Factors Affecting Attraction in Romantic Relationships: The Halo Effect

Why does physical attractiveness matter?

because of the preconceived ideas about the personality traits attractive people must have, and they are almost universally positive.

This is the physical attractiveness stereotype

How did Dion (1972) summarise the physical attractiveness stereotype?

‘What is beautiful is good’

What is physical attractiveness?

How appealing we find a person to look at.

What is the matching hypothesis?

A person rates a potential partner for attractiveness, and compares it with their own level of attractiveness. This comparison determines whether they will pursue the person as a potential mate.

Walster(1966): The computer dance: aim

To test the "matching hypothesis," which proposes that individuals seek romantic partners with similar levels of social desirability (primarily physical attractiveness), to balance the desire for an attractive partner with the fear of rejection.

Walster(1966): The computer dance: Procedure

• Participants: 752 first-year university students (376 male, 376 female) in the U.S. were recruited for a "computer dance"

• On arrival, participants secretly had their physical attractiveness rated by a panel of four independent judges

• They also completed extensive questionnaires to assess personality, social skills, and intelligence, which they were told would be used for "ideal" computer matching

• Participants were actually paired randomly for the dance (except that men were not paired with women taller than them)

• During a midpoint intermission and in a follow-up several months later, participants rated their assigned partners and indicated whether they would like to go on a second date

Walster(1966): The computer dance: key findings

• Physical Attractiveness Dominant: The most significant factor in how much participants liked their date, and whether they would ask them out again, was their date's physical attractiveness, regardless of the participant's own attractiveness level.

• Hypothesis Not Supported (Initially): The initial study did not support the matching hypothesis; people did not exclusively prefer partners of similar attractiveness to themselves

• Both men and women were simply more satisfied with highly attractive dates

• Other Factors Insignificant: Personality and intelligence measures had no impact on initial attraction or the desire for future interaction

Walster (1966): The computer dance: Conclusions

We tend to seek and choose a partner whose attractiveness matches our own.

Evaluation of physical attractiveness: research to support the matching hypothesis

Not supported by real-world research into dating
Lindsay Taylor et al. (2011) studied the activity logs of a popular online dating site. This was a real-world test of the matching hypothesis because it measured actual date choices and not merely preferences. This is in keeping with the original hypothesis which concerned realistic as opposed to fantasy choices. The researchers found that online daters sought meetings with potential partners who were more physically attractive than them.
This undermines the validity of the matching hypothesis because it contradicts the central prediction about matching attractiveness.

Evaluation of physical attractiveness: research: Nomothetic vs idiographic

Towhey’s (1979) findings can be linked to the nomothetic–idiographic debate in relationship psychology. Nomothetic theories, such as the matching hypothesis, assume that there are universal laws of attraction that apply to everyone, including the idea that people are generally influenced by physical attractiveness. However, Towhey found significant individual differences: participants who scored highly on the MACHO scale were much more influenced by physical attractiveness when judging likeability, whereas low scorers were far less influenced or not influenced at all. This suggests that attraction cannot be fully explained by nomothetic laws alone, as people differ in the extent to which physical attractiveness matters to them. Towhey’s research therefore highlights the value of an idiographic perspective, showing that personal attitudes and characteristics shape attraction and that relationship behaviour varies between individuals.