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Vulnerability to disease is associated with a domain‐specific preference for symmetrical faces relative to symmetrical non‐face stimuli
Author(s) -
Young Steven G.,
Sacco Donald F.,
Hugenberg Kurt
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
european journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.609
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1099-0992
pISSN - 0046-2772
DOI - 10.1002/ejsp.800
Subject(s) - preference , psychology , salient , disease , vulnerability (computing) , social psychology , face (sociological concept) , cognitive psychology , developmental psychology , medicine , pathology , statistics , mathematics , artificial intelligence , social science , computer security , sociology , computer science
Two experiments tested the hypothesis that the accessibility of disease concerns would be associated with a preference for faces high in symmetry, a cue to good health and pathogen resistance. Disease concerns (perceived vulnerability to disease) were measured as an individual difference in Experiment 1 and were situationally primed in Experiment 2. Across both studies, heightened disease sensitivity predicted a preference for symmetrical faces. Importantly, this increased preference for symmetrical faces when disease threats were salient did not generalize to non‐face stimuli. These results suggest a domain‐specific preference for symmetry in human faces, an adaptive response due to the ability of faces to signal resistance to infectious diseases in individuals and situations where disease is a salient threat. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.