Lesson 4 - Factors Affecting Attraction, The Matching Hypothesis Flashcards
What is Physical Attractiveness?
This is the degree to which an individual finds another person attractive on the outside. It often includes things such as big eyes and a good hip:waist ratio in women, and tall and muscular for men.
What is the Halo Effect?
The halo effect is when the general impression of a person is incorrectly formed from one characteristic alone, in this case it is physical attractiveness. People treat this person differently, and assign them positive characteristics which may not be true.
Evaluation of the Halo Effect - Research Support
Palmer and Peterson (2012) found that attractive people were rated as more politically knowledgeable and competent than unattractive people. The halo effect was so powerful that it persisted even when participants found out that the attractive person had no expertise in politics. There might be dangers for democracy if politicians are deemed as knowledgeable simply off of their looks.
Evaluation of the Halo Effect - Applies all over life
The halo effect does not only apply to romantic relationships. It applies to other areas of life such as friendships, job interviews, and even meeting people for the first time. Therefore the halo effect is very powerful.
Evaluation of the Halo Effect - It depends on how much the individual values physical attractiveness
Towhey found that the halo effect is not as powerful on people who do not attach great importance to physical attractiveness. Towhey asked male and female participants to rate how much they liked an individual based solely on a photograph and some biological information. The participants also completed a MACHO scale (tests sexist attitudes and behaviours). Those with a higher rating on the MACHO scale, were more influenced by physical attractiveness. The inverse applies to the other participants. This means that the halo effect is not universal.
Evaluation of the Halo Effect - Research Support across cultures
Cunningham found that female features of large eyes, a small nose and prominent cheek bones were rated as physically attractive by white, Asian and Hispanic males. Kim (1997) found that USA and Korean students both judged physically attractive people to be trustworthy, mature and friendly. This shows that the halo effect applies across cultures.
What is the Matching Hypothesis?
When initiating romantic relationships, people seek partners that have the same level of social desirability as themselves, mainly using physical attractiveness as the method of measuring this.
Most people would prefer to date a physically attractive person, but rejection and competition form fears within people which causes them to play within their own league.
Evaluation of the Matching Hypothesis - Complex Matching
Hamilton found that when an attractive and unattractive person form a relationship, there is often a rebalance of traits. This means that the less attractive person has some traits to make up for their lack of physical attractiveness. This is called Complex Matching, where an attractive person dates an unattractive person due to something such as money.
Evaluation of the Matching Hypothesis - Research Support (Murstein and Silverman)
Murstein and Silverman (1972) found that in experiments and the real world, the matching hypothesis can be tested by simply looking at couples. They did this, and judged people in a couple in terms of physical attractiveness. The findings suggest that the matching hypothesis is a strong factor when forming relationships.
Evaluation of the Matching Hypothesis - Research Support (Cavior)
Cavior (1972) found that the matching hypothesis was applicable to long term relationships, significantly more than it was in casual daters who were forming relationships.
Evaluation of the Matching Hypothesis - Online Dating
Taylor (2011) studied activity logs of online dating sites, as the matching hypothesis would definitely apply here. Online daters wanted to meet up with partners who were MORE attractive than themselves, and did not consider their own levels. This shows that the matching hypothesis does not operate in the real world, and many people aim upwards.
What was the method of the study done by Walster and Walster?
They did research using 177 males and 170 females from the University of Minnesota.
They had to fill in a questionnaire about IQ and personality, and were told that they would be allocated an ideal partner, but each person was judged on their physical attractiveness by 4 independent judges.
The pairings were then done randomly by a computer.
After the dance all the participants were asked what they thought of their date.
This happened again 6 months later.
What were the findings of Walster and Walster?
The results found that physical attractiveness was a big indicator to determine whether males and females wanted to see their date again, especially if their date was MORE attractive than themselves.
THIS COUNTERS THE MATCHING HYPOTHESIS AS PEOPLE AIM HIGHER.
