Physical attractiveness

Physical attractiveness

An important factor in the formation of romantic relationships.

Applies specifically to how appealing we find a person’s face.

General agreement within and across cultures about what is considered physically attractive and an assumption that we seek to form relationships with the most attractive people available.

Matching hypothesis

The belief that we do not select the most attractive person as a prospective partner but instead are attracted to a person who matches us in physical attractiveness.

Implies that we take into account our own attractiveness value to others when seeking a romantic partner.

Evolutionary explanations

Shackelford and Larsen

People with symmetrical faces are rated as more attractive. Sign of genetic health as it requires robust genes and is difficult to fake.

People who mate with a genetically healthy partner are then more likely to have offspring who survive, perpetuating the person’s genes.

People are attracted to faces with neotenous features like large eyes, delicate chin and a small nose - elicit a protective instinct.

The halo effect

We have preconceived ideas about personality traits that attractive people have which are mostly positive - Physical attractiveness stereotype.

Dion found attractive people are consistently rated as kind, strong and sociable compared to unattractive people.

The belief that good-looking people have these characteristics makes them more attractive to us so we behave positively towards them.

1 distinguishing feature has a disproportionate influence on our judgement on other attributes.

Walster + Walster study

PROCEDURE

Students were invited to a dance.

They were rated for physical attractiveness at the start by objective observers.

Also completed a questionnaire which asked about self esteem and personality.

They were told that the answers would be used by a computer to decide their partner.

Walster + Walster study

FINDINGS

Matching hypothesis was not supported.

Physically attractive partners were the ones who were liked more and were more likely to be asked on another date.

Berscheid replicated the study but each participant could choose their partners from people of varying degrees of attractiveness. They chose partners who matched them in physical attractiveness.

Walster + Walster study

CONCLUSIONS

We seek partners whose attractiveness matches our own.

If we judge ourselves a 6/10 then we seek a mate of a similar level of attractiveness.

Choice of partner is a compromise as we risk rejection in selecting the most attractive people so we settle on those who are physically in our league.

S Cunningham

Research support for evolutionary process

Found that women with large eyes, prominent cheekbones, a small nose and high eyebrows were rated as highly attractive by white, hispanic and asian men.

Concluded that what is considered physically attractive is consistent across different cultures.

Suggests that symmetrical attractive features are a sign of genetic fitness/evolutionary process.

S Batres + Shiramizu

Cross-cultural support for the halo effect

Asked participants from 45 countries to rate 120 faces on 13 personality traits, some desirable and some not.

Attractiveness positively correlated with the socially desirable traits.

The face of more attractive men and women were rated as more intelligent, confident, trustworthy, emotionally stable, responsible and sociable.

Suggests that the halo effect is evident across the world and that it may influence our judgement of multiple other traits in potential partners.

W Taylor

Matching hypothesis is not supported by real-world research into dating.

Studied activity logs of an online dating site. Real-world test of the matching hypothesis as it measured actual date choices rather than preferences.

Online daters sought meetings with partners who were more physically attractive than them.

Undermines the validity of the matching hypothesis as it contradicts the central prediction about matching attractiveness.

S Murstein

Matching hypothesis supported by real-world evidence

Got physical attractiveness ratings from independent judges for 197 couples.

Significant positive correlation in attractiveness levels between real partners. Genuine partners rated more similarly than randomly paired control group.

Supports matching hypothesis as it demonstrates when people form long-term romantic bonds, their behaviour reflects a choice based on matching similarity rather than seeking the most attractive person.

Increases the internal validity of the hypothesis as an explanation for how relationships are formed.

W Touhey

Ignores individual differences in how people value looks

Asked participants to rate others based on a photo and biographical information and were given a questionnaire (MACHO scale)

People who score higher were more influenced by physical attractiveness but those who scored low were unaffected by looks.

Suggests that the factor is reductionist as it fails to account for personality variables and individual differences