physical attractiveness

Question 1

what does high physical attractiveness lead to

Answer 1

increased attraction

Question 2

whats the halo effect

Answer 2

preconceived ideas about personality traits that an attractive person must have
- one distinguishing feature has a disproportionate influence on our judgement of persons other attributes

Question 3

whats a self fulfilling prophecy

Answer 3

• belief that physically attractive people have these positive traits so we behave more positively towards them and they respond positively in return

Question 4

whats an example of these positive traits

Answer 4

kind sociable and successful

Question 5

a strength of physical attractiveness is that theres supporting evidence

Answer 5

• eastwick and finkel
• longitudinal study on whether physical attractiveness predicts real life partner choice for men and women
• used evidence from speed dating and backed it up 30 days later
• prior to speed dating ptps showed tradition sex differences (men valued attractiveness women valued earning prospects)
• no significant differences emerged in the degree to which judgements of targets physical attractiveness or earning influenced speed daters interest in those targets
• this is a strength as it shows that physical attractiveness does play a part in attraction
• therefore this gives physical attractiveness as a factor affecting attraction validity

Question 6

a strength of physical attractiveness as a factor affecting attraction is that theres supporting evidence from meltzer

Answer 6

• if physical attractiveness in long term partners is more important for males then research should show that males with physically attractive partners are more satisfied with their relationship
• meltzer found that objective ratings of wives attractiveness were positively related to levels of husbands satisfaction and remained that way over at least the first 4 years of marriage
• this is strengthened by the findings that females objective ratings of their husbands physical attractiveness were not related to wives martial satisfaction either initially or over time
• therefore gives physical attraction validity especially the claim that males find physical attractiveness in a partner more important than females do

Question 7

a strength of the role of physical attractiveness is that there is research support for evolutionary processes

Answer 7

• cunningham found that female features of large eyes, prominent cheekbones, small nose and high eyebrows were rated as highly attractive by white, hispanic and asian males
• research also concluded that what is considered physically attractive is consistent across different societies
• facial symmetry is a sign of genetic fitness and therefore perpetuated similarly in all cultures
• this is a strength as it shows the importance of physical attractiveness on an evolutionary level, if what is considered to be attractive is the same across many cultures then it stands to reason that this is evolutionary
• therefore physical attractiveness as a factor affecting attraction has cross cultural validity