Positions of Faces on Screens Dictate Attractiveness

In a new scientific study, it is revealed that people tend to rate a person's attractiveness and power levels based on the place their images occupy on a computer screen. This is especially true for women looking at men and vice-versa, researchers say, adding that these peculiar results merit more study. Details of the investigation appear in the latest issue of the scientific journal Social Cognition.

It has been determined that, for men, the attractiveness is usually found in the lower part of the screen. That is to say, when men looked at pictures of women spread across the screen, they tended to find those that were lower in the screen more attractive. Conversely, the situation was different for women, who tended to exhibit the same type of thinking, but for men at the top of the image. The work was conducted at the Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania, and was led by psychology experts Brian Meier and Sarah Dionne, Nature News reports.

The group believes that one possible explanation for this may lie within how we perceive power levels. In the case of men, it's widely known that they prefer women that are in lower positions of power, both objectively, and when compared with themselves. This may account for why the lower part of the screen seems more attractive. The researchers hypothesize that the concept of power is very tightly linked to actual spatial directions, such as up and down – hence the expressions “up the corporate ladder” and “king of the hill,” they add. As men prefer women of lower position, they unconsciously connect the two elements together.

On the other hand, women always look for men that are more successful, and that accounts for why they find images displayed in the upper parts of a computer screen more attractive. In evolutionary psychology terms, women are looking for men of established social power and resources, whereas men look for traits such as youthfulness and faithfulness in less socially accomplished females. The investigation was conducted on 29 men and 50 women, all of whom were students (average age 19) at the College. “That this study shows changes in human attraction because of mere changes in screen position is impressive. This is a big step forward from our reaction-time findings,” Lisbon University Institute psychologist Thomas Schubert says.