Effects of bowing and physical characteristics on perception of attractiveness

Abstract

The act of bowing is common in Japan and is generally believed to contribute substantially to establish-ing positive first impressions. Recently, Osugi & Kawahara （ 2015 ） empirically investigated the influences of bowing on perceptions of attractiveness & reported that mildly tilting motions of a portrait image, which mimicked bowing, enhanced perceptions of attractiveness. The present series of studies further examines the modulation of bowing effects. The results of Study 1 indicate that bowing effects are independent of the physical attractiveness of faces （ Experiments 1 and 2 ） , gender contrasts （ Experiment 3 ） , and contrasts between human and non-human objects （ Experiment 4 ） . These results suggest that the visual system combines bowing effects and physical characteristics independently and additively in evaluating the subjective attractiveness of faces. Moreover, the results of Study 2, which investigates whether such tendencies are consistent with metacognitions about bowing effects, indicate a discrepancy between the experimental results and metacognition towards bowing effects, such that people estimate smaller effects of bowing non-human agents and less attractive humans.