Physical Traits and Attractiveness (6/19)

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Roger
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Physical Traits and Attractiveness (6/19)

文章 Roger »

Let's explore the connection between Physical Traits and Attractiveness on Saturday (6/19)! You'll know more about yourself.
http://jrscience.wcp.muohio.edu/humanna ... tract.html
Roger
遊英文 質人生 http://122.116.234.216
Former President of YOYO English Club
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Arthur
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文章 Arthur »

Dear Roger

I can not connect the website link
Could you check it, thanks.

Arthur
===========
厚積而薄發!
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Roger
Member
文章: 314
註冊時間: 週四 8月 28, 2003 10:36 am
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文章 Roger »

The link is probably dead. But thanks for the storage of google I can retrieve the original article.
(There are something that internet can't find, for others there's GOOGLE!!) :lol:
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Determined Physical Attractiveness in Terms of Personality Traits

This topic submitted by Holly Van Horsten, Amanda Blevins (plasticastle32@yahoo.com) at 4:53 pm on 5/4/01. Additions were last made on Friday, July 26, 2002. Section: Myers.
Holly Van Horsten
Amanda Blevins
Research Project
4-5-01

Determined Physical Attractiveness in Terms of Personality Traits:
How Important Are Certain Personality Traits for “Attractive” People?


Abstract


Our project is based on the concepts of beauty and how important attractiveness is in certain contexts. Essentially, what we explored was how attractive an individual was rated and then how they were rated based on further information about their character. We aimed to see if certain personality traits have any impact on how attractive this person is rated. The three traits that we decided to focus on were how successful, faithful and kind the individual is. We tested 288 (the even number for testing ease) Miami University students (144 female and 144 male), 144 main campus students and 144 western students, and asked them to rate the male and female picture provided on their initial attractiveness, after reading a profile based on one of the traits the subject was then asked to rate the male and female again. Following the ratings, the subject was then asked to fill out a short survey corresponding to the profile trait that they read to provide context. Although it was found that the traits did impact the rating of attractiveness, the changes were not significant enough to conclude that the traits that we tested had a significant affect on the way attractiveness was rated.



Introduction


As Americans, we live in a society that is completely obsessed with the concept of beauty. The way we look, whether consciously or unconsciously, is a focus for the current generations where various methods such as lyposuction and plastic surgery are muti-billion dollar industries. “Beauty” as a concept, has basis in preferred facial structure (Kowner 1996) and body type. When one translates this basic scientific knowledge into the social realm, it is beautiful models that plaster the cover of magazines and exist in picture form every time an individual turns on the television. Through the media and pop-culture, which permeate every aspect of society, the importance of being physically attractive is reinforced. A beautiful woman “never go[es] anywhere without makeup,” (Stover 118). As ridiculous as that quote sounds, it represents media image, which often sets the standards of how we judge not only ourselves, but other individuals as well.


After determining that society has an image of beauty that is continually reinforced through the media it is important to see how this information fits into the context of the individual and their perceptions. The widely regarded Gallop poll tested Americans about attractiveness to determine that it is incredibly important and includes perceptions that people who are more attractive are more likely to succeed. It has also been found that more attractive people are more likely to be hired and receive higher pay (Schneider 2001). Attractiveness has also been linked to issues of self-esteem (Thorton and Moore 1993) and self-perception (Smith 30).
Due to this pervasive image of beauty and it’s social and emotional implications (Smith 30) individuals often take certain measures to conform to the image that the media portrays such as obsessive dieting and exercise. People often transcend simple diet and exercise to more extreme measures (Davis 67) including anorexia/ bulimia, plastic surgery, lyposuction, and permanent make-up application.


Clearly seeing the impact of attractiveness on individuals we wanted to test its importance with regards to certain personality traits. We hoped to see how possessing either a positive version or a negative version of a personality trait would affect an individual’s perceived rating of attractiveness. The traits of kindness, faithfulness and success were the ones we choose to test. As an added question we also wanted to see if possessing a good version of a personality trait was more important for a person who is not considered attractive by society’s standards (it is clear through the perusing of magazines who is considered attractive by society’s standards and who is not considered attractive by society’s standards) compared to one who is attractive. We hypothesized that all of these traits will have affect on how attractive an individual is considered. We also hypothesized that those individuals who are less faithful will have the least change in the attractiveness rating amongst all of the traits and that those individuals who are the most successful will have the biggest change in the attractiveness rate. With regards to attractive person vs. the non-attractive person, we hypothesized that good personality traits are more important for those who are non-attractive in terms of their rating. For gender equality we wanted to test an equal number of males and females and have each person rate the attractiveness of both a male and a female. Due to the stereotypes that exist between main campus and western campus we thought it would be interesting to see if there was any significant difference between perceptions so we tested students from both campuses. We hypothesized that there would be a difference in attitude toward the traits found on the survey.


With regards to evolutionary psychology this project has interesting significance. The attractiveness of a woman is more important that the attractiveness of a man according to evolutionary psychology (Allman 43). “Men value physical attractiveness in women because a woman's physical attractiveness is related to her fertility, whereas women value dominance in men since dominance is related to a man's ability to provide resources,” (Dijkstra 1158). The modern-day providing of resources can be named as success and according to the aforementioned statement success would be the most attractive quality in a man. “When people see a beautiful woman with an ugly man, they typically assume he has lots of money or status. Researches have actually gone to the trouble of showing that people make this inference, and that the inference is often correct,” (Wright 65).


Literature Review


There have been quite a few studies done on physical attractiveness. In researching we concentrated on studies that looked at societal perceptions of beauty and how important physical attractiveness is. Much of that research is highlighted above in the “Introduction” section. We continued by seeing if socially perceived attractive individuals are of any advantage over those who aren’t perceived to be so, which also lead us to examine how the individual’s attractiveness affects their self-image/ how they perceive themselves.


In our society it has been found that being attractive is very important (Newport 1999). Newport, in very well recognized Gallop poll examined American’s attitudes about attractiveness and how important it is to be attractive. In support of these notions, it has also been found that attractive people get hired more often, get paid more, and that attractive children are treated more positively (Schneider 2001).


In terms of self-image issues, one’s physical attractiveness has been found to have a great impact. Women especially have profound issues with their attractiveness that often cause self-esteem issues. In her article, Starving Self-Esteem, Smith highlights the fact that it has been found that girls who weigh more have lower self-esteem. It is not just women who have issues with their attractiveness, due to society’s value on attractiveness, men are having a great deal of image problems as well (Williams 24).


Materials and Methods


We have decided to conduct our research in the form of a survey (or survey type experiment). Our surveys totaled 288, sampling 144 individuals at random from western (72 males and 72 females) and 144 individuals from main campus (72 males and 72 females). The person surveyed first judged the attractiveness of either the “attractive” or “non-attractive” man (a provided picture: pictures are included in the appendix) on the scale of 1-10 (half the people tested judged the “attractive” man and the other half of the people judged the “non-attractive man”). Next the person was given a profile highlighting the specific attributes we were investigating: how successful the person is, how faithful and how kind. For each of those attributes there was a positive version and a negative version. The person tested got one of the profiles, either positive or negative. The person then rated the individual’s attractiveness knowing these attributes. The person tested was then asked to repeat the process with a female (“attractive” or “non-attractive” corresponding to the male that they rated) and the same trait, but the opposite version (i.e. if the person had read the positive kindness profile for the man they will read the negative kindness profile for the woman. This is simply for the cohesiveness with the supplemental survey). After the person has rated the pictures initially and after know some facts about them they will be given a short survey about the specific attribute and how important that attribute is to them. It is with the survey that the western or main campus status was noted because we wanted to look for attitude difference. There will be a total of six different profiles and three different surveys. The person is not judging the sexual attractiveness of a person or how likely they would become involved with them, just how the person looks (and then how they look based on the profile).
We decided not to make the western/main campus distinction when calculating the attractiveness ratings because we determined there were too many variables in existence already. We included the western main campus divide in the first place because we thought it would be interesting to see if there was a difference in attitudes,
We would like the reader to note that initially we wanted to do the project just with the image of the “attractive” man and woman, but determined for more accuracy a “non-attractive” individual needed to be included. This was determined after further research after the class was tested during the poster presentation phase.


Timeline of Research:


Weeks prior to March 26th- researched extensively
Week of March 26th – decided upon the final format of survey
Week of April 9th - administered surveys on both Western and Main campus, decided that a “non attractive” person must also be included
Week of April 16th - finished surveying main campus and western students
Week of April 23rd - tabulated data and determined the graph-mode that was best in terms
of presentation
Week of April 30th- wrote the final report


Profile of the Traits and Surveys:


Profile #1 (positive kindness)
-this individual delivers meal on wheels to elderly people
-the people that know him/her say that they are always smiling and saying “hi” to people
-he/she would be the person that you call on if you need a favor or are in trouble
-this person would always give you a ride uptown if you needed one


Profile #2 (negative kindness)
-this individual never really goes out of his/her way for others
-he/she never asks you how you are doing
-this individual frequently bullies others or puts them down


Kindness Questions
A person’s kindness is something I value profoundly in a relationship (i.e. friendship)
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
A person does not really have to go out of their way for others to be my friend
yes no
I would I rate my own kindness towards others
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
I usually surround myself with people who are not exclusive or are considered to be very nice by others.
yes no



Profile #3 (positive success)
-this person has a large trust fund waiting for them
-this person is considered by the other people in their field of study to be one of the best
-he/she just got a promotion at their job
-he/she has a six figure salary
Profile #4 (negative success)
-this person comes from a poor background
-he/she waits tables at a local caf?
-money is not of any importance to them
-he/she doesn’t have big aspirations to move up in their company or place of employment


Success Questions
A person’s rate of success is a reflection on the person his/her self.
yes no
Having successful friends and a mate are important to me.
yes no
Do you associate money with success?
yes no
In the future how successful do you see yourself being?
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10


Profile #5 (positive faithful)
-this person is great at keeping a secret
-he/she has never cheated on their mate and don’t plan on doing so
-this person is always one that can be depended upon


Profile #6 (negative faithful)
-this person can’t always be depended on to be there for you when you are in a tough situation
-this person has cheated on his/her mate, but swears they will never do it again
-this person hits on other people when they have a girlfriend/boyfriend


Faithful Questions
1. If a person cheats on me how likely am I to break up with them?
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
I don’t care if my friends are faithful to their partners.
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
I have cheated on a mate before.
yes no
How is important to me someone’s faithfulness, whether in friendship or a romantic relationship?
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10


Results


With regards to the initial hypothesis, all of the traits had an influence on the ratings of attractiveness. After given the positive profile for all the traits the attractiveness rating went up and after given the negative profile for all the traits the attractiveness rating went down. However the changes in the rating were not over-all very substantial.
The rating that changed the most, surprisingly, was for the “non-attractive/average” looking female, 1.6 (change in rating on the scale of 1-10), after reading the positive profile for success. The second most changed rating was for the “non-attractive/average” looking male, 1.4, after reading the positive profile for success. The rating with the least change was for the attractive female, .2, after reading the positive kindness profile.


As we hypothesized the traits were more crucial for the “non-attractive/average” looking person both male and female than “attractive” looking male and female. The changes were more substantial in every trait, both positive and negative, for the “non-attractive/average”.


Despite the fact that our hypothesis was proven correct the most substantial change was only 1.6 so one could venture to say that the traits don’t really have much affect on the rating of attractiveness.


With regards to our hypothesis about what trait would change the most over-all, we were right about saying success would. However, we were wrong about saying that faithfulness would change the least, because it was kindness that changed the least.


Our survey about the attitudes in terms of the specific trait, for the purpose of seeing if there is a difference between the western and the main campus students proved that there is. The difference was not substantial enough over all to say that there is a significant difference.


The fact that the second biggest change was for male success aligns with evolutionary theory that success is what is most important for a man. Still, the change was only 1.4, so one could venture to say that the results were to align with evolutionary theory the change would have been much higher.


Being that the largest change was only 1.6, it is hard to say that the traits have any affect on one’s attractiveness at all. Also, after getting back the results we determined that we tested way too many things and have way too many variables. If we would have focused on one single trait we could have better tested the relationship between traits and attractiveness. The fact that there wasn’t much over-all change is very symbolic of that fact. Another significant problem stems from the fact that the experiment was not personal (and there was no way for it to be). It is hard for the individual to make an over-all assumption about someone’s attractiveness from simply reading a profile. This was something that we determined after we analyzed our results.


All of the graphs can be seen at the address:
http://Nsystems.wcp.muohio.edu/humannat ... mandaholly


Conclusions


It is really hard to say that this project was successful in proving a change in how certain traits affect one’s rating of attractiveness. The changes were essentially so small that one could venture to say that traits do not really have an affect on how attractive the individual is rated. The fact that the changes for all of the personality traits were not very substantial over all can be attributed to the fact that society really does care about attractiveness. Due to all of the research that state’s the importance of attractiveness, it just proves that that is where society’s focus is. That it dosen’t matter if a person is nice, if they are attractive, they are attractive. This above justification can also be applied to the fact that there was a greater change in the attractiveness rating for the male and female that are “non-attractive/average” because attractive people can “get away with more”. The fact that the most substantial change was the “non-attractive/average” after the positive success profile can be deemed the most exciting find because it does not align with any of the research. At the same time, the change was not substantial enough to be overwhelmingly noteworthy. The fact that the success ratings changed the most could be due to the fact that college students are preoccupied with excelling in whatever they are studying.


Not being scientific in western focus or having significant experience conducting scientific experiments, neither of us were able to foresee the fact that the project was simply too broad and it would be very difficult to test what we were trying to test.


The project topic was very exciting and because of that we had very high hopes in what we tested. After doing the project we came to the overwhelming conclusion that what we were trying to measure was simply too broad. If we were to have focused it more on a specific trait or gender than our results would have been more accurate. It is incredibly ironic that by trying to have a gender equal test, we made it much more complicated and reinforced the fact that there are differences in the ways that male and females perceive attractiveness. We also though since we weren’t testing sexual attractiveness that the sex of the person would not be important when getting our attractiveness rating for the male and female. We didn’t quite take into account the fact that some people may not be able to distinguish between the two. When asking some of the males to rate another male’s attractiveness, even with specifying that it wasn’t sexual attractiveness, they were hesitant to do so. I would suggest to any one whom is trying to replicate this project (or anything like it) to just focus on one of the traits.


Literature Cited


Allman, William F Stop Lookin’, Stop Livin’. Forbes p. 43-46 Spring 1998


Davis, Caroline Claridge, Gordon Fox, John Not just a pretty face: Physical Attractiveness and Perfectionism in the Risk for Eating Disorders. International Journal of Eating Disorders p. 67-73 Jan 2000.


Dijkstra, Pieternel Buunk, Bram P Jealousy as a Function of Rival Characteristics: An Evolutionary Perspective. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin p. 1158-1166 Nov 1998.


Gonzales, Casey. http://clearinghouse.mwsc.edu/manuscripts/197.asp


Kowner, Rotem Facial Asymmetry and Attractiveness Judgment in Developmental Perspective.
Journal of Experimental Psychology p. 662-675 Jun 1996.


Newport, Frank Americans Agree That Being Attractive is a Plus in American Society. Gallup Poll Monthly p. 45-48 Sep 1999.


Schneider, David. http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~sch/social%20c ... veness.htm


Smith, Sarah. Starving Self-Esteem. Psychology Today p. 30 May/Jun 2001


Stover, Laren Forrest, Kimberly Are You a Modern-Day Bombshell? Mademoiselle p. 118-121 May 2001.


Thornton, Bill Maurice, Jason K Physical Attractiveness Contrast Effect and the Moderating Influence of Self-Consciousness. Sex Roles p. 379-392 Mar 1999.


Williams, Alex Lee, Andrew O Brien, Glenn You’re So Vain. New York p. 24-28 Apr 2, 2001.
遊英文 質人生 http://122.116.234.216
Former President of YOYO English Club
ROGER
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