Factors Affecting Attraction: Physical Attractiveness and the Matching Hypothesis Flashcards
Why is physical attraction important?
Evolutionary explanations of attractiveness state that traits associated with attractiveness act as indications of good genetic information and health. Perceived health is important as it means that the partner will be able to bear children and the genes will produce a healthy offspring.
What is the halo effect?
The halo effect is the idea that people who are judged to be attractive are typically perceived in a positive light. For example, Dion et al. (1972) found that attractive people are consistently rated as successful, kind and sociable when compared with unattractive people. This means that we not only believe that good-looking people are more physically attractive, we expect them to have other desirable characteristics as well and tend to behave more positively towards them.
Why is the halo effect important?
This is important as while physical attractiveness is typically the first thing we see in a partner, their personality then has to be suitable for us.
It could be argued that being an attractive person makes their personalities more attractive.
People who are deemed to be attractive tend to benefit from favourable perceptions from society. For example, an attractive person is more likely to be acquitted of a crime, and are deemed more trustworthy and sociable than less attractive individuals.
What is the matching hypothesis?
Walster et al proposed ‘the Matching Hypothesis’
This is the theory that people will seek partners of similar physical attractiveness to themselves.
Attempting to ‘punch above your weight’ carries the increased risk of rejection.
Additionally, if one feels their partner is more attractive there is likely to be fears that partner will leave for more attractive partners.
Hence we may choose a partner as a compromise (Risk of rejection V what we settle for)
PHYSICAL ATTRACTIVENESS - Research evidence?
Murstein asked pts to judge the attractiveness of real couples and those just put together who were fake couples in photos. He found that the real couples were more close in ratings of attractiveness than the photos of fake couples. Supports the idea that couples of the same level of attractiveness will choose to be together, which adds credibility to the matching hypothesis.
PHYSICAL ATTRACTIVENESS - Refuting evidence?
Walster et al set up a study where they invited 752 first-year students to attend a dance party. They were randomly matched to a partner; however, when students were picking up their tickets, they were secretly judged by a panel in terms of attractiveness. During the intervals at the dance party, and 4 to 6 months later, students were asked whether they found their partner attractive and whether they would like to go on a second date with them. It was found that the more attractive students were favoured as dates over the less attractive students, and physical attractiveness was found to be the most important factor, over intelligence and personality.
PHYSICAL ATTRACTIVENESS - Further research evidence?
Gunnell & Ceci (2010) found that physically less attractive people were 22% more likely to be convicted in court and get prison sentences that were (on average) 22 months longer than physically attractive people
This supports the claim that people who are deemed to be attractive tend to benefit from favourable perceptions from society and therefore this research adds credibility to the theory
PHYSICAL ATTRACTIVENESS - Cross cultural research?
For example, Cunningham et al (1995) found that white, Asian and Hispanic males, despite being from different cultures, rated females with prominent cheekbones, small noses and large eyes as highly attractive. This universality of findings suggests that using attractiveness as a decisive factor in choosing a partner might be a genetically reproduced mechanism, aiding sexual selection.
This gives support to the nature side of nature-nurture debate as it shows that human behaviour is mainly a result of biological rather than environmental influences.
