Evaluation

• Research support for halo effect - Physical attractiveness is associated with a halo effect. eg. Palmer and Peterson (2012) found physically attractive people were perceived as more politically knowledgeable and competant than unattractive people. This was persisted even when even when participants knew these people had no particular expertise. This suggests there are dangers of being misjudged as suitable for office due to their physical attractiveness.
• Evolutionary explanation - Research into physical attractiveness aids evolutionary explanation as it is a trait that is passed on to offspring. Eg. Cunningham (1995) found that women with features such as large eyes, small noses were rated as highly attractive by white, hispanic and asian men. Researchers concluded that there was a consistency in what was seen as attractive across societies eg. face symmetry in all cultures. Therefore, importance of PA can make sense at evolutionary levels.
• Research challenging the matching hypothesis - It is not supported by real world research into dating. eg. Taylor (2011) studied activity logs of online dating sites. This was a naturalistic observation and was a real test because it measured actual date choices and were not merely preferences. it was found that online daters sought meetings from individuals who were more physically attractive than them. This does not support the matching hypothesis.
• However, choosing individuals for dating may be different to selecting for a romantic relationship. Feingold (1988) carried out a meta analysis of 17 studies and found a significant correlation in ratings of individuals between partners therefore supports the matching hypothesis and it is valid due to the large number of studies (17).
• I+D link - Beta bias - because it minimises the differences between men and women where both genders aim to find a partner on a similar attractive scale.
• Nature - Biological and innate genetic features which are encoded on the genotype and are inherited from parents
• Nurture - The impacts of external factors on the behaviour or thoughts of an individual. eg. cultural preferences and media affecting perspective.
• Nomothetic approach - creating laws generalising assumptions from collective preferences. eg. halo effect and matching hypothesis.