Treating Objects like Women: The Impact of Terror Management and Objectification on the Perception of Women's Faces

Abstract

According to terror management theory, humans are threatened by the awareness of death and counter this threat by investing in cultural systems that make them feel like they are more than mortal animals. Based on this proposition, it has been argued that women's bodies pose a unique existential threat, as they remind humans of their similarity to other biological organisms. However, no research thus far has examined how death awareness impacts perceptual assessments of women. The current study examined the effect of heightened death-awareness on perceptions of women's faces, utilizing face-morphing techniques that create a range of artificial-to-real faces. Results indicated that following a death-awareness induction, participants perceived artificial female faces as less artificial, but not necessarily more attractive. MS did not predict perceptions of male faces. These results suggest that existential concerns about death have an impact on perceptual assessments of women.