Physical attractiveness

• How is physical attractiveness a factor that affects attraction?

  • Shackleford and Larsen (1997): facial symmetry is key in attractiveness as they are signs of genetic fitness
  • A 'baby face' or neotenuous figures attract people because they trigger protective or caring instincts
• What is the matching hypothesis?

  • Choosing someone who matches their level of attraction rather than the most attractive option
  • Opting for partners of similar social desirability to themselves can maximise their chances of a successful outcome
• How did Walster and Walster (1969) research the matching hypothesis?

  • Invited male and female students to a dance - observers rated them for physical attractiveness and got them to complete a questionnaire about themselves
  • Told that a computer would use their data to match them with a partner for the evening, but were actually paired randomly
  • Hypothesis was NOT supported - the most liked partners were the ones who were the most physically attractive
• What did Berscheid et al (1971)'s research find about the matching hypothesis?

  • Replicated Walster's study but allowed people to select their partners from people of varying degrees of attractiveness
  • Found that people would choose partners who matched them in physical attractiveness, supporting the hypothesis
• What is the halo effect?

  • Physical attractiveness tends to disproportionately cloud our judgement of people's attributes due to preconceived expectations of attractive people to have positive characteristics
• What evidence is there associating physical attractiveness with the halo effect?

  • Palmer and Peterson (2012): physically attractive people were rated as more politically knowledgeable and competent than unattractive people
  • So powerful that this persisted even when they had no particular expertise in that area
  • Suggests dangers for democracy if politicians are voted in for their good looks rather than suitability for office
• How does the evolutionary process support the physical attractiveness factor?

  • Cunningham et al. (1995): women with large eyes, prominent cheekbones, small noses and high eyebrows were rated as very attractive by white, Hispanic and Asian men
  • Shows that beauty standards of symmetry are consistent across different cultures as signs of genetic fitness
  • Strengthens explanations as attractiveness makes sense from an evolutionary perspective
• What is one limitation of the matching hypothesis theory?

  • Taylor et al. (2011): reviewed activity logs of a popular dating site found that online daters sought meetings with partners who were more physically attractive than
  • High validity as it is reviewing actual date choices over just preferences
  • Weakens explanation, undermining the validity of the hypothesis as it contradicts the central prediction of matching attractiveness