physical attractiveness

• importance of physical attraction

  • evolutionary explanations say traits associated with attractiveness act as good indications of health
  • therefore choosing an attractive partner is the best way of ensuring healthy partner and child
  • perceived health is important - able to bear children (women), provide for the familiy (men), means there is a good chance genes will carry on to produce heathy offspring
  • shackleford and larson - symmetrical faces = more attractive as a sign of good genes
• babyface hypothesis

  • neotenuous faces (baby faces) trigger a caring instinct as we are evolved to care for our young
  • widely separated large eyes, small chin and nose
  • mcnaulty - attractiveness is not only important at the start of the relationship, but initial attractiveness can be an important feature of a relationship after the marriage for at least several years
• the halo effect

  • preconceived ideas about the traits attractive people must have are universally positive
  • physical attractiveness stereotype - dion 'what is beautiful is good'
  • dion fond attractive people are consistently rated as kind, sociable, successful compared to unattractive people
  • belief attractive people actually have these characteristics makes them even more attractive to us, so we behave positively towards them - self fulfilling prophecy
  • one distinguishing feature tends to have a disproportionate influence on judgements of a person
• is physical attractiveness important ?

  • people who are attractive gain advantages
  • stewart - attractive people get lighter criminal sentences
  • hunsberger and cavanagh - students rate attractive teachers as nicer and happier than unattractive ones
• the matching hypothesis - walster

  • people choose romantic partners who are of roughly similar attractiveness to eachother
  • people wish to avoid rejection by going for someone out of their league, so choose someone they feel is the best they can get
  • STAGES

  1. more socially desirable someone is , more desirable they would expect their partner to be
  2. couples who are matched in social desirability are more likely to have happy, enduring relationships
  3. person rates a potential partner for attractiveness and compares it with their own level, this determines whether they will pursue the person as a potential mate
• support for halo effect :) - palmer and peterson

  • attractive people are rated as more politically knowledgeable and competent than unattractive people
  • persisted even when Ps knew the people had no expertise
  • DANGERS
  • if they have no expertise they will not be able to do the job as well as another person with experience but might be unattractive
  • bad implications with political decisions being made
  • more attractive politicians can get more votes / get away with corrupt things
• is attractiveness that important :( - individual differences

  • towhey - gave men and women photos and info about people and asked them to judge how much they would like the individuals
  • also completed MACHO scale questionnaire - measuring sexist attitudes and behaviours
  • Ps scoring highly on the MACHO scale were significantly more influenced by attractiveness of individuals
  • the theory that attractiveness is meant to be universal, but ut shows it isn't for everyone and there are personality factors that can come into play for everyone
• support for matching hypothesis :) - feingold

  • meta analysis of 17 studies
  • correlation in ratings of attractiveness between romantic partners
  • actual partners, more realistic approach
• contradicting matching hypothesis :( - computer dance study

  • 752 students were randomly assigned any partner and when booking an unseen observer marked them on attractiveness
  • after 2 hours were asked how much they liked their partner
  • attractive ones were liked the most, and men asked out a partner if they found her attractive, regardless of how attractive they were themselves
  • contradicts matching hypothesis - shows people dont always go for the same level of attractiveness as them, they go higher and dont consider their own level of attractiveness
• contradicting matching hypothesis :( - taylor

  • activity logs of online dating site (actual date choices rather than preferences)
  • keeping in line with OG, concerning realistic as opposed to fantasy choices
  • online daters sought partners who were more attractive than them, seemingly not considering their own level of attractiveness when considering who to date
  • contradicts - shows people dont always go for the same level of attractiveness as them, they go higher and dont consider their own level of attractiveness
• role of cultueral influences

  • research shows what us considered attractive is quite consistent across cultures
  • cunningham - female neotenuous features were as highly attractive by white, hispanic and asian men
  • attractive stereotype is culturally persuasive - wheeler and kim = korean and american students judges attractive people to be more friendly and trustworthy
  • stereotype is just as strong in collectivist cultures as it is in individualist cultures
• methodological issues :( with attractiveness

  • judging attractiveness on the basis of 1 photo is difficult and can bias the rating - angles, makeup, lighting
  • one person may look completely different in 2 photos