Host: The Japanese Society for Cognitive Psychology
Previous studies showed that meat is associated with masculinity and men’s attractiveness for women. We examined whether heterosexual people would perceive the faces of the same sex to be more attractive after seeing or eating meat. Seventy-three participants were randomly assigned to a meat or a vegetable group, and rated the pictures of six slides of averaged faces (a) during the baseline period, (b) after seeing meat/vegetable, and (c) after eating meat/vegetable. The results revealed that men in the meat group were likely to perceive male faces to be more attractive than the vegetable group, whether after seeing (p=.017, r=.50) or eating (p=.049, r=.41) them. Women were likely to rate female faces to be the most attractive after just seeing both meat and vegetable (ps<.026, .54<r<.81). Meat might be specifically associated with male attractiveness for men, whereas the desire for food might enhance female attractiveness for women.
