Physical Attractiveness Flashcards
PHYSICAL ATTRACTIVENESS
How appealing we find a person
General agreement across cultures as to what is physically attractive
There is an assumption that we seek to form
relationships with the most attractive person available
THE IMPORTANCE OF PHYSICAL ATTRACTIVENESS
Traits associated with attractiveness act as indications of good health.
Therefore, choosing an attractive partner is the best way of ensuring a healthy partner and a healthy child
Perceived health is important for two reasons:
that partner is going to be physically able to bear children(women) or
provide for the family (men)
there is a good chance that the genes that they carry will produce healthy offspring.
THE HALO EFFECT – DION
There are preconceived ideas about the personality traits attractive people must have
This is the physical attractiveness stereotype - “What is beautiful is good.”
Physically attractive people are consistently rated as kind, strong, sociable, and successful compared to unattractive people.
The belief that good looking people probably have these characteristics makes them even more attractive to us, so we
behave positively towards them
THE MATCHING HYPOTHESIS
People choose romantic partners who are roughly of similar attractiveness to each other.
To do this we have to make a judgement about our own ‘value’ to a potential partner.
Ideally we all want a perfect partner. But as this is not
possible we compromise. We are likely to become matched to somebody who most matches what we want.
However, in the real world we balance this wish to avoid being rejected by someone ‘out of our league’ so choose
somebody who is the best we feel we could get
THE MATCHING HYPOTHESIS (2)
The more socially desirable a person is in terms of physical attractiveness, social standing, intelligence, etc, the more desirable they would expect a dating or marriage partner to be.
Couples who are matched are more likely to have happy, enduring relationships than couples who are mismatched in terms of social desirability.
A person rates a potential partner for attractiveness, and compares it with their own level of attractiveness. This comparison determines whether they will pursue the person as a potential mate.
A03 - INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES
Towhey (1979) gave males and females a set of photos and biographical information about people, and asked them to judge how much they would like a target individual based on the photograph.
The participants also completed a questionnaire – the MACHO scale – designed to measure sexist attitudes and behaviours.
Towhey found that the participants who scored highly on the MACHO scale were significantly more influenced by the physical attractiveness of
the target when making their judgements of likeability. Low scorers on the MACHO scale were less influenced or not influenced by physical
attractiveness when making their judgement.
A03 - CULTURAL INFLUENCES
Research shows that what is considered physically attractive is remarkably consistent across cultures.
Cunningham (1995) found that female features of large eyes, prominent cheekbones, small nose and high eyebrows were as highly attractive by white, Hispanic and Asian males.
The physical attractive stereotype is culturally pervasive. Wheeler and Kim (1997) found that Korean and American students judged physically attractive people to be more trustworthy, concerned for other people, mature and friendly.
It seems that the stereotype is just as strong in collectivist cultures as it is in individualist cultures.
