physical attractiveness

• The babyface hypothesis (Berry & MacArthur, 1986) rests on the assumption that people are drawn to the appealing, unthreatening features of babies e.g. large eyes, soft skin, blemish free appearance as these act as social releasers prompting nurture and feelings of protectiveness in the observer. More childlike traits are ascribed to more baby faced individuals of many ages and races.
• The matching hypothesis by Walster in 1966 suggests the more socially desirable a person (in terms of physical attractiveness and social standing) is the more desirable they would expect a romantic partner to be. An individual would most often choose to date a partner of approximately their own attractiveness due to taking a realistic approach and the probability of the person saying yes.
• Walster's 1966 computer dance study had 752 buy tickets for a computer dance, where they were told information that they gave would be fed into a computer and provide an ideal match. They were actually randomly assigned any partner. Students were asked how much they liked their partner after 2 hours. Those who were physically attractive were liked the most. Men asked out partners if he found her attractive, regardless of how attractive they were.
• The computer dance study has high ecological validity because it was in a naturalistic setting. However, this study does not support the matching hypothesis because there were unexpected results, men asked women out regardless of their attractiveness.
• The halo effect suggests physically attractive people are rated as kind strong sociable and successful compared to unattractive people. The belief that good looking people will have such characteristics makes them more attractive to us so we behave more positively towards them.
• The matching hypothesis doesn't account for individual differences. Not all people place importance on physical attractiveness.