PSYC 231 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Interpersonal Attraction, Physical Attractiveness, Social Dance
5 Apr 2018
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Document Summary
We often have a "gut" reaction to a person. Physical attractiveness stereotype: the tendency for people to assume that physically attractive people possess other socially desirable traits such as intelligence and warmth. What is beautiful is good (may be due to self-fulfilling prophecies: because being physically attractive is socially desirable, attractive people may become more confident and outgoing) Hatfield et al. (1966) asked people to complete personality and aptitude tests before being matched for a social dance. Personality and aptitude were poor predictors of ratings. It"s good to be good-looking: more likely to get dates. Get better marks at university: more likely to be successful in job interview. Likely to be treated better in the legal system. Averageness effect: the finding that people prefer average or prototypical faces that have distinctive features. The average of attractive is more attractive than the average of average.
