Physical Attractiveness

• What is the 'Halo effect'?

  Being physically attractive makes others perceive you as having good personality traits even if they have never met you before.
• What is the 'Matching hypothesis'?

  We look for partners who are simular to ourselves in terms of physical attractiveness.

  This means we have to make a judgement about our own 'value' in order to choose a partner who we beleive is on the same level.
• Explain Walster & Walster's 'Computer dance' study (1969)


  M&F students completed a questionnaire about themselves to decide a 'partner', they were also rated for physial attractiveness by observers. They were paired up randomly despite their questionnaire.

  The most liked partners were the most physically attractive.

  Berscheid et al(1971) replicated the study where each person was able to select their partner, this time participants chose partners who matched them in terms of physical attractiveness.
• Research support for physical attractiveness.

  • Palmer & Peterson (2012)

  Physically attractive people were rated as more pollitically knowledgeable than unattractive people. This was so powerful it persisted even when they knew the better looking people had no expertise.

  This has implications for the political process, if people are considered more attractive they can be judged for office even if they are not suitable for it.
• Support for the evolutionary explanation

  • Cunningham et al (1995)

  Women who had large eyes, prominent cheekbones and a small nose were rated as highly attractive by many societies. Attractive featurs (i.e. symmetry) Are a sign of genetic fitness. (sexual selecton)
• Research challenging the matching hypothesis

  • Taylor et al (2011)

  Studied logs of an online dating site, Found that online daters sought meetings with potential partners who were more physically attractive than them.