Physical attractiveness Flashcards
(5 cards)
What is physical attractiveness
Physical attractiveness affects attraction in romantic relationships. What is considered to be physically attractive varies across culture and time.
Men place a great deal of importance on physical attractiveness when choosing a female partner in the short-term and the long-term, whereas females mainly see physical attractiveness as very important when choosing a male partner in the short term
The Halo effect
The halo effect is when the general impression of a person is incorrectly formed from one characteristic alone (e.g. physical attractiveness).
Physically attractive people are often seen as more sociable, successful and trustworthy. People tend to behave more positively towards people who are physically attractive. This creates a cycle where a good-looking person acts more positively because people treat them well due to their looks.
Halo effect eval
+Palmer and Peterson (2012) found that physically attractive people were rated as more politically knowledgeable than unattractive people. The halo effect was so powerful that it persisted even when participants found out that the physically attractive person had no expertise in politics.
-Towhey (1979) asked male and female participants to rate how much they liked an individual based on a photograph. Participants also completed a MACHO
scale which measured sexist attitudes and behaviour. It was found that participants who scored highly on the MACHO scale were more influenced by physical attractiveness. Those who scored low on the questionnaire did not value physical attractiveness. Therefore, the influence of physical attractiveness is moderated by other factors (e.g. personality).
The matching hypothesis
Walster (1966) proposed that people choose a romantic partner of similar attractiveness to themselves. The focus is on matching physical attractiveness.
Individuals focus attention on potential partners of perceived similar attractiveness, effectively narrowing the range of available partners to those who are attainable. There is a realistic awareness of our own level of attractiveness in order to avoid rejection.
Matching hypothesis eval
+In Murstein (1972) members of real couples were each separately assessed for attractiveness rating. These were then found to correlate for level of physical attractiveness. However, the same correlation was not found for fake pairings, supporting matching hypothesis
-Walster (1966) invited 752 first-year students at the University of Minnesota to attend a dance party. They were randomly matched to a partner; however, participants were secretly judged in terms of physical attractiveness. At the dance party, and 4 to 6 months later, students were asked whether they found their partner attractive. Contrary to the matching hypothesis students expressed higher appreciation of their partner if the partner was attractive, regardless of their own level of 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 known as complex matching.
