How can you explain why people's behavior sometimes seems unfair, unclear, unjustified, or inconsistent? People may be influenced by their feelings of sexual attraction towards others. According to researchers, it is possible that these feelings are linked to decision-making processes in many areas of life. This article will explore how sexualized perceptions could impact decision-making fairness, transparency, and procedural justice.
Sexualized Perceptions vs. Decision-Making Fairness
In psychology, "sexualized perception" refers to when someone perceives an object or person as sexy, desirable, attractive, or appealing because they think about having a sexual relationship with them. Sexualization can happen quickly and subconsciously, without conscious awareness of all its details. It can influence decisions made in social situations, such as relationships and workplaces, by influencing the way individuals view and evaluate their options.
If someone sees another individual as sexually attractive, they might favor him/her more than a non-attractive one. In this case, it would seem like the decision was biased.
Fairness describes treating everyone equally under similar circumstances. Transparency involves being honest and open about what you're doing and why. Procedural justice means following procedures for making decisions. All three aspects are important components of making fair decisions. A lack of any of these elements can lead to problems with decision-making fairness.
Research has found that sexualized perceptions tend to make people feel less inclined to act fairly, be transparent, or follow established procedures. One study showed that women who were asked to judge men's behavior in a sexual context tended to rate them higher on various traits compared to those evaluated neutrally.
Judging other aspects of men's personalities led to significantly lower ratings. This indicates that women may have difficulty seeing past sexualized perceptions and instead give in to stereotypes or bias.
Another experiment had participants evaluate different job candidates based on how desirable they appeared physically or emotionally. The researchers found that those who rated the candidates solely on physical appearance made more biased decisions than those who focused on emotional characteristics. Again, sexualized perceptions could have clouded judgment and prevented objective decision-making.
Experiments have shown that sexual attraction can impact transparency by increasing selfish motives and decreasing honesty.
When someone thinks about having sex with another person, they might try to hide information from them or avoid sharing it fully. Sexualization also reduces procedural justice because individuals may ignore rules or guidelines in favor of their personal feelings.
Decision-making fairness, transparency, and procedural justice can all suffer due to sexualized perceptions. People should remain aware of this influence so that they don't let it interfere with their choices in important situations.
How do sexualized perceptions affect decision-making fairness, transparency, and procedural justice?
Researchers have explored how sexualized perceptions can influence individuals' behavior when making decisions about others. In particular, research has found that people who perceive another person as sexually attractive may make less transparent and fairer judgments than those who do not find them attractive (e. g. , Cahill et al. , 2013).