Factors Affecting Attraction - Physical Attractiveness and Matching Hypothesis

Attraction to physical appearance…

• In general we are more attracted to people who are physically attractive

• This is often an initial factor in romantic interest and plays a key role in partner selection

Evolutionary explanation…

From an evolutionary perspective, physical attractiveness signals good health and strong genetic fitness. Traits such as

• Facial symmetry is seen as a sign of genetic health

• Clear skin, good physique and other aesthetic features may indicate the potential to produce healthy offspring

• Resources or appearance of status can also play a role, especially in long term mate selection

We are subconsciously driven to choose partners with the best possible genes to enhance the survival chances of our offspring

The halo effect…

• The halo effect refers to the cognitive bias where people assume that someone who is physically attractive also has positive personality traits

• Eg attractive people are often judged to be more intelligent, more sociable and more hardworking

• This bias can result in people treating attractive individuals more positively, giving them more opportunities, which may lead them to actually become more successful in life - a kind of self fulfilling prophecy

Matching hypothesis…

Proposed by Walster et al, the matching hypothesis states that we do not always pursue the most attractive person, but rather someone of similar physical attractiveness to ourselves. This is a realistic strategy based on self assessment of our own attractiveness

What are the key assumptions of the matching hypothesis?

• We appraise our own value in the ‘romantic marketplace’

• We are more likely to seek out and form relationships with people of a similar attractiveness level

• This helps us avoid rejection from partners who may be ‘out of our league’

• Choosing a similarly attractive partner can help maintain relationship stability, as we are less likely to fear they’ll leave us for someone ‘better’

AO3 - Palmer and Peterson (2012)

Found that physically attractive people were rated as more politically knowledgeable and competent than unattractive people. This supports the halo effect as one feature (physical attractiveness) resulted in people being evaluated as more socially desirable

AO3 - Research into physical attractiveness fails to account for individual differences

Towhey found that participants who scored highly on the macho scale (a scale of sexist attitudes) were more influenced by the physical attractiveness of somebody when deciding on how much they liked them. This shows that some people value physical attractiveness more than others when forming relationships

AO3 - Feingold (1988)

Carried out a meta analysis of 17 studies and found a significant correlation in rating of attractiveness between real life romantic partners. This shows that people do form relationships with people of a similar level of attractiveness to themselves

AO3 - Taylor et al (2011)

Studied the activity logs of a popular online dating site and found that online daters sought meetings with people who were more physically attractive than them. This challenges the idea that people will seek out people with a similar level of attractiveness to themselves in order to avoid rejection