-
.QUESTION
In the article “What is Beautiful is Good,” why was it assumed, of all the characteristics in their favor, that physically attractive people would be poorer parents than unattractive or average attractive people?
Discussion Board #2 Directions:
Be sure to use the material from the reading to answer the question (do not use the internet)
I. Answer the Following Question:
1.) In the article “What is Beautiful is Good,” (please find article attached) why was it assumed, of all the characteristics in their favor, that physically attractive people would be poorer parents than unattractive or average attractive people?
Directions for Response:
a.) Response must be academically substantiveb.) Response must be a minimum of 150 words and a maximum of 300 words.
c.) Response must be checked for spelling and grammar
d.) Direct quotes must be used sparingly and placed in quotation marks
III. Create 1 original critical thinking question from your reading assignment.
a.) The critical thinking question must be original, academically substantive, and thought provoking.\
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
19722,. Vol. 24, No. 3, 285-290
WHAT IS BEAUTIFUL IS GOOD
KAREN DION,2 ELLEN BERSCHEIDs
University of Minnesota
ELAINE WALSTER
University of Wisconsin
A person’s physical appearance, along with his sexual identity, is the personal
characteristic that is most obvious and accessible to others in social interaction.
The present experiment was designed to determine whether physically
attractive stimulus persons, both male and female, are (a) assumed to possess
more socially desirable personality traits than physically unattractive stimulus
persons and (6) expected to lead better lives (e.g., be more competent
husbands and wives, be more successful occupationally, etc.) than unattractive
stimulus persons. Sex of Subject X Sex of Stimulus Person interactions
along these dimensions also were investigated. The present results indicate a
“what is beautiful is good” stereotype along the physical attractiveness dimension
with no Sex of Judge X Sex of Stimulus interaction. The implications of
such a stereotype on self-concept development and the course of social interaction
are discussed.
A person’s physical appearance, along with
his sexual identity, is the personal characteristic
most obvious and accessible to others in
social interaction. It is perhaps for this reason
that folk psychology has always contained
a multitude of theorems which ostensibly
permit the forecast of a person’s character
and personality simply from knowledge
of his outward appearance. The line of deduction
advanced by most physiognomic
theories is simply that “What is beautiful is
good . . . [Sappho, Fragments, No, 101],”
and that “Physical beauty is the sign of an
interior beauty, a spiritual and moral beauty
. . . [Schiller, 1882].”
Several processes may operate to make the
soothsayers’ prophecies more logical and accurate
than would appear at first glance.
First, it is possible that a correlation between
inward character and appearance exists because
certain personality traits influence
one’s appearance. For example, a calm, relaxed
person may develop fewer lines and
wrinkles than a tense, irritable person. Second,
cultural stereotypes about the kinds of
personalities appropriate for beautiful or ugly
people may mold the personalities of these
1 This research was financed in part by National
Institute of Mental Health Grants MH 16729 to
Berscheid and MH 16661 to Walster.
2 Now at the University of Toronto.
8 Requests for reprints should be sent to Ellen
Berscheid, Laboratory for Research in Social Relations,
University of Minnesota, Elliott Hall, Minneapolis,
Minnesota SS4SS.
individuals. If casual acquaintances invariably
assume that attractive individuals are more
sincere, noble, and honest than unattractive
persons, then attractive individuals should be
habitually regarded with more respect than
unattractive persons. Many have noted that
one’s self-concept develops from observing
what others think about oneself. Thus, if the
physically attractive person is consistently
treated as a virtuous person, he may become
one.
The above considerations pose several questions:
(a) Do individuals in fact have stereotyped
notions of the personality traits possessed
by individuals of varying attractiveness?
(6) To what extent are these stereotypes
accurate? (c) What is the cause of the
correlation between beauty and personality if,
in fact, such a correlation exists?
Some observers, of course, deny that such
stereotyping exists, and thus render Questions
b and c irrelevant. Chief among these
are rehabilitation workers (cf. Wright, 1960)
whose clients possess facial and other physical
disabilities. These researchers, however,
may have a vested interest in believing that
physical beauty is a relatively unimportant
determinant of the opportunities an individual
has available to him.
Perhaps more interestingly, it has been
asserted that other researchers also have had
a vested interest in retaining the belief that
beauty is a peripheral characteristic. Aronson
(1969), for example, has suggested that the
285
286 K. DION, E. BERSCHEID, AND E. WALSTER
fear that investigation might prove this assumption
wrong has generally caused this to
be a taboo area for social psychologists:
As an aside, I might mention that physical attractiveness
is rarely investigated as an antecedent of
liking—even though a casual observation (even by
us experimental social psychologists) would indicate
that we seem to react differently to beautiful women
than to homely women. It is difficult to be certain
why the effects of physical beauty have not been
studied more systematically. It may be that, at some
levels, we would hate to find evidence indicating
that beautiful women are better liked than homely
women—-somehow this seems undemocratic. In a
democracy we like to feel that with hard work and
a good deal of motivation, a person can accomplish
almost anything. But, alas (most of us believe),
hard work cannot make an ugly woman beautiful.
Because of this suspicion perhaps most social psychologists
implicitly prefer to believe that beauty is
indeed only skin deep—and avoid the investigation
of its social impact for fear they might learn otherwise
[p. 160].
The present study was an attempt to determine
if a physical attractiveness stereotype
exists and, if so, to investigate the content
of the stereotype along several dimensions.
Specifically, it was designed to investigate
(a) whether physically attractive stimulus
persons, both male and female, are assumed
to possess more socially desirable personality
traits than unattractive persons and
(b) whether they are expected to lead better
lives than unattractive individuals. With respect
to the latter, we wished to determine if
physically attractive persons are generally
expected to be better husbands and wives,
better parents, and more successful socially
and occupationally than less attractive persons.
Because it seemed possible that jealousy
might attenuate these effects (if one is jealous
of another, he may be reluctant to accord the
other the status that he feels the other deserves),
and since subjects might be expected
to be more jealous of attractive stimulus persons
of the same sex than of the opposite
sex, we examined the Sex of Subject X Sex of
Stimulus Person interactions along the dimensions
described above.
METHOD
Subjects
Sixty students, 30 males and 30 females, who were
enrolled in an introductory course in psychology at
the University of Minnesota participated in this experiment.
Each had agreed to participate in return for
experimental points to be added to their final exam
grade.
Procedure
When the subjects arrived at the designated rooms,
they were introduced to the experiment as a study
of accuracy in person perception. The experimenter
stated that while psychological studies have shown
that people do form detailed impressions of others
on the basis of a very few cues, the variables determining
the extent to which these early impressions
are generally accurate have not yet been completely
identified. The subjects were told that the
purpose of the present study was to compare person
perception accuracy of untrained college students
with two other groups who had been trained in
various interpersonal perception techniques, specifically
graduate students in clinical psychology and
clinical psychologists. The experimenter noted his
belief that person perception accuracy is a general
ability varying among people. Therefore, according
to the experimenter, college students who are high on
this ability may be as accurate as some professional
clinicians when making first-impression judgments
based on noninterview material.
The subjects were told that standard sets of photographs
would be used as the basis for personality
inferences. The individuals depicted in the photographs
were said to be part of a group of college
students currently enrolled at other universities who
were participating in a longitudinal study of personality
development scheduled to continue into adulthood.
It would be possible, therefore, to assess the
accuracy of each subject’s judgments against information
currently available on the stimulus persons
and also against forthcoming information.
Stimulus materials. Following the introduction,
each subject was given three envelopes. Each envelope
contained one photo of a stimulus person of
approximately the subject’s own age. One of the
three envelopes that the subject received contained
a photograph of a physically attractive stimulus
person; another contained a photograph of a person
of average attractiveness; and the final envelope
contained a photograph of a relatively unattractive
stimulus person.4 Half of our subjects received three
pictures of girls; the remainder received pictures of
boys.
4 The physical attractiveness rating of each of the
pictures was determined in a preliminary study.
One hundred Minnesota undergraduates rated SO
yearbook pictures of persons of the opposite sex
with respect to physical attractiveness. The criteria
for choosing the 12 pictures to be used experimentally
were (a) high-interrater agreement as to the physical
attractiveness of the stimulus (the average interrater
correlation for all of the pictures was .70);
and (b) pictures chosen to represent the very attractive
category and very unattractive category were
not at the extreme ends of attractiveness.
WHAT is BEAUTIFUL is GOOD 287
To increase the generalizability of our findings and
to insure that the general dimension of attractiveness
was the characteristic responded to (rather than
unique characteristics such as hair color, etc.), 12
different sets of three pictures each were prepared.
Each subject received and rated only 1 set. Which
1 of the 12 sets of pictures the subject received, the
order in which each of the three envelopes in the
set were presented, and the ratings made of the
person depicted, were all randomly determined.
Dependent variables. The subjects were requested
to record their judgments of the three stimulus persons
in several booklets.5 The first page of each
booklet cautioned the subjects that this study was
an investigation of accuracy of person perception
and that we were not interested in the subjects’
tact, politeness, or other factors usually important
in social situations. It was stressed that it was important
for the subject to rate the stimulus persons
frankly.
The booklets tapped impressions of the stimulus
person along several dimensions. First, the subjects
were asked to open the first envelope and then to
rate the person depicted on 27 different personality
traits (which were arranged in random order).”
The subjects’ ratings were made on 6-point scales,
the ends of which were labeled by polar opposites
(i.e., exciting-dull). When these ratings had been
computed, the subject was asked to open the second
envelope, make ratings, and then open the third
envelope.
In a subsequent booklet, the subjects were asked
to assess the stimulus persons on five additional
personality traits.7 These ratings were made on a
slightly different scale. The subjects were asked to
indicate which stimulus person possessed the “most”
and “least” of a given trait. The stimulus person
thought to best represent a positive trait was assigned
a score of 3; the stimulus person thought to
possess an intermediate amount of the trait was
assigned a score of 2; and the stimulus person
thought to least represent the trait was assigned a
score of 1.
6 A detailed report of the items included in these
booklets is available. Order Document No. 01972
from the National Auxiliary Publication Service of
the American Society for Information Science, c/o
CCM Information Services, Inc., 909 3rd Avenue,
New York, New York 10022. Remit in advance
$5.00 for photocopies or $2.00 for microfiche and
make checks payable to: Research and Microfilm
Publications, Inc.
fl The subjects were asked how altruistic, conventional,
self-assertive, exciting, stable, emotional, dependent,
safe, interesting, genuine, sensitive, outgoing,
sexually permissive, sincere, warm, sociable,
competitive, obvious, kind, modest, strong, serious,
sexually warm, simple, poised, bold, and sophisticated
each stimulus person was.
7 The subjects rated stimulus persons on the following
traits: friendliness, enthusiasm, physical attractiveness,
social poise, and trustworthiness.
In a previous experiment (see Footnote 5), a
subset of items was selected to comprise an index of
the social desirability of the personality traits assigned
to the stimulus person. The subjects’ ratings
of each stimulus person on the appropriate items
were simply summed to determine the extent to
which the subject perceived each stimulus person as
socially desirable.
In order to assess whether or not attractive persons
are expected to lead happier and more successful
lives than unattractive persons, the subjects were
asked to estimate which of the stimulus persons
would be most likely, and which least likely, to have
a number of different life experiences. The subjects
were reminded again that their estimates would
eventually be checked for accuracy as the lives of
the various stimulus persons evolved. The subjects’
estimates of the stimulus person’s probable life experiences
formed indexes of the stimulus person’s
future happiness in four areas: (a) marital happiness
(Which stimulus person is most likely to ever
be divorced?); (,6) parental happiness (Which stimulus
person is most likely to be a good parent?);
(c) social and professional happiness (Which stimulus
person is most likely to experience deep personal
fulfillment?); and (d) total happiness (sum of Indexes
a, b, and c ) .
A fifth index, an occupational success index, was
also obtained for each stimulus person. The subjects
were asked to indicate which of the three stimulus
persons would be most likely to engage in 30 different
occupations. (The order in which the occupations
were presented and the estimates made was
randomized.) The 30 occupations had been chosen
such that three status levels of 10 different general
occupations were represented, three examples of
which follow: Army sergeant (low status) ; Army
captain ‘ (average status); Army colonel (high
status). Each time a high-status occupation was
foreseen for a stimulus person, the stimulus person
was assigned a score of 3; when a moderate status
occupation was foreseen, the stimulus person was
assigned a score of 2; when a low-status occupation
was foreseen, a score of 1 was assigned. The average
status of occupations that a subject ascribed to a
stimulus person constituted the score for that stimulus
person in the occupational status index.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Manipulation Check
It is clear that our manipulation of the
relative attractiveness of the stimulus persons
depicted was effective. The six unattractive
stimulus persons were seen as less attractive
than the average stimulus persons, who, in
turn, were seen as less attractive than the six
attractive stimulus persons. The stimulus
persons’ mean rankings on the attractiveness
dimension were 1.12, 2.02, and 2.87, respec288
- DION, E. BERSCHEID, AND E. WALSTER
TABLE 1
TRAITS ATTRIBUTED TO VARIOUS STIMULUS OTHERS
Trait ascription”
Social desirability of
the stimulus person’s
personality
Occupational status
of the stimulus person
Marital competence
of the stimulus person
Parental competence
of the stimulus person
Social and professional
happiness of the
stimulus person
Total happiness of
the stimulus person
Likelihood of marriage
Unattractive
stimulus
person
56.31
1.70
.37
3.91
5.28
8.83
1.52
Average
stimulus
person
62.42
2.02
.71
4.55
6.34
11.60
1.82
Attractive
stimulus
person
65.39
2.25
1.70
3.54
6.37
11.60
2.17
” The higher the number, the more socially desirable, the
more prestigious an occupation, etc., the stimulus person Is
expected to possess.
tively. These differences were statistically significant
(F= 939.32 ).8
Test of Hypotheses
It will be recalled that it was predicted
that the subjects would attribute more socially
desirable personality traits to attractive individuals
than to average or unattractive individuals.
It also was anticipated that jealousy
might attenuate these effects. Since the subjects
might be expected to be more jealous of
stimulus persons of the same sex than of the
opposite sex, we blocked both on sex of subject
and sex of stimulus person. If jealousy
attenuated the predicted main effect, a significant
Sex of Subject X Sex of Stimulus
Person interaction should be secured in addition
to the main effect.
All tests for detection of linear trend and
interaction were conducted via a multivariate
analysis of variance. (This procedure is outlined
in Hays, 1963.)
The means relevant to the hypothesis that
attractive individuals will be perceived to
possess more socially desirable personalities
than others are reported in Table 1. Analyses
reveal that attractive individuals were indeed
8 Throughout this report, d/=l/55,
judged to be more socially desirable than are
unattractive (F = 29.61) persons. The Sex of
Subject X Sex of Stimulus Person interaction
was insignificant (interaction F = .00).
Whether the rater was of the same or the
opposite sex as the stimulus person, attractive
stimulus persons were judged as more socially
desirable.9
Furthermore, it was also hypothesized that
the subjects would assume that attractive
stimulus persons are likely to secure more
prestigious jobs than those of lesser attractiveness,
as well as experiencing happier marriages,
being better parents, and enjoying
more fulfilling social and occupational lives.
The means relevant to these predictions
concerning the estimated future life experiences
of individuals of varying degrees of
physical attractiveness are also depicted in
Table 1. As shown in the table, there was
strong support for all of the preceding hypotheses
save one. Attractive men and women
were expected to attain more prestigious occupations
than were those of lesser attractiveness
(F = 42.30), and this expectation was
expressed equally by raters of the same or the
opposite sex as the stimulus person (interaction
.F= .25).
The subjects also assumed that attractive
individuals would be more competent spouses
and have happier marriages than those of
lesser attractiveness (^ = 62.54). (It, might
be noted that there is some evidence that this
may be a correct perception. Kirkpatrick and
9 Before running the preliminary experiment to
determine the identity of traits usually associated
with a socially desirable person (see Footnote 5),
we had assumed that an exciting date, a nurturant
person, and a person of good character would be
perceived as quite different personality types. Conceptually,
for example, we expected that an exciting
date would be seen to require a person who was
unpredictable, challenging, etc., while a nurturant
person would be seen to be predictable and unthreatening.
It became clear, however, that these
distinctions were not ones which made sense to the
subjects. There was almost total overlap between
the traits chosen as representative of an exciting date,
of a nurturant person, and a person of good or
ethical character. All were strongly correlated with
social desirability. Thus, attractive stimulus persons
are assumed to be more exciting dates (F = 39.97),
more nurturant individuals (F = 13.96), and to have
better character (F = 19.57) than persons of lesser
attractiveness.
WHAT is BEAUTIFUL is GOOD 289
Cotton ( 1 9 5 1 ) , reported that “well-adjusted”
wives were more physically attractive than
“badly adjusted” wives. “Adjustment,” however,
was assessed by friends’ perceptions,
which may have been affected by the stereotype
evident here.)
According to the means reported in Table
1, it is clear that attractive individuals were
not expected to be better parents (F = 1.47).
In fact, attractive persons were rated somewhat
lower than any other group of stimulus
persons as potential parents, although no
statistically significant differences were apparent.
As predicted, attractive stimulus persons
were assumed to have better prospects for
happy social and professional lives (F =
21.97). All in all, the attractive stimulus persons
were expected to have more total happiness
in their lives than those of lesser attractiveness
(F= 24.20).
The preceding results did not appear to be
attenuated by a jealousy effect (Sex of Subject
X Stimulus Person interaction Fs = .01,
.07, .21, and .05, respectively).
The subjects were also asked to estimate
the likelihood that the various stimulus persons
would marry early or marry at all. Responses
were combined into a single index.
It is evident that the subjects assumed that
the attractive stimulus persons were more
likely to find an acceptable partner than
those of lesser attractiveness (F = 35.84).
Attractive individuals were expected to marry
earlier and to be less likely to remain single.
Once again, these conclusions were reached by
all subjects, regardless of whether they were
of the same or opposite sex of the stimulus
person (interaction F — .01).
The results suggest that a physical attractiveness
stereotype exists and that its content
is perfectly compatible with the “What is
beautiful is good” thesis. Not only are physically
attractive persons assumed to possess
more socially desirable personalities than
those of lesser attractiveness, but it is presumed
that their lives will be happier and
more successful.
The results also suggest that the physical
attractiveness variable may have a number of
implications for a variety of aspects of social
interaction and influence. For example, it is
clear that physically attractive individuals
may have even more advantages in the dating
market than has previously been assumed. In
addition to an aesthetic advantage in marrying
a beautiful spouse (cf. Josselin de Jong,
19S2), potential marriage partners may also
assume that the beautiful attract all of the
world’s material benefits and happiness.
Thus, the lure of an attractive marriage partner
should be strong indeed.
We do not know, of course, how well this
stereotype stands up against contradictory information.
Nor do we know the extent to
which it determines the pattern of social
interaction that develops with a person of a
particular attractiveness level. Nevertheless,
it would be odd if people did not behave
toward others in accordance with this stereotype.
Such behavior has been previously
noted anecdotally. Monahan (1941) has observed
that
Even social workers accustomed to dealing with all
types often find it difficult to think of a normal,
pretty girl as being guilty of a crime. Most people,
for some inexplicable reason, think of crime in terms
of abnormality in appearance, and I must say that
beautiful women are not often convicted [p. 103].
A host of other familiar social psychological
dependent variables also should be affected
in predictable ways.
In the above connection, it might be noted
that if standards of physical attractiveness
vary widely, knowledge of the content of the
physical attractiveness stereotype would be of
limited usefulness in predicting its effect on
social interaction and the development of the
self-concept. The present study was not designed
to investigate the degree of variance
in perceived beauty. (The physical attractiveness
ratings of the stimulus materials were
made by college students of a similar background
to those who participated in this
study.) Preliminary evidence (Cross & Cross,
1971) suggests that such differences in perceived
beauty may not be as severe as some
observers have suggested.
REFERENCES
ARONSON, E. Some antecedents of interpersonal
attraction. In W. J. Arnold & D. Levine (Eds.),
Nebraska Symposium on Motivation, 1969, 17,
143-177.
290 K. DION, E. BERSCHEID, AND E. WALSTER
CROSS, J. F., & CROSS, J. Age, sex, race, and the per- MONAHAN, F. Women in crime. New York: Ives
ception of facial beauty. Developmental Psychol- Washburn, 1941.
ogy, 1971, 5, 433-439. SCHILLER, J. C. F. Essays, esthetical and philo-
HAYS, W. L. Statistics for psychologists. New York: sophical, including the dissertation on the “Con-
Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1963. nexions between the animal and the spiritual in
JOSSELIN DE JONG, J. P. B. Levi-Strauss’ theory on man.” London: Bell, 1882.
kinship and marriage. Leiden, Holland: Brill, 19S2. WRIGHT, B. A. Physical disability—A psychological
KIRKPATRICK, C., & COTTON, J. Physical attractive- approach. New York: Harper & Row, 1960.
ness, age, and marital adjustment. American Sociological
Review, 1951, 16, 81-86. (Received July 14, 1971)
Manuscripts Accepted for Publication in the
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
Social Distance as Categorization of Intergroup Interaction. Carolyn W. Sherif (Department of Psychology,
Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802).
Film-Induced Arousal, Information Search, and the Attribution Process. Michel Girodo (Royal Ottawa Hospital,
1145 Carling Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario KIZ 7K4).
Tngroup Norms and Self-Identity as Determinants of Discriminatory Behavior. Khor 0. Boyanowsky (Department
of Psychology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia) and Vernon L. Allen.
Experimentally Induced Changes in Moral Opinions and Reasoning (Charles Blake Keasey (Department of
Psychology, Douglass College, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08903).
Personality Variables Associated with Cigarette Smoking. Richard W. Coan (Department of Psychology, University
of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721).
Personality and Social Systems and Attitude-Reinforcer-Discriminative Theory: Interest (Attitude) Formation,
Function, and Measurement. Arthur W. Staats (Department of Psychology, 2430 Campus Road, University
of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822), Michael C. Cross, Peter F. Quay, and Carl C. Carlson.
Rules, Models, and Self-Reinforcement in Children. David E. Hildebrant (Department of Psychology, Northern
Illinois University, Dekalb, Illinois 60115), Solomon F. Feldman, and Raymond A. Ditrichs.
Attitude Change and Attitude Attribution: Effects of Incentive, Choice, and Consequences in the Festinger and
Carlsmith Paradigm. Bobby J. Calder (Department of Business Administration, University of Illinois,
Urbana, Illinois 61801), Michael Ross, and Chester A. Insko.
The Defendant’s Dilemma: Effects of Jurors’ Attitudes and Authoritarianism on Judicial Decisions. Herman E.
Mitchell and Donn Byrne (Department of Psychology, Purdue University, Lafayette, Indiana 47907).
Internal versus External Control of Reinforcement and Reaction to Frustration. Michael Brissett and Stephen
Nowicki, Jr. (Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30322).
Attitudinal Politics: The Strategy of Moderation. Robert B. Cialdini (Department of Psychology, Arizona State
University, Temne, Arizona 85281), Alan Levy, C. Peter Herman, and Scott Evenbeck.
Smoking, Physiological Arousal, and Emotional Response. Paul David Nesbitt (Department of Psychology,
University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106).
Investigation into Deindividuation Using a Cross-Cultural Survey Technique. Robert I. Watson, Jr. (Department
of Social Relations, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138).
When Do Opposites Attract? When They Are Opposite in Sex and Sex-Role Attitudes. B. A. Seyfried (Department
of Psychology, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio 44240) and Clyde Hendrick.
Stimulus Inconsistency and Response Dispositions in Forming Judgments of Other Persons. Martin F. Kaplan
(Department of Psychology, Northern Illinois University, Dekalb, Illinois 60115).
Context Effects in Observed Violence. Russell G. Geen (Department of Psychology, University of Missouri,
Columbia, Missouri 65201) and David Stonner.
Pygmalion Black and White. Pamela C. Rubovits and Martin L. Maehr (Department of Education Psychology,
University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801).
Exposure, Context, and Interpersonal Attraction. Susan Saegert (Environmental Psychology Program, The City
University of New York, 33 West 42nd Street, New York, New York 10036), Walter Swap, and R. B. Zajonc.
Power, Opportunity Costs, and Sex in a Mixed-Motive Game. Jeffrey Bedell and Frank Sistrunk (Director of
Social Sciences, Stale University System of Florida, 107 West Gaincs Street, Tallahassee, Florida 32304).
(Continued on fiage 305)
Subject | Article Analysis | Pages | 5 | Style | APA |
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Answer
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Article Review: What is Beautiful is Good
Dion, Berscheid, and Walster (1972), in the article “What is Beautiful is Good,” investigate the influence of people’s physical appearance on their social and personality psychology. Primarily, Dion, Berscheid, and Walster (1972) assume that attractive people are likely to be poorer parents due to the absence of any study which establishes a correlation between physical appearance and personality. For instance, they foster the perspective that “beauty is only a peripheral characteristic.” Moreover, the assumption is enhanced by the statement that beauty only serves as an antecedent for liking hence the folk psychology view that “what is beautiful is good.”
Beautiful people, especially women, are considered less homely than unattractive or average attractive persons. Whereas this is only a theoretical perspective, social psychologists have not engaged in any study to substantiate these claims. As such, it remains a general belief that beautiful women are not homely hence poor parents.
The authors’ experimental study confirmed the existence of appearance-based stereotypes when evaluating individuals of different attractiveness. Notably, there is increased likeness for attractive people as compared to those that are average or unattractive. Beautiful persons were rated as more social, while unattractive ones were least social. Basing on the significance of stereotyping, social psychologists hold the stereotyped perception that “physically attractive people are likely to poorer parents than unattractive or average attractive people” as being right despite the lack of evidence supporting its correctness.
Critical Thinking Question
Could the fear of disturbing the established psychological balance between being attractive and being a good parent, where individuals who are not attractive are liked for being good parents, be why social psychologists have shelved their interests in examining if beauty is not just a peripheral characteristic?
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References
Dion, K., Berscheid, E., & Walster, E. (1972). What is beautiful is good. Journal of personality and social psychology, 24(3), 285.
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