The effect of physical attractiveness comparison on choice of partners.
The roles of several presumed factors in the choice of partners during a first group encounter were examined, when the only available information was a ranking of group members' physical attractiveness. After they had received bogus feedback about their own attractiveness rank in a newly formed group, 99 Japanese students were asked to choose a partner for a task. The results indicated that feedback about one's own attractiveness was the primary factor that determined choice of others and that susceptibility to this type of feedback was characterized by a notable gender difference. These findings suggest that when the only information available about others concerns their physical appearance, the choice of partner or competitor, even for appearance-irrelevant tasks, is partially dependent on others' rankings of one's own physical attractiveness.
Kowner
R
R
Institute of Psychology, University of Tsukuba, Japan.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001504:Beauty; D002755:Choice Behavior; D005246:Feedback; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D012649:Self Concept; D012938:Social Perception