Physical attraction is obviously an important phenomenon that occurs almost every day, multiple times each day. It is not something that we are able to control because it is practically automatic when we interact with people. We’ve all experienced a time where we’ve had an extreme desire to talk to, or even maybe pursue a relationship with someone solely based on their physical appearance. We also are all aware of the fact that the people who were popular in our school years, the people who become actors and actresses, models, and even those who appear in commercials are all generally what people find physically attractive. Unfortunately, physical appearance has gained great importance in society; especially in the United States. If you simply look at the lengths actors and actresses go to in order to keep their bodies physically attractive (plastic surgery, breast implants, excessive diets, etc.), you are able to see evidence of the importance we place on our appearance.
This great importance on physical appearance often leads to superficial attitudes. Recently, my friend went on a date with a guy. When I asked her how it was, she said that he told her that he “broke up with his ex because she was not pretty enough.” I know quite a few males that will make comments to me about certain women that they know and obviously don’t like, but will want to pursue them anyway because they are a “10.” Many people are also aware of the game that people (mostly men from my experience) play by saying numbers from 0-10 as people from the opposite gender walk by without any consideration of their personality. I can’t even imagine thinking this way myself, but there are many people who base everything solely on physical appearance. As can be seen in this video of Barney from the popular TV show “How I Met Your Mother,” (below) there are people who are more interested in their partner being attractive than other personality traits. He claims that he doesn’t mind if the woman he is dating is crazy as long as she is “equally as hot.” In other words, physical appearance can balance or even override negative personality traits.
Physical attractiveness has been shown to be the most important thing for initial impressions. And in contrary to popular belief, beauty is not in the eye of the beholder. There are actual ways that we all measure beauty. For example, we like faces that are symmetrical and don’t have any unique features more. Body proportionality also matters. It has been scientifically proven that a “golden ratio” exists; the distance from the navel to the bottom of the feet is 1.618 times the distance from the navel to the top of the head, the width of the lips is 1.618 times the width of the nose, etc. There is even a preferred waist-to-hip ratio of .70 for women and 1.00 for men.
According to a study done at Yale University by Alan Feingold, there were some interesting findings relating to gender differences and physical attraction (1). The first was the idea that more men than women value attractiveness gained some support from this study. Secondly, it was shown that the correlation for female physical attractiveness and romantic popularity was stronger for women than men. On the other hand, the correlation for platonic popularity (friends) with the opposite sex was stronger for men than women. This would make sense according to an evolutionary standpoint because according to that theory, men look for young, attractive women in order to pass their genes on. In our society, we generally associate a romantic relationship with a possible future family and therefore physical appearance of women would become more important in a romantic sense. Females, according to the theory, are looking for a male that will provide support for her and her offspring, so it would seem natural for women to look for relationships out of friendship first.
Since physical attraction seems to be so important, how does this affect the workplace? In one study that was conducted at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, they decided to investigate just that (2). People are permitted to include a personal photo on a resume in Israel, so this was an ideal opportunity to see if people are more attractive for a job if they are considered more physically attractive. 5,312 resumes were sent out to 2,656 jobs. Each resume either had no picture, a picture of an average looking person, or a picture of an attractive person. The response rate for attractive males was found to be 19.9%, for average males was 13.7% and for no picture males was 9.2%. Interestingly, women were found to be significantly less likely to be hired if they were attractive. The response rate for women was highest when there was no picture at all (16.6%), while the response rate was lowest if they were considered to be physically attractive (12.8%). However, it was later found in a post-study survey that the women with photos were subject to discrimination because of the high number of women who were reviewing the applicants. They experienced feelings of jealousy when they saw young, attractive women applying to work at their company and therefore decided not to contact them. By looking at the response rate for males, it does seem that physical attractiveness may have a chance of enhancing the possibility of being hired. However, as can be seen with what happened to the attractive females in this study, physical attractiveness may also harm you depending on who is doing the hiring.
Of course, not everyone is completely superficial. People value personality, interpersonal skills, similarity, mere exposure, proximity, and a variety of other things. For example, Tobias Greitemeyer from the University of Innsbruck in Austria set out to see if the reciprocity effect (liking someone when you find out that they like you) had an impact on the attraction between people. (3) He thought that the more attractive a person was, the more someone would want them if they found out they were desired by them. He had 61 participants and did multiple studies where the participants were shown pictures of very attractive and not-so-attractive people. They were told that the people they were shown were attracted to them. Despite how attractive the people in the photos were, there was some level of reciprocated attraction when the participants found out they were liked by the people in the photos. However, this effect was shown to work more if the person in the photo was rated highly attractive. Because the participants never interacted with the people in the photos, physical attraction was shown to be an important (though not the only) factor in first impressions. The bottom line is, people will generally like you more when they first encounter you if they find you physically attractive.
So, if physical attraction is so important, what do we subtly do in order to make ourselves more attractive? It seems that you can use cues involving eye contact, lips, crossing of the legs, touch and proximity to guide your perceptions (4). When people are attracted to someone, they want to look more and make eye contact with them. Eye contact will be naturally prolonged. If you catch someone looking at you for an extended period of time, especially with a smile thrown in there, chances are probably good that they are interested. Secondly, people may lick or bite their lips more often. The lips are very sensitive and have an important role when it comes to intimacy. For example, a woman may bring her necklace up to her mouth and playfully toy with it. Thirdly, women will often cross and uncross their legs to draw attention to her legs and groin area, while men will sometimes either sit or stand with their thumbs tucked into their belt loops, which also draws attention to the same area. When people feel more comfortable with the person they are attracted to, touch and proximity play a larger role. Touching someone’s hand, arm, hair, or even the bold move of touching someone’s leg are examples of how you may show you are attracted to someone. Being in someone’s close proximity such as leaning into them and whispering can also be used to convey feelings of attraction.
Despite all of the research that shows physical attraction is a very key component of interpersonal relationships and that there is a scientific aspect of beauty, there is a cultural component of it as well. For example, compare the well known actor Brad Pitt from the US (left) (5) to Oguri Shun from Japan (right) (6). Both of these men are very popular and considered extremely attractive in their respective countries. Anyone can see the differences in what is considered attractive between them, though. In the United States, male actors and models more commonly have six packs (or at least pretty jacked), relatively shorter hair on their head, have facial hair, angular jaws, and just plain ooze “masculinity.” In contrast, the actors that are popular in Japan have longer hair, are very thin and lanky, don’t have facial hair, have a softer jaw-line, and would be considered more “feminine” by an American standpoint.
In conclusion, it is almost impossible to deny the importance of physical attraction. It happens every day, whether we are consciously aware of it or not. Some people place more importance on how physically attractive someone is than others, and it often varies with context. And despite their being a quantitative way to measure beauty, culture plays some roles in shaping what exactly is considered attractive amongst a group of people.
REFERENCES:
1. Feingold, A. (1990). Gender differences in effects of physical attractiveness on romantic attraction: A comparison across five research paradigms. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59(5), 981-993. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.59.5.981
2. Ruffle, Bradley J. and Shtudiner, Ze'ev, Are Good-Looking People More Employable? (November 8, 2010). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1705244
3. Greitmeyer, Tobais. (2010). Effects of reciprocity on attraction: the role of a partner's physical attractiveness. Journal of the International Association of Relationship Research, 17.
4. Maughan, J. (n.d.). Five Signs of Physical Attraction. Retrieved 2011, from http://www.life123.com/relationships/communication/signs-attraction/signs-of-physical-attraction.shtml
5. Brad Pitt photograph from http://www.julielinker.com/2007/08/
6. Oguri Shun photograph from http://yeinjee.com/asianpop/tag/asian-celebrity/bio/
REFERENCES:
1. Feingold, A. (1990). Gender differences in effects of physical attractiveness on romantic attraction: A comparison across five research paradigms. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59(5), 981-993. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.59.5.981
2. Ruffle, Bradley J. and Shtudiner, Ze'ev, Are Good-Looking People More Employable? (November 8, 2010). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1705244
3. Greitmeyer, Tobais. (2010). Effects of reciprocity on attraction: the role of a partner's physical attractiveness. Journal of the International Association of Relationship Research, 17.
4. Maughan, J. (n.d.). Five Signs of Physical Attraction. Retrieved 2011, from http://www.life123.com/relationships/communication/signs-attraction/signs-of-physical-attraction.shtml
5. Brad Pitt photograph from http://www.julielinker.com/2007/08/
6. Oguri Shun photograph from http://yeinjee.com/asianpop/tag/asian-celebrity/bio/
