Notes created by an A-level psychology private tutor + A* student.
All topic notes for - physical attractiveness (factors affecting affecting attraction)
AQA Psychology A-level
Rela onships 3- Factors a ec ng a rac on: Physical a rac veness
The importance of physical a rac veness
Symmetrical faces
Physical a rac veness seems to be an important factor in forming rela onships.
One possible explana on can be from an evolu onary perspec ve related to some of the themes we
have discussed in sexual selec on.
Shackelford and Larson (1997) found that people with symmetrical faces are rated as more
a rac ve.
It is thought that this symmetry could indicate a genuine gene c tness as it is di cult to fake facial
symmetry.
The “Halo” E ect
One par cular dis nguishing feature of a person; physical a rac veness, seems to have a
dispropor onate in uence over our judgements of that person’s other a ributes.
This is the physical a rac veness stereotype. Essen ally - “What is beau ful is good.” (Dion, 1972)
Physically a rac ve people are consistently rated as being kind, strong, sociable and successful
compared to una rac ve people.
This makes them seem even more a rac ve/appealing, so other people behave more posi vely
towards them – crea ng a self-ful lling prophecy.
Research support for the “Halo” E ect
Palmer & Peterson (2012)
Physically a rac ve people were rated as more poli cally knowledgeable and competent than
una rac ve people.
This “halo” e ect was so powerful that it remained even when par cipants knew that these
“knowledgeable” people had no par cular exper se.
Physical a rac veness does seem to be an important factor in the ini al forma on of
rela onships, both roman c and otherwise.
Walster & Walster (1969) The Matching Hypothesis- key study
Suggests that we do not select the most a rac ve person as a prospec ve partner, instead we are
a racted to those who approximately ‘match us’ in terms of physical (facial) a rac veness.
We don’t tend to “punch above our weight.” This implies that we also take into account and are
aware of our own ‘value’ when seeking roman c rela onships.
, Key Study – Walster et al. (1966) The ‘computer dance’ test
• Walster et al. adver sed a ‘computer dance’ for new students at the University of
Minnesota.
• 177 males and 170 females were randomly selected to take part in the study.
• When they came to pick up their ckets, four student accomplices secretly rated each of
them for physical a rac veness.
• The par cipants were then asked to complete a lengthy ques onnaire (to assess personality,
intelligence, etc.) and told that the data gathered from these ques onnaires would be used
to allocate their ideal partner for the evening of the dance.
• In fact the pairing was done completely randomly.
• During the intermission part of the dance, par cipants were asked to complete a
ques onnaire about their dates, with a follow-up ques onnaire distributed six months a er
the dance.
Findings-
• The ndings from this study did not support the matching hypothesis.
• Once par cipants had met their dates, and regardless of their own physical a rac veness,
they responded more posi vely to physically a rac ve dates and were more likely to
subsequently try to arrange dates with them if they were physically a rac ve.
• Other factors, such as personality and intelligence, did not a ect liking the dates or any
subsequent a empts to date them.
Berscheid et al (1971) replicated the study but this me par cipants were able to select their
partner from people of varying degrees of a rac veness. This me par cipants tended to
choose partners who matched them in physical a rac veness.
Conclusions-
We tend to seek and choose partners whose a rac veness matches our own. For example, if
we judge ourselves as a six out of 10 then we are likely to seek a mate of a similar level of
a rac veness. Therefore choice of partner is a compromise we risk rejec on in selec ng the
most a rac ve people available so we se le on those who are ‘in our league’ physically.
There is more evidence that “matching” does not determine who we’re a racted to:
In studies of online da ng pa erns, there is an overall preference for the most physically
a rac ve, regardless of the persons own level of a rac veness. Furthermore, although
psychologists claim that men value physical a rac veness more than women when describing
their ideal partner, these claims are not re ected in real-life partner choice. This suggests that
research on the importance of physical a rac veness cannot necessarily be generalised to real-
life.
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