Peter,

This small study (N=98) did not find any effect on skin tone in a sample of US Mexicans. Sample size seems sufficiently to find a moderate effect, but cannot rule out a small effect. How large effect size would you estimate that skin tone plays in attractiveness ratings? E.g. r=0.2?

http://evp.sagepub.com/content/14/1/1474704916631614.full

Good stuff. Although one could argue that it's not the skin color but the facial features or hair/eye color that make a population more attractive than the other. Anyway, good call! It's not a bad idea to include empirical studies looking at the relationship between race-typical physical variables and attractiveness. There are many studies showing an association in the expected direction. http://en.metapedia.org/wiki/Race_and_physical_attractiveness#Skin_color_and_facial_studies

This small study (N=98) did not find any effect on skin tone in a sample of US Mexicans.

Emil,

There were two parts in that study. In the first part, the male participants were shown images of women and asked to rate their attractiveness. Ratings were not higher for lighter-skinned women than for darker-skinned women.

In the second part, the eye movements of the male participants were tracked. The participants viewed the lighter-skinned women for a longer period than the darker-skinned women:

Although participants did not rate the light skin tone as more attractive than the dark one on the Likert-type scale, they spent significantly greater time viewing the light-skinned images than the dark-skinned ones when making the intuitive attractiveness response (i.e., YES/NO). This suggests greater visual interest in the images with lighter skin.

So which measurement is more truthful? I would argue that the second one is. I would also argue that it is useless to question people directly on anything pertaining to skin color, unless you're questioning very young children. You will not get a truthful response. That's the reality of life in the early 21st century.

This small study (N=98) did not find any effect on skin tone in a sample of US Mexicans.

Emil,

There were two parts in that study. In the first part, the male participants were shown images of women and asked to rate their attractiveness. Ratings were not higher for lighter-skinned women than for darker-skinned women.

In the second part, the eye movements of the male participants were tracked. The participants viewed the lighter-skinned women for a longer period than the darker-skinned women:

Although participants did not rate the light skin tone as more attractive than the dark one on the Likert-type scale, they spent significantly greater time viewing the light-skinned images than the dark-skinned ones when making the intuitive attractiveness response (i.e., YES/NO). This suggests greater visual interest in the images with lighter skin.

So which measurement is more truthful? I would argue that the second one is. I would also argue that it is useless to question people directly on anything pertaining to skin color, unless you're questioning very young children. You will not get a truthful response. That's the reality of life in the early 21st century.

Apparently not just women lie when it comes to judging physical appearance, but men do so, too. There was a study showing that women's answers to men's photos when told they had a lie detector on were very different from their answers when they had nothing on. The same phenomenon could be happening with the men in this study.
In general, subconscious responses to sexy stimuli are much more reliable than conscious responses. You should include a brief review of these studies in your paper.

Emil, Duxide,

I've added new material on pages 7 and 8, plus a new section on pages 21 to 23. Comments are welcome. I'll send this new version to the outside reviewer next Thursday.

Emil, Duxide,

I've added new material on pages 7 and 8, plus a new section on pages 21 to 23. Comments are welcome. I'll send this new version to the outside reviewer next Thursday.

Good work. I approve.

Emil,

Would it be acceptable if I put: "and other direct measures of a person's mental state."

I'm not sure whether the word "unconscious" is appropriate. Part of the problem is that the participants in these studies are conscious of their feelings toward skin color but are not accurately reporting them.

Emil,

Please withdraw my manuscript. I haven't been able to find a third reviewer for it and probably won't be able, given the limited time I have available.

Sincerely,

Peter

Peter,
you should have asked me as I am the editor of OBG. And I suggest you publish this paper as preprint on Figshare or www.preprints.org