It is often said that one’s inner beauty and personality are more important than their physical appearance. Then, is it true that our looks do not matter? The honest answer is that they do matter. Beautiful and physically attractive people are pleasing to look at; however, the importance of physical appearance extends well beyond the pleasant experiences we have when we look at attractive individuals. What makes our looks so important? To answer this question, I will introduce striking findings from previous studies on physical attractiveness that cover the computer-match study, the primary effect, and physical attractiveness stereotypes.
Researchers at the University of Minnesota conducted a study called the computer-match study to ascertain the reasons for dating choices among first-year college students at a Welcome Week dance party (Walster et al., 1966). Several hundred student volunteers were told that a computer would find the best match for each student by collecting their personal data. After they paired up for the party, they were asked to complete the questionnaires to rate themselves and their partners on their self-esteem, the physical attractiveness of their partners, and the similarities between them. When the data was analyzed, the researchers found that the only factor that predicted whether a student wanted to see his or her date again was the partner’s physical attractiveness, not their similarities, the quality of their conversation, or the respondent’s level of self-esteem. This study revealed that looks are more powerful factors of attraction than other desirable characteristics of individuals.
It is clear that our looks do matter, but why do they mater? When we first meet a person, we unconsciously judge that person to a certain extent by their looks, as it is impossible to know their other qualities, such as personality, at first sight. This phenomenon may occur due to the primary effect, which is the tendency to be influenced and recall information presented first rather than information presented later (Gruman et al., 2017). Usually, physical appearance is the first piece of information that is gleaned about a person we have just met; thus, according to this theory, we are more likely to be influenced by and recall a person’s looks. This may explain why people often say that one’s first impression is important in dates or meetings.
With the importance of pleasant feelings caused by seeing attractive people having been established, additional studies found that beautiful people were also judged to be better at other qualities than unattractive people. Dion et al. (1972) found that physically attractive people are generally expected to be better; attractive people are assumed to be more sensitive, sexually responsive, interesting, and friendly than those who are unattractive. Another study also found that attractive people are considered positively; they are found to have wider social appeal, interpersonal and occupational competence, or adjustment, purely based on their physical looks, than unattractive people (Langlois et al., 2000). These findings do not mean that attractive people are generally good at almost every aspect of life, but they are simply assumed to have better qualities because of existing biases. These assumptions arise from the physical attractiveness stereotype, which is the general expectancy that physically attractive people have better and positive qualities while unattractive people have negative qualities.
We all know that humans and other animals are naturally born with high preferences for beauty (Little et al., 2011). For example, even a baby recognizes a pretty face or other things that are beautiful or not. This post aimed to explain why our looks matter by introducing previous scientific findings on physical attractiveness, including studies on the primary effect and the physical attractiveness stereotype, as well as the computer-match study. These interesting findings are somewhat disappointing in that they confirm that physical appearance has a stronger influence than other attributes. Still, instead of sabotaging ourselves, it is essential to remember that our physical attractiveness is determined by a variety of factors other than facial structure. For instance, non-verbal factors, such as posture, facial expression, hair or fashion style, attitude, and personality, make up our attractiveness and make each of us unique and beautiful.
References
Dion, K. K., Berscheid, E., & Walster, E. (1972). What is beautiful is good. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 24, 285–290
Gruman, J., Schneider, F., & Coutts, L. (Eds.) (2017). Applied social psychology. SAGE Publications, Inc, https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781071800591
Langlois, J. H., Kalakanis, L., Rubenstein, A. J., Larson, A., Hallam, A., & Smoot, M. (2000). Maxims or myths of beauty? A meta-analytic and theoretical review. Psychological Bulletin, 126, 390–423
Little, A. C., Jones, B. C., & DeBruine, L. M. (2011). Facial attractiveness: evolutionary based research. Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences, 366(1571), 1638–1659. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2010.0404
Walster, E., Aronson, V., Abrahams, D., & Rottmann, L. (1966). Importance of physical attractiveness in dating behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 4, 508–516
Tags: Lesson 12 Blog, psych424
I really enjoyed this post! I truly think that it is so interesting and maybe even a little sad. That we as human beings often are paying more attention to looks (even if we don’t want to be) than working to find people who are similar to us and enjoy similar things. I do really think that this is probably where we see most arguments come from in differences given attractiveness is what we tend to focus on whether or not we mean to.
Reference:
McNulty, J. K., Neff, L. A., & Karney, B. R. (2008). Beyond initial attraction: Physical attractiveness in newlywed marriage. Journal of Family Psychology, 22(1), 135–143. https://doi.org/10.1037/0893-3200.22.1.135
Great post! I agree that attractive people are more liked over unattractive people. I feel that this is even bigger today, especially since so many people meet new people online. These days, people only get to know others by the way they look. For example, online dating is solely based off looks. I don’t have experience with dating apps but I know that on a app like tinder, you swipe left or right based off if you like how the person looks in their picture. I read an article in the New York Times about tinder, and a woman said “You don’t have to fill out a profile, you don’t have to put in info — you just have to like the way someone looks.” (Griffith, 2013) This goes to show that looks are everything at first, sometimes it makes me think how many people are missing out on great friendships and relationships because of this.
Griffith, C. (2013, April 24). On one phone app, looks are everything. The New York Times. Retrieved November 14, 2022, from https://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/25/fashion/on-a-phone-app-called-tinder-looks-are-everything.html
You are absolutely right that most people tend to favor the most attractive person. It is our natural instinct since birth. I like how you mentioned humans and other animals are born with high preferences for beauty. You mentioned a baby can recognize a pretty face as opposed to an unattractive face. The reason for this most likely has to do with the physical attractiveness stereotype. This is the “general expectation that a physically attractive person has positive qualities while an unattractive person has negative qualities” (Gruman et al, 2016). Today, we call this “pretty privilege”. We tend to favor those who are appealing to the eyes. It is our human nature. Great work!
Reference
Gruman, J. A., Schneider, F. W., & Coutts, L. M. (Eds.). (2016). Applied social psychology : Understanding and addressing social and practical problems. SAGE Publications, Incorporated.
I enjoyed reading your post. You did a great job researching studies based on physical attractiveness. I believe that when someone is looking for a partner, they first look for physical attractiveness. Physical attractiveness is what grabs a person’s attention. In addition, it will only work out if a person finds their partner attractive. This is because physical beauty only goes so far. If you and your partner do not share similar beliefs and like each other’s attributes, there will be no connection. At the same time, personality and a person’s morals and values come into play. Therefore, studying physical attractiveness is critical but does not trump character.
I believe younger people care less about personality than someone looking for a spouse. For example, many college students care about attractive people but do not care what their personalities are like. On the other hand, when you graduate college, people look for others who have similar beliefs and like their qualities. So it is not just about physical attractiveness when people want to commit to someone.
One aspect that I agree with is that physical attractiveness is the first information gleaned about a person we have just met.
Meier & Multz (2020) state that in earlier studies, beauty was linked to benefits related to the workplace. Although physical beauty is not more important than personality, it influences many things, such as employment, having friends, happiness, finding a spouse, etc. “More attractive people report greater happiness and less distress and depression” (Meier & Multz, 2020). This quote is important because it demonstrates how physically attractive people have more advantages. Even though there are many advantages to being physically attractive, personality in a relationship is still essential.
References:
Meier, H. E., & Mutz, M. (2020). Does Attractiveness Lead to or Follow From Occupational Success? Findings From German Associational Football. SAGE Open, 10(1).