PSYC 102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Facial Symmetry, Body Shape, Physical Attractiveness

• School: Simon Fraser University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 102
• Professor: Sherri Atwood

Document Summary

Attraction: physical attractiveness is the major factor in attraction (and elicits all kinds of preferential treatment). Body shape, symmetry, and age are all common factors. These factors are also predictors of good genes and good parenting: we prefer mates who are psychologically (attitudes and beliefs) similar to us for a variety of reasons. Standards differ from culture to culture about what facial and body features are desirable. These factors are also predictors of good genes and good parenting. Also attractive: nice people, and loved ones. Research shows that tall people earn more per inch per year. The graph shows the average hourly wage of adult white men in the united states classified by height (mankiw & weinzierl, 2010) We already have seen: we like those who share our features. We also enjoy being around people who have similar attitudes, beliefs, humor, interests, intelligence, age, education, and income.