Perceived Attractiveness

Paper Summary:

This paper presents an experiment that attempts to determine if personality has a certain role pertaining to evaluating a person's attractiveness or if physical appearance is the determining factor in rating attractiveness. The proposed hypothesis in the paper is that people shown a picture along with a personality profile will rate the individual significantly differently in attractiveness than an individual who is shown only a picture. In the experiment, the dependent variable is attractiveness and the independent variable is a personality profile containing abilities, attitude, traits and background. Participants in the experiment were given a survey that asked them to rate, on a 7 point Likert Scale, how attractive the people in the photographs appeared. Although there was a slight difference between the two sample groups, that difference was not significant.

From the Paper:

"In the Noor and Evans (2003) experiment only women photographs were used and a 44-item Big-Five Inventory was used. The statistical analysis used was a one-way test, within-subjects ANOVA. There was a pretest with 57 participants to rate the pictures. The ANOVA revealed no significant main effect manipulation on rating of attractiveness. The pictures of asymmetrical faces were comparably attractive to the pictures of normal and symmetrical faces. Symmetry appeared to have a significant effect on ratings of personality. The experiment established an effect of facial symmetry on personality ratings, but failed to determine if facial symmetry had a significant effect on perceptions of attractiveness. Overall, the experiment supported predictions that facial symmetry affects personality impressions."

More papers on Perceived Attractiveness:

• Research Proposal # 129273 : "Attractiveness in Relation to Attitude"
• Research Paper # 98696 : "Heritage Attractions"
• Term Paper # 99191 : "Attitude, Appearance and Personality"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: