Ying Hu^1,2 (), Natalie Kate Bendiksen³, Xiaolan Fu^1,2, Alice J. O’Toole³; ¹State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China, ²Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China, ³The University of Texas at Dallas, School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences

A person’s body shape spontaneously elicits first impressions of personality traits (e.g., lazy, extraverted). Previous research on Americans identified a trait space structured by valence (positive vs. negative) and agency (active vs. passive) (Hu et al., 2018). Here, we explore the generalizability of this structure for Chinese participants. American (41 females, 39 males) and Chinese (40 females, 40 males) participants rated 140 three-dimensional bodies across 30 personality traits, categorized by the Big Five domains (Extraversion, Conscientiousness, Openness, Agreeableness, Neuroticism). For Americans, dimensionality reduction analyses of trait ratings replicated Hu et al. (2018)’s valence (explained variance: 60.73% for female bodies, 53.71% for male bodies) and agency (female: 8.23%, male: 8.82%) dimensions. The trait space for Chinese participants, however, exhibited dimensions of valence (female: 61.34%, male: 59.26%) and Extraversion (female: 10.32%, male: 9.01%). Multiple linear regression with cross validation showed that body shape parameters predicted the pattern of trait inferences, as well as specific traits for both cultures. Conscientiousness and Extraversion were best predicted for Americans; Conscientiousness, Openness, and Neuroticism were best predicted for Chinese. Cross-culture correlations on same bodies showed large-scale correlations (⍴ ranges: 0.24 to 0.81) that were higher for Conscientiousness and Openness than for Extraversion. Americans associated skinnier bodies with both Conscientiousness and Extraversion, whereas Chinese individuals associated skinnier bodies with Conscientiousness and sturdier body shapes with Extraversion. These findings underscore the cultural similarities in valence/Conscientiousness inferences and the cultural differences in agency and Extraversion inferences. Valence/Conscientiousness generalized across culture, suggesting its adaptive function for selecting healthy and successful partners. Conversely, agency and Extraversion varied culturally, showing social motivation in selecting higher agency and more extraverted partners for social exchange in Americans compared to Chinese individuals. This study pioneers the exploration of cultural influences on body trait impressions, contributing to the development of a theory with broader global applicability.

Acknowledgements: This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (No.E3JJ032520 and No.62276259). The author Y.H. was also supported by the Scientific Foundation of Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. E1CX4625CX) while preparing this manuscript.