RELATIONSHIPS - Physical Attractiveness Flashcards
Who places importance on physical attractiveness for short and long term relationships?
Males
Who places importance on physical attractiveness in a partner especially in the short term and not as much in the long term relationships?
Females
How does what is considered to be physically attractive vary?
Across culture and time
Halo effect
when an overall positive impression of an individual is based off of one single characteristic of them
What are physically attractive people generally seen as?
more sociable, optimistic, successful and trustworthy
Explain self-fulfilling prophecy of physically attractive people
people behave positively towards those who are physically attractive so the physically attractive person behaves even more positively due to the attention they recieve.
Halo effect evaluation points Physical Attractiveness
- Palmer and Peterson political knowledge
- Towhey MACHO scale photographs
Palmer and Peterson political knowledge Halo Effect evaluation point Physical Attractiveness
Palmer and Peterson found that physically attractive people were rated as being more politically knowledgable than unattractive people. The halo effect was so powerful that the halo effect persisted even when pps found that they had no political expertise.
Towhey MACHO scale photographs Halo Effect evaluation point Physical Attractiveness
Male and female pps asked to rate how much they liked an individual based off of a photograph and were asked to complete a MACHO scale (measured sexist attitudes and behaviour). Pps who scored highly on MACHO were more influenced by physical attractiveness and vice versa. Therefore influence of physical attractiveness ismoderated by other factors
Matching Hypothesis
when initiating romantic relationships, individuals seek partners that have the same social desirability as themselves
matching hypothesis in terms of physical attractiveness
Most people would prefer to form a relationship with someone who is physically attractive but in order to not be rejected, many people will approach others who are of a similar level of attractiveness to themselves
Matching hypothesis evaluation points Physical Attractiveness
- Fangold meta analysis
- Walster Uni of Minnesota dance party
- Complex matching
Fangold meta analysis Matching Hypothesis evaluation point Physical Attractiveness
carried out a meta-analysis of 17 studies using real-life couples. established a strong positive correlation between the partners’ ratings of physical attractiveness. supports matching hypothesis
Walster Uni of Minnesota dance party Matching Hypothesis evaluation point Physical Attractiveness
752 first-year students at Uni of Minnesota invited to dance party. Students randomly matched to a partner. Students also secretely judged in terms of physical attractiveness. At dance party AND 4-6 months later, students expressed higher appreciation of their partner if they were physically attractive regardless of if they themself were attractive.
Complex matching Matching Hypothesis evaluation point Physical Attractiveness
Sometimes a very physically attractive person forms a relationship with an unattractive person. Often a rebalance of traits will occur, whereby the less physically attractive person has some other traits to make up for their lack of physical attractiveness (e.g. being rich, having a high status or great personality). This is called complex matching whereby a very attractive person forms a relationship with an unattractive person
