Alcohol consumption increases attractiveness ratings of opposite-sex faces: a possible third route to risky sex Export

@article{citeulike:4172286, abstract = {Aims To measure the effect of moderate alcohol consumption on males' and females' attractiveness ratings of unfamiliar male and female faces.Participants   Eighty undergraduate volunteers were used in each of three experiments.Design  Participants' ratings on a 120137 scale was the dependent variable. A three-factor mixed design was used. For experiments 1 and 2: one within-factor, sex-of-face to be rated (male/female); two between-factors, sex-of-rater (male/female) and alcohol status of rater (0 UK units/120136 UK units). For experiment 3, the two levels of sex-of-face were replaced by two levels of a non-face object. In experiment 1, the faces were rated for attractiveness; in experiment 2, the faces were rated for distinctiveness and in experiment 3, the non-face objects were rated for attractiveness.Setting  Quiet, prepared corners of bars and licensed eating areas on a civic university campus.Method  For each experiment, 118 full-colour photographic images were presented randomly on a laptop computer screen, each remaining until a rating response was made.Findings  There was a significant alcohol consumption enhancement effect only for attractiveness ratings of opposite-sex faces in experiment 1. This indicates that the opposite-sex enhancement effect is not due simply to alcohol consumption causing the use of higher points of ratings scales, in general.Conclusion  Since Agocha \& Cooper have shown that the likelihood of intentions to engage in risky sex increases as the facial attractiveness of the potential sexual partner increases, through the opposite-sex enhancement effect we identify a new possible link between risky sex and alcohol consumption.}, address = {Department of Psychology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK; and School of Psychology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, UK}, author = {Jones, Barry T. and Jones, Ben C. and Thomas, Andy P. and Piper, Jessica}, citeulike-article-id = {4172286}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1360-0443.2003.00426.x}, citeulike-linkout-1 = {http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/118891230/ABSTRACT}, doi = {10.1046/j.1360-0443.2003.00426.x}, journal = {Addiction}, keywords = {addiction, face, mating, ps-allg, psychology, uniref}, number = {8}, pages = {1069--1075}, posted-at = {2009-03-13 18:15:33}, priority = {2}, title = {Alcohol consumption increases attractiveness ratings of opposite-sex faces: a possible third route to risky sex}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1360-0443.2003.00426.x}, volume = {98}, year = {2003} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:4172286 L3 - citeulike-article-id:4172286 N2 - Aims To measure the effect of moderate alcohol consumption on males' and females' attractiveness ratings of unfamiliar male and female faces.Participants   Eighty undergraduate volunteers were used in each of three experiments.Design  Participants' ratings on a 120137 scale was the dependent variable. A three-factor mixed design was used. For experiments 1 and 2: one within-factor, sex-of-face to be rated (male/female); two between-factors, sex-of-rater (male/female) and alcohol status of rater (0 UK units/120136 UK units). For experiment 3, the two levels of sex-of-face were replaced by two levels of a non-face object. In experiment 1, the faces were rated for attractiveness; in experiment 2, the faces were rated for distinctiveness and in experiment 3, the non-face objects were rated for attractiveness.Setting  Quiet, prepared corners of bars and licensed eating areas on a civic university campus.Method  For each experiment, 118 full-colour photographic images were presented randomly on a laptop computer screen, each remaining until a rating response was made.Findings  There was a significant alcohol consumption enhancement effect only for attractiveness ratings of opposite-sex faces in experiment 1. This indicates that the opposite-sex enhancement effect is not due simply to alcohol consumption causing the use of higher points of ratings scales, in general.Conclusion  Since Agocha & Cooper have shown that the likelihood of intentions to engage in risky sex increases as the facial attractiveness of the potential sexual partner increases, through the opposite-sex enhancement effect we identify a new possible link between risky sex and alcohol consumption. IS - 8 JF - Addiction AD - Department of Psychology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK; and School of Psychology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, UK EP - 1075 TI - Alcohol consumption increases attractiveness ratings of opposite-sex faces: a possible third route to risky sex VL - 98 SP - 1069 KW - addiction KW - face KW - mating KW - ps-allg KW - psychology KW - uniref AU - Jones, Barry AU - Jones, Ben AU - Thomas, Andy AU - Piper, Jessica PY - 2003/// UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1360-0443.2003.00426.x ER -