Physical Attractiveness and The Matching Hypothesis

Question 1

why is physical attractiveness important

Answer 1

• Indication of good genes- and what your babies will look like!
• Symmetrical face is desired as it is impossible to fake so a sign of good genes
• Cue to women’s health and reproductive fitness- hip to waist ratio/hour glass figure is important to men
• Upside down triangle shape (body) is an indicator of men’s strength and ability to protect a woman and her children
• Allegedly a “baby face” (“neotenuous features”) like a button nose, delicate chin, big eyes are social releasers that make us want to care for our partner
• Halo effect- what is beautiful is good (being beautiful is a good thing)

Question 2

The Matching Hypothesis Walster et al (1966) (AO1)

Answer 2

1. The more socially desirable a person is -in terms of physical attractiveness, social standing, intelligence etc, the more desirable they would expect a partner to be.
2. Couples who are matched (i.e. both partners are equally desirable) are more likely to have happy, enduring relationships than couples who are mismatched.
3. Individuals looking for a partner will be influenced by the probability of the other person saying yes (what they think they can get).
   - Walster referred to this notion as realistic choices because each individual is influenced by the chances of having their affection reciprocated.

Question 3

A03- The Dance Study- Walster et al (1966) -ve

Answer 3

• 752 undergrads at the University of Minnesota were invited to a “get acquainted” dance.
• They believed they had been matched with their ‘date’, although they were, in fact, randomly allocated to partners.
• The success of these random matches was assessed using questionnaires distributed in an interval during the dance, and then in a follow-up six months later.

The dance study:
- Before the dance, the more attractive the student, the more attractive they assumed their date would be.
- However, once participants had met their matches, and regardless of their own level of physical attractiveness, they reacted more positively to physically attractive dates, and were more likely to try to arrange subsequent dates with them.
- Therefore there is no evidence for the “realistic choices” aspect of the theory

Question 4

A03- Taylor (2003) -ve

Answer 4

• Taylor carried out research on real online dating sites and found absolutely no support for the notion of “realistic choices” either.
• Individuals continuously tried to arrange dates with people considered far more physically attractive than they were themselves.
• He proposed an alternative theory, that people want to be with someone who is MORE physically attractive than they are, to increase the chances of their children having good genes. (evolutionary)
• This would explain Walster’s Dance Study results.

Question 5

A03- Support for part 1 of The Matching Hypothesis (Murstein, 1972, Silverman, 1971)

Answer 5

• Strong evidence for the matching hypothesis has been found in studies conducted with actual couples (e.g. Murstein, 1972, Silverman, 1971).
• Photos of random men and women were shown to several independent judges who rated each picture out of 10.
• When the pictures were put back together into couples, it was found that the ratings matched- the correlation was high enough to be statistically significant.

Question 6

A03- Support for part 2 of the Matching Hypothesis (Cavior and Boblett, 1972)

Answer 6

• Research has also found a more significant effect for the matching hypothesis in committed couples compared to more casual couples (Cavior and Boblett, 1972)
• This supports the second part of the theory.

Question 7

A03-Complex Matching (Sprecher and Hatfield, 2009)

Answer 7

• Complex matching: In reality, ‘matching’ is a much more complex process, for example someone who is not physically attractive but has a lot of money might be an attractive match. This is called ‘complex matching’.

Question 8

A03- Weakness of the Matching Hypothesis (Gender Differences- Takeuchi)

Answer 8

• Gender Differences- Takeuchi (2006) has shown that a gender difference exists in the degree to which physical attractiveness is valued by an opposite-sex partner.
• Physical attractiveness of women is valued more heavily by men, but physical attractiveness of men is valued less by women. → women looking for security - looks aren’t as important, men looking to pass down genetics, survive - looks are important
• This implies that men can compensate for any deficit in physical attractiveness with other desirable qualities more so than women can.

Question 9

A03- Weakness of the Matching Hypothesis (influence of 3rd party)

Answer 9

Although nowadays most people make their own choices, matching is sometimes influenced by third parties such as family (e.g. arranged marriage), or even internet dating sites.

Question 10

A03 weakness (Pasch and Bradbury)

Answer 10

• Finally, research by Pasch and Bradbury in 1998 found that actually both men and women were much more concerned with their partner being ‘trustworthy, supportive and warm’ over and above their physical attractiveness.
• This suggests that physical attractiveness may not be as deterministic as the matching hypothesis sets out.