Relationship between facial attractiveness and pupil diameter in young adults
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15448/1980-8623.2019.2.30033Keywords:
pupil diameter, facial attractiveness, young adults.Abstract
The objective of this study was to investigate whether there is a relationship between pupil diameter and facial attractiveness. Participated in the study 60 young adults (30 men and 30 women) between 18 and 26 years of age (M = 20.65, SD = 2.20). Ten different unfamiliar neutral faces (five men and five women) were used as stimuli. The pupil diameter of each face was manipulated with pupil diameters of 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 mm (10 faces x 5 pupil diameters = 50 stimuli). A two-step study was carried out with the same sample and the same sets of faces, seeking to understand the difference of responses between subjects of both sexes. In phase I, result indicated a significant difference in relation to the pupil diameter factor for both the men (ꭓ² = 21.93, p < .05) and the women (ꭓ² = 44.73, p < .05). In phase II, the results indicated significant differences in relation to the pupil size [F (1, 234) = 19.06, p < 0.05]. The post hoc Tukey HSD test showed that both the men and the women differently judged the faces with a pupil diameter of 2 mm in relation to the faces with pupil diameters of 3, 4, 5 and 6 mm (p < .05). Also, a significant difference between the diameter of 5 mm in relation to the diameter of 3 mm (p < .05). In general, the results indicate that the pupil diameter is a structural component of the human face that plays an important role in the process of judging facial attractiveness.
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