Physical Attraction

• Physical attractiveness is an important factor in the formation of romantic relationships
• Shackleford and Larsen found that people with symetricical faces are rated as more attractive
• People are attracted to baby faces such as widely separated and large eyes because it triggers a protective and caring insitinct
• The Halo-Effect = preconceived positive ideas about the personality traits attractive people must have.

  Dion et al - physically attractive people are consistently rated as strong, kind, sociable and successful
• Matching Hypothesis (Walster and Walster) suggests that we look for partners who are similar to ourselves in terms of physical attractiveness
• Walster et al (1969) - The Computer Dance - Procedure

  • male and female students invited to a dance
  • PA rated by observes at the start and completed a questionnaire about themselves
  • Told the data about themselves and told that a computer would decided their partners for the evening
• Walster et al - The Computer Dance - Findings:

  • the most liked partners were also the most PA rather than taking their own physical attractiveness into account
• We risk rejection in choosing the most physically attractive partners and so settle on those who are physically in our league
• PEEL 1:

  Strength - Research support - Palmer and Peterson (2012) - found that physically attractive people were rated as more politically knowledgeable and competent than unattractive people - has implications for political progress
• PEEL 2:

  Strength - the role of physical attractiveness is research support for evolutionary processes - attractive features are a sign of genetic fitness and therefore perpetuated similarly in all cultures (sexual selection)
• PEEL 3:

  Weakness - matching hypothesis is not supported by real world research into dating - Taylor et al (2011) studied the activity logs of popular online dating site - online daters sought meetings with potential partners who were more physically attractive than them

  • undermines the validity of the matching hypothesis
• PEEL 4:

  Weakness - Individual Differences - physical attraction ultimately differs between people and not every person considers it when choosing a romantic partner
• Physical attractiveness may be what first draws a couple together; each partner finds the appearance of the other to be pleasing which motivates them to spend more time together
• Baby-Face Hypothesis - Berry & MacArthur (86)

  • people are drawn to the appealing and unthreatening features of a baby face
  • trigger social releasers which prompt nurture and protectiveness
• Zebrowitz & McDonald (01)

  Attractive people may receive less harsh punishments in a court of law than unattractive people