Physical attractiveness

• Physical attractiveness:

  • Men place high value on PA of their female partners
  • A women's PA - Indication of health then fertility - Reflect evolutionary ideas
• Physical attractions:

  • Shackelford + Larsen: People with symmetrical faces - Rated more attractive
  • Neotenous (Baby face): Trigger protective and caring instincts - Attachment in infancy
  • Evolutionary explanation - Features that strengthen attachment are adoptive
• The Halo effect:

  • PA matters - Preconceived ideas about the personality traits an attractive person must have
  • Dion: people are consistently rated kind, strong, sociable and successful compared to unattractive people
  • Belief that good looking people have these characteristics - More attractive to us so behave positively towards them
• The matching hypothesis:

  • Couples are paired up with those who are similar in terms of PA
  • Handsome man and beautiful woman - date and marry each other when plainer counterparts pair
  • 'Staying in your league'
• Evaluation of PA - Research support for the halo effect:

  • Palmer and Peterson: Found physically attractive people - Rated more politically knowledgeable and competent than unattractive people - Implications in political process
  • Dangers for democracy

  Strength: In many other areas of life
• Evaluation of PA - Individual differences:

  • Towhey: Asked to rate how much they like a target individual based on a photo and information + Completed a questionnaire (Measure sexist attitudes and behaviour)
  • Scored higher on the scale - More influenced by physical attractiveness of the target making judgement of likeability

  Limitation: Effects of physical attractiveness can be moderated by other factors - Challenges it being significant
• Evaluation of PA - Research support for the matching hypothesis

  Feingold:

  • Meta-analysis of around 20 studies
  • Findings - Significant correlation in ratings of attractiveness between romantic partners

  Strength: Supportive of matching hypothesis because studies looked at actual partners - More realistic