Attraction and Beauty

Question 1

Anomalous face overgeneralization hypothesis

Answer 1

Proposes that the attractiveness halo effect is a by-product of reactions to low fitness. People overgeneralize the adaptive tendency to use low attractiveness as an indicator of negative traits, like low health or intelligence, and mistakenly use higher-than-average attractiveness as an indicator of high health or intelligence.

Question 2

Attractiveness halo effect

Answer 2

The tendency to associate attractiveness with a variety of positive traits, such as being more sociable, intelligent, competent, and healthy.

Question 3

Good genes hypothesis

Answer 3

Proposes that certain physical qualities, like averageness, are attractive because they advertise mate quality—either greater fertility or better genetic traits that lead to better offspring and hence greater reproductive success.

Question 4

Mere-exposure effect

Answer 4

The tendency to prefer stimuli that have been seen before over novel ones. There also is a generalized mere-exposure effect shown in a preference for stimuli that are similar to those that have been seen before.

Question 5

Morph

Answer 5

A face or other image that has been transformed by a computer program so that it is a mixture of multiple images.

Question 6

Prototype

Answer 6

A typical, or average, member of a category. Averageness increases attractiveness.