title: Hitchhiking women's hair color.
abstract: To test the effect of women's hair color on the frequency of offering help, male (n = 1,508) and female (n = 892) French motorists were tested in a hitchhiking situation. Five 20- to 22- yr.-old female confederates wore a wig with blonde, brown, or black hair. Each confederate was instructed to stand by the side of a road frequented by hitchhikers and hold out her thumb to catch a ride. Blonde hair, compared with brown hair or black hair, was associated with a small but significantly larger number of male drivers who stopped to offer a ride (18 vs 14%). No difference was found for those with brown and black hair (14 and 13%, respectively). No effect of hair color was found for female drivers who stopped. The greater attractiveness associated with blonde hair for women appears to explain these data.
authors.affiliation: Université de Bretagne Sud, UFR LSHS, 4 rue Jean Zay, BP 92116, 56321 Lorient Cedex, France. nicolas.gueguen@univ-ubs.fr
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Guéguen
authors.forename: Lubomir
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lamy
mesh_terms: D001334:Automobile Driving / Q000523:psychology; D001504:Beauty; D002755:Choice Behavior; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006200:Hair Color; D006379:Helping Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008393:Marriage; D009633:Nonverbal Communication; D012931:Social Environment; D055815:Young Adult