetic experience and its neural substrates. In the current study, Chinese calligraphy was used as the stimuli to explore the relationship between the motor imagery and the aesthetic judgments of a participant using functional magnetic resonance imaging. The imaging results showed that, compared with the baseline, the activation of the brain regions [e.g., anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), putamen, and insula] involved in perceptual processing, cognitive judgments, aesthetic emotional, and reward processing was observed after the participants performed motor imagery tasks. The contrast analyses within aesthetic judgments showed that the kinesthetic imagery significantly activated the middle frontal gyrus, postcentral gyrus, ACC, and thalamus. Generally, these areas were considered to be closely related to positive aesthetic experience and suggested that motor imagery, especially kinesthetic imagery, might be specifically associated with the aesthetic appreciation of Chinese calligraphy.

The effect of action observation on aesthetic preference of Chinese calligraphy: An fMRI study.

INTRODUCTION: There is some evidence suggesting that movement perception has an effect on aesthetic experience. However, the neural mechanisms underlying the observation of creators' creative action (the process that calligraphers create calligraphy) remain unclear. METHODS: In this study, participants were scanned with fMRI while performing aesthetic judgments on Chinese calligraphy images with/without action observation. RESULTS: Behavioral results showed that both the work by the expert and novice with action observation were rated significantly higher on aesthetic preference than those without action observation. Imaging results showed that brain regions associated with perceptual, cognitive, and emotional processing were commonly activated by calligraphy images with/without action observation. However, compared with no action observation, aesthetic judgments of calligraphy images with action observation elicited stronger activation in the anterior cingulate cortex and the bilateral insula. Meanwhile, the superior parietal lobe which is associated with relevant inner action imitation, was also activated when observing the creator's action. CONCLUSIONS: Brain activation in the superior parietal lobe, anterior cingulate cortex, and the bilateral insula indicated that observing the creative action of the creators contributed to the aesthetic experience of the observer.