Factors affecting attraction - Physical attractiveness/ Matching Hypothesis Flashcards
What is attraction
The action or power of evoking interest in or liking for someone/ something.
We are more attracted to people who are physically good looking.
Evolutionary explanation is physical indications of health, facial symmetry and recourses indicated good genes, we want the best genes possible for our offspring
What is another aspect of attraction
the Halo effect
What is the Halo effect
People with the physical characteristic of physical attractiveness are also assumed to be as successful in other areas of life
ie intelligent, hardworking, sociable. This can result in others interacting more positively towards them, resulting in them actually becoming more successful
What is the matching hypothesis
We cannot all mate with the most attractive members of the population
- We realistically appraise our own attractiveness in relationships to others
- We look for romantic partners who are at a similar level of attractiveness
- We avoid the pain of rejection by not chasing partners we see as too attractive
- We retain our partners by not choosing someone who will leave us for someone else
Murstein Matching photographs research
Used photographs of 197 couples (engaged or dating). Photographs of each partner alone were used so each person could be judged individually. 8 judges rates the individual photographs according to attractiveness. Found photographs of couples were consistently given a similar attractiveness rating compared to randomly matched pairs.
What does Murstein Matching photographs research suggest
That as predicted by the matching hypothesis individuals are highly likely to select partners who are judged by others to be a similar level of attractiveness as themselves
Support of the matching hypothesis by Feingold
Completed a meta-analysis including 18 studies on the matching hypothesis containing a total of 1644 couples and found an overall positive correlation in the attractiveness ratings of couples
Limitations of the matching hypothesis
It can be seen as a very shallow explanation of how humans select a mate, while attractiveness may be a factor, most people would like to think its not the most important. Also, physical factors may be more important in initial attraction however the role of physical features in continuing attraction may be more limited (personality and shared goals).
Matching hypothesis may give some explanation for initial partner selection, however theories of relationship exchange that include potential costs and benefits may give a better explanation for mate selection over the long term
Strengths of the matching hypothesis
It may be that the matching hypothesis theory is becoming more valid, as online dating websites and apps depend heavily on visual cues for partner selection. This may be providing more feedback for people to base their own attractiveness rating.
The Halo effect appears to apply beyond romantic relationships. It was found that defendants in court who are attractive are likely to receive lower sentences than less attractive defendant by juries, indicating attractiveness implied innocence.
Also, Todorov found the winners and losers of American elections could be predicted on the basis one second of the participant looking at pictures and picking the person who looked most competent
Walster et al “Computer dance” study
Walster et al (1966) advertised a “computer dance” for students during fresher’s week at college. The first 376 male and 376 female volunteers were allowed in at one dollar each.
When the students arrived to sign up for the dance, four independent judges assessed each student’s physical attractiveness. The participants were asked to fill in a lengthy questionnaire which provided data about similarity. Participants were led to believe that the questionnaire would be for use in the computer pairing, but in fact the pairing was done randomly (except no man was paired with a taller woman).
The dance was held two days later, before which the students were given their “dates” names. During the dance, participants were asked to complete a questionnaire about the dance and their dates.
The more physically attractive students were liked more by their partners than were the less attractive students.
However when Walster et al. asked the students 6 months later whether they had dated their partners since the dance, they found that partners who were more likely to have dated if they were similar in physical attractiveness than if they were dissimilar.
