Factors affecting physical attractiveness

What are 3 factors affecting physical attraction?

1. Physical attractiveness

2. Self disclosure

3. filter theory

Outline physical attractiveness

MUST KNOW - The matching hypothesis

memorise either halo effect or evolutionary exp

Whats the matching hypothesis?

🟉 Walster et al

🟉 ppl r attracted to others who have similar lv of attractiveness to their own

🟉 seek ppl who are similar to ourselves like IQ, athleticism etc

🟉 Self esteem influences process as well - low self esteem target ppl less likely to reject.

high self esteem = believe no one will reject & target ppl who might be 'out of their league'

evolutionary explanation

▶ Symmetrical faces = more attractive cos genetically fit

▶ baby face hypothesis - ppl attracted to neotenous feature like large eyes small noses cos creates protective & caring instincts in us

Halo effect

▸ features of attractiveness can have a disproportionate but pos effect on expectations of their personality

▸ stems from stereotypes & preconceived ideas we have ab ppl & belief more attractive a person is the better they are overall

Evaluate physical attractiveness

✔ Supporting research

✘ contradicting research

✘ Individual differences

✔ Universal (check)

Supporting research for physical attractiveness

✔ Feingold (matching hypothesis)

meta analysis 17 studies & found a significant correlation in rating of attractive between romantic partners

✔ Palmer & Palmer (Halo effect)

physically attractive ppl were rated as more politically competent & knowledgeable than unattractive ppl

Contradicting research (pa)

✘ Taylor

▪ studied activity logs of online dating web & measures actual date choices

▪ online daters sought partners who were MORE physically attractive than them - DID NOT consider their own level of attractiveness when deciding who to date

although this contradicts the matching hypothesis in real life current dating habits, it might

be easier to choose partners 'out of their league' on a dating website as they have a decreased chance of rejection (support)

Indiv differences (pa)

✘ some ppl dont put as much importance on physical attractiveness so unlikely to use this factor when determining potential partners

✘ correlation w ppl w sexist attitudes r more likely to place importance on physical attractiveness

Also seen in differences between cultures where arranged marriage is norm - fam members judge potential partners & place less importance on physical features

Universality (pa)

✔ Cunningham/Buss found what is considered to be attractive is a universal trait and the same

features (large eyes, prominent cheekbones and high eyebrows) were seen as attractive in ALL cultures. This suggests it is an evolutionary trait and not 'learned' through social stereotypes

of beauty.

What is self disclosure?

the process of revealing personal information about yourself. Romantic Partners reveal more about their true selves as the relationships develop -> strengthen a romantic bond (trust) when used.

Outline Self Disclosure

Altman & Taylor - The Social Penetration Theory

▹ If one partner reveals personal information they show trust - causes the other partner to reveal sensitive information. As they increasingly disclose more and more information to each other, they gain a greater understanding of each other.

▹ there are factors that influence attraction via disclosure :

1. appropriateness for disclosure

2. Gender differences (men disclosing more attractive cos unusual)

3. content of disclosure

Evaluate self disclosure

✔ research support

✔ Applications

✘ Correlation - simplistic

✘ cultural differences

Applications for self disclosure

✔ applied to relationship counselling - particularly improvement in communication between partners

✔ Disclosure during counselling is often encouraged to promo satisfaction within a relationship

Research support for self disclosure

✔ Sprecher & Hendrick - studies heterosexual couples & found strong correlations between several measures of satisfaction & self disclosure

✔ Dindia & Allen - performed meta analysis to find females, more than males, regarded intimate disclosure as a development of closeness --> judges men who did this to be more attractive

Cultural differences in self-disclosure

✘ Self disclosure theory tends to stem from indiv cultures - not generalisable

Tang et al - men & woman from USA disclosed more sexual thoughts & feelings than those in China

correlation in self disclosure

✘ Research conducted using self report techniques - therefore results only rely on correlation (not cause and effect). This could suggest that there's a third variable (eg common interests) and we don't know which variable causes what [ satisfaction inc cld lead to inc in disclosure]

✘ this makes self disclosure simplistic

What is the filter theory?

Kerckhoff & Davis

▸relationships are formed based on a series of diff factors that progressively limits the range of available romantic partners to a much smaller pool of possibilities

▸ 3 main factors that act as 'filters' to narrow down range of partner choice

▸ each factor assumes diff lvs of importance at diff stages within a relationship

What are the 3 factors of filter theory?

1. Social Demography

2. Similarity in Attitudes

3. Complementary

Social demography

➳ people who others are most likely to meet due to accessibility

➳ include factors like geographical location, social class, lv of education, ethnic grp, religion etc

➳ may also be constrained to social circumstances - similar class, lv of education, economic bckg to ourselves

Similarity in attitudes

➳ focus on meeting & socialising w each other ∴ being exposed to to each other's beliefs, values & attitudes

➳ ppl who disclose infor & have similar attitudes r more likely to be attracted to one another

➳ tends to be important for couples tgth LESS THAN 18 months

➳ similarity important in early stages of relationship

Complementary

➳ extent couple is able to meet eachothers needs, esp emotional ones

➳ partners can compliment each other w traits that the other lacks - opposites attract

➳ important in long term relationships & helps create deeper, committed & long lasting relationships

evaluate filter theory

✔ research support

✘ contradicting research

✘ simplistic

✘ cause & effect

✘ temporal validity

✘ age difference

research support for filter theory

✔ Winch found evidence that similarity in personality, interests & attitudes between partners r typical in early stages of a relationship

Contradicting research for filter theory

✘ Levinger found many studies failed to replicate the og findings that formed basis of filter theory

Suggested clld be caused by social changes overtime, difficulty operationalising depth of relationship in terms of length

- Assumes that partners who have been tgth longer were more committed BUT this may not be the case

Simplistic - filter theory

✘ most research has been conducted on heterosexual relationships in western cultures ∴ cant generalise findings - esp w cultures that have arranged marriage as norm, have diff priorities & factors forming relationships

cause and effect - filter theory

✘ research is correlational -> successful relationships cld cause a similarity in attitudes & values

Anderson et al

longitudinal study - cohabiting partners became more similar in their emotional responses over time - emotional convergence. if attitudes change overtime = suggests that its affect of relationship NOT CAUSE

temporal validity - filter theory

✘ ONLINE DATING - changed process of forming romantic relationships & had reduced the importance of social demographic variables

+ ppl r much more likely to date outside their religious, ethnic or social class bckg

age difference filter theory

✘ age factor is not accounted by filter theory

on avg female is 2-3 yrs younger than the male -> exp by evolutionary theory [women prefer older, resourceful men, men prefer younger attractive females] than the filter theory