AO3

• Research support for the halo effect

  Palmer and Peterson found that physically attractive people were rated as more politically knowledgable and competent than unattractive people. This finding has implications for the political process. Suggests there are dangers for democracy if politicians are judged as suitable for office just because they are considered physically attractive by enough voters
• Research support for evolutionary processes

  Cunninghan et al. found that women who had features like larger eyes, prominent cheekbones, small nose and high eyebrows were rated as highly attractive by white, Hispanic and Asian men. Researchers concluded that what is considered physically attractive is consistent across different societies. Attractive features are a sign of genetic fitness and therefore perpetuated similarly in all cultures (sexual selection)
• The Matching hypothesis is not supported by real world research into dating

  Taylor et al. studied the activity logs of a popular online dating website. This as a real world test of the matching hypothesis because it measured actual dating choices and not merely preferences. Researchers found that online daters sought meetings with partners who were physically more attractive than them
• Counterpoint to matching hypothesis not being supported by real world research

  Choosing individuals for dating could be considered a different situation from selecting a partner for a long-term romantic relationship. Feingold carried out a meta analysis of 17 studies and found a significant correlation in rating of physical attractiveness between romantic partners
• Just because online daters seek more attractive potential partners does not mean that they get them. So dating selection may just as ‘fantasy’ as it is in laboratory research. Therefore there is support for the matching hypothesis from studies of real world established romantic partners
• Who conducted a meta-analysis that supported the matching hypothesis?

  Feingold
• Feingold found that romantic partners had similar self ratings of attractiveness
• What has an impact on the importance of physical attractiveness?

  Individual differences
• Who found support for the role of individual differences?

  Towhey
• What did Towhey et al. find?

  Those who were more likely to display sexist attitudes according to the MACHO scale were more likely to be influenced by physical attractiveness when asked how much they would like a particular person