Physical Attraction

• What does the halo effect describe?

  Influence of attractiveness on personality judgments
• What preconceived ideas do we have about attractive people?

  They possess positive personality traits
• What is the physical attractiveness stereotype?

  • Positive traits attributed to attractive people
  • Influences judgments about their personality
• Who conducted the study related to the halo effect in 1972?

  Dion et al.
• What were the tasks participants had to do in Dion et al.'s study?

  Rate pictures, match dates, justify matches
• What is the matching hypothesis related to?

  Attractiveness in dating preferences
• What was the setup of the Computer Dance Study by Walster et al. (1966)?

  • 752 students participated
  • Information fed into a computer for 'ideal match'
  • Participants were randomly assigned partners
  • Attractiveness rated by an observer
• What did students do after spending time with their dates in the Computer Dance Study?

  Rated how much they liked their partner
• What was a key finding regarding attractiveness in the Computer Dance Study?

  Physically attractive partners were liked the most
• What behavior did men exhibit in the study regarding attractiveness?

  Asked out partners they found attractive
• What question arises from the findings of the Computer Dance Study?

  Do they support or refute the matching hypothesis?
• What are the strengths of the halo effect evaluation?

  • Research support for the halo effect
  • Palmer & Peterson (2012) findings
• What are the strengths of the evaluation regarding evolutionary processes?

  • Research support for evolutionary processes
  • Cunningham et al. (1995) findings
• What are the weaknesses of the matching hypothesis evaluation?

  • Real-world research does not support it
  • Taylor et al. (2011) study on online dating
• What did Taylor et al. (2011) study focus on?

  Actual dating choices, not fantasy preferences
• What is a counterpoint regarding dating choices and real-world romance?

  • Dating choices differ from real-world romance
  • Feingold’s (1988) meta-analysis supports matching hypothesis
• What did Feingold’s (1988) meta-analysis find?

  Significant correlation in attractiveness ratings
• How do ideals in dating selection manifest in research?

  People express ideals in both dating and lab research