Physical Attraction Flashcards
What are men attracted to in a relationship? PA
Hip to waist ration because it is a sign of fertility
Why are people attracted to symmetrical faces? PA
sign of genetic fitness - Shackleford & Larsen
What is the halo effect in PA?
States that people behaviour more favourable towards the attractive because they seem to think that they possess positive characteristics such as kindness, social in comparison to unattractive
Who said ‘what is beautiful is good’? PA
Dion et al
What is the matching hypothesis in physical attractiveness?
Proposed by Walster & Walster, it states that people are attracted to those that are in similar levels of attractor to avoid rejection
What was the PFC for the matching hypothesis? PA
P - Students invited to dance & completed questionnaire
2. Rated for attractiveness by observers but they thought it was random
F - found that the hypothesis was not supported
F - Berscheid replicated whereby they picked their own partners = supported hypothesis
C - people pick partners based off similar levels of attraction bc of fear of rejection
What is a limitation research into physical attraction?
Suffers from beta bias - Meltzer et al - men tend to rate their LT r as better if they’re partners are attractive in comparison to women which place more importance on satisfaction
What are two strengths of research into PA?
+ Evolutionary explanation - Cunningham et al found that those rated as attractive had high cheekbones, small nose, large eyes etc = consistent across cultures of white, asian and hispanic men, & symmetry = genetic fitness = rise to nature v nurture debate bc bio factors influence appearance
+ Research support for halo effect - Palmer & Peterson, attractive rated as knowledgeable, even after they knew they had no expertise, halo effect persisted
