The Curious Case of Disregarded Feedback: Women's Responses to Mating Relevant Feedback from Same and Opposite Sex Others

Abstract

This study examined women's responses to appearance-based feedback from same- and opposite-sex others. Given the roles that men and women play in mating contexts, with men posing as potential mates while women pose as potential competitors, we hypothesized that women should be distrustful of appearance-based feedback from same-sex others. Heterosexual, undergraduate female participants completed a two-part experiment assessing their self-perceived physical attractiveness at two time points. A baseline measure of self-perceived attractiveness was collected in an online survey. The second measure of physical attractiveness was taken after participants were led to believe alleged same- or opposite-sex others had rated their appearance positively or negatively. Results revealed that the sex of feedback source had no effect on perceptions of physical attractiveness. However, an effect of feedback source sex was found for changes in desired levels of physical attractiveness for a mate. Women who received negative feedback from same-sex others reported placing a lesser emphasis on a prospective mating partner's attractiveness in a long-term, but not short-term mating contexts. Our findings suggest that women respond more to appearance-based derogation from other women than they do when that derogation comes from men, supporting appearance derogation as an effective competitive mating strategy.