Journal of Student Research 2019

Journal of Student Research 168 with 7% of the variability in attractiveness ratings capable of being predicted by flavor ratings. To analyze hypothesis 2: the experience of a pleasant (unpleasant) flavor will result in exaggerated positive (negative) ratings of attractiveness relative to the ratings provided by individuals who did not consume a jelly bean while rating the faces, the researchers conducted a between-subjects ANOVA. For this analysis, comparisons were made between the two experimental groups (pleasant and unpleasant flavor) relative to the responses from the participants in the baseline attractiveness group to see if the addition of a jelly bean flavor experience would modify ratings of attractiveness. This analysis resulted in a significant difference in facial attractiveness ratings, F (2, 242) = 4.99, p = .008, η 2 = .04. This is a small effect. Post hoc comparisons using the Tukey HSD test revealed that there was no significant difference between the mean scores of the pleasant (M = 8.08, SD = 1.63) and baseline ( M = 8.09, SD = 1.34) attractiveness conditions, p = .999. However, the test did reveal significant differences between the unpleasant condition ( M = 7.35, SD = 1.81) and both the pleasant ( p = .026) and baseline attractiveness conditions ( p = .010). Specifically, this finding provides partial support to the second hypothesis as the unpleasant jelly bean flavors resulted in lower ratings of attractiveness, whereas pleasant jelly bean flavors did not impact attractiveness ratings. To analyze hypothesis 3: men, relative to women, will be more negative in their ratings of the general attractiveness of faces, the researchers conducted an independent t-test. For this test, differences between those who identify as male and those who identify as female on how they rate the general attractiveness of faces was investigated. This hypothesis was supported, t (246) = -3.52, p = .001, d = .45. This is a large effect. Specifically, those who identified as male ( M = 7.34, SD = 1.50) on average provided lower ratings of attractiveness to the facial images relative to those who identified as female ( M = 8.10, SD = 1.58), supporting the hypothesis that males will be more negative in their ratings. Lastly, two between-subjects ANOVA’s were conducted to investigate whether potential sexual attraction influences the extent to which unpleasant flavor experiences influence facial attractiveness ratings. For the purpose of this exploration, participants were grouped into those who identified as being attracted to males and those who identified as being attracted to females, with those identifying as asexual being excluded. Separate analyses between the two attraction groups were necessary in order to include participants who identified as bisexual within both attraction analyses. It is important to note that these groups were predominantly comprised of straight women (88.42%) and straight men (92.00%). The researchers found that for those who identified as being attracted to males, unpleasant flavor ratings significantly decreased perceptions of attractiveness of male faces, F (2,162) = 4.35, p = .014, η 2 = .05, consistent with the finding from hypothesis 2. Post hoc analyses

Why Do You Taste So Ugly: Examination of Flavor on Perceived Attractiveness revealed that unpleasant flavors ( M = 7.19, SD = 2.07) resulted in lower ratings of attractiveness compared to ratings with the baseline attractiveness group ( M = 8.18, SD = 1.92; p = .015) group and marginally so when compared to those who ate a pleasant jelly bean ( M = 8.13, SD = 1.53; p = .058). Interestingly, the effect did not hold up for individuals who identified as being attracted to females, F (2,160) = 2.57, p = .080, η 2 = .03. For participants who identified as being attracted to females, unpleasant flavor ratings ( M = 6.78, SD = 2.03), relative to pleasant flavor ratings ( M = 7.40, SD = 1.34) and baseline attractiveness ratings ( M = 7.37, SD = 1.78), did not influence the subsequent perceptions of attractiveness female faces. bean does, indeed, impact one’s perception of attractiveness. This was especially true for those who were attracted to males, mostly straight women in this case, when viewing male facial images. However, it should be noted that while a significant effect was found, it was only evident for those who experienced an unpleasant flavored jelly bean. This partially supports the researchers’ first and second hypotheses. Experiencing a good flavor bean had no influence on perceptions of attractiveness. This finding is similar to that of Demattè and colleagues (2007) who found that ratings of attractiveness were negatively impacted by unpleasant olfactory sensations (scents of body odor and rubber) but were not significantly impacted by pleasant olfactory sensations (geranium and male fragrance). However, a possible explanation for this lack of effect in the current study may be because of the nature of the baseline attractiveness group. Participants who rated the faces on their own time may have been consuming food, or had some other pleasant flavor stimuli, such as gum, in their mouth while completing the task. Thus, it is possible that the baseline group may be more similar in makeup to the pleasant flavor group, relative to a truly neutral (no flavor) group. This is important to note as other previous research supports that pleasant sensations can impact attractiveness perceptions, specifically with a pleasant scent (jasmine) leading to increased ratings of facial attractiveness (Cook et al, 2017). Future iterations of this study would benefit from utilizing a control condition instead of just a baseline facial attractiveness group for comparison. The third hypothesis was supported by the results showing that males were overall more critical when judging the facial image set overall. Those who identified as male rated the facial attractiveness of the faces more negatively compared to those who identified as female. Overall, the findings of the current study indicate that bad flavors have the strongest influences on ratings made by individuals attracted to males which in this sample was predominantly straight women. It is important to note some limitations that could have impacted the data. As previously mentioned, the baseline group, may not have served as a very strong Discussion The overall results of the study suggest that the flavor of a disgusting jelly

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