How do people determine attractiveness

The effects of physical attractiveness on job-related outcomes: A meta-analysis of experimental studies. Personnel Psychology, 56 2 , — Isen, A. Effect of feeling good on helping: Cookies and kindness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 21 , — Jones, J.

How do I love thee? Let me count the Js: Implicit egotism and interpersonal attraction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 87 5 , —;. Kalick, S. The matching hypothesis reexamined.

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51 4 , —;. Kenrick, D. The Darwin is in the details. American Psychologist, 55 9 , — Kubitschek, W. Social Psychology Quarterly, 61 1 , 1— Langlois, J. Facial diversity and infant preferences for attractive faces. Developmental Psychology, 27 , 79— Attractive faces are only average.

Psychological Science , 1 2 , What is average and what is not average about attractive faces? Psychological Science, 5 4 , — Lee, L. Psychological Science, 19 7 , — Li, N. The necessities and luxuries of mate preferences: Testing the tradeoffs. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82 6 , — Mita, T.

Reversed facial images and the mere-exposure hypothesis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 35 8 , — Moreland, R.

Exposure effects in the classroom: The development of affinity among students. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 28 3 , — Nelson, L. Psychological Science , 16 2 , Newcomb, T. The acquaintance process. Olson, I. Facial attractiveness is appraised in a glance. Emotion, 5 4 , —;. Petersen, J. A meta-analytic review of research on gender differences in sexuality, — Psychological Bulletin, 1 , 21—38;. Pinel, E. Seeing I to I: A pathway to interpersonal connectedness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90 2 , — Ramsey, J.

Origins of a stereotype: Categorization of facial attractiveness by 6-month-old infants. Developmental Science, 7 2 , — Rhodes, G. The evolutionary psychology of facial beauty. Annual Review of Psychology, 57 , — Do facial averageness and symmetry signal health? Evolution and Human Behavior, 22 1 , 31— Roese, N.

Sex differences in regret: All for love or some for lust? Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 32 6 , — Saad, G. Sex differences when searching for a mate: A process-tracing approach.

Journal of Behavioral Decision making, 22 2 , — Sigall, H. Radiating beauty: Effects of having a physically attractive partner on person perception.

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 28 2 , — Singh, D. Female judgment of male attractiveness and desirability for relationships: Role of waist-to-hip ratio and financial status.

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69 6 , —;. Singh, R. Multiple mediators of the attitude similarity-attraction relationship: Dominance of inferred attraction and subtlety of affect. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 29 1 , 61— Sprecher, S. Handbook of relationship initiation. Swami, V. The influence of body weight and shape in determining female and male physical attractiveness. Kindes Ed. Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science. The psychology of physical attraction. Tiedens, L. Assimilation for affiliation and contrast for control: Complementary self-construals.

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85 6 , — Is beautiful always good? Implicit benefits of facial attractiveness. Social Cognition, 22 6 , — Wade, T. Evolutionary theory and self-perception: Sex differences in body esteem predictors of self-perceived physical and sexual attractiveness and self-esteem.

International Journal of Psychology, 35 1 , 36— Walster, E. Importance of physical attractiveness in dating behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 4 5 , — Watson, D. Match makers and deal breakers: Analyses of assortative mating in newlywed couples. Journal of Personality, 72, — Weeden, J. Physical attractiveness and health in Western societies: A review.

Psychological Bulletin, 5 , — Wheeler, L. What is beautiful is culturally good: The physical attractiveness stereotype has different content in collectivistic cultures.

Personality And Social Psychology Bulletin , 23 8 , White, G. Passionate love and the misattribution of arousal. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 41 1 , 56— Wiederman, M. Evolved gender differences in mate preferences: Evidence from personal advertisements. Ethology and Sociobiology, 14 5 , — Willis, M. Social perceptions of individuals missing upper front teeth.

Perceptual and Motor Skills, 2 , — Winkielman, P. Mind at ease puts a smile on the face: Psychophysiological evidence that processing facilitation elicits positive affect.

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81 6 , — Zebrowitz, L. Physical appearance as a basis of stereotyping. Macrae, C. Hewstone Eds. Bright, bad, baby-faced boys: Appearance stereotypes do not always yield self-fulfilling prophecy effects.

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75 5 , — The contribution of face familiarity to in-group favoritism and stereotyping. Social Cognition, 25 2 , — Law and Human Behavior, 15 6 , — Appearance does matter. Science, , — Rajiv Jhangiani and Dr. Skip to content 7. Liking and Loving. Summarize the variables that lead to initial attraction between people. Outline the variables that lead us to perceive someone as physically attractive, and explain why physical attractiveness is so important in liking.

Describe the ways that similarity and complementarity influence our liking for others. Define the concept of mere exposure, and explain how proximity influences liking. Explore the relationship between affect and attraction. Particularly in initial encounters, people are strongly influenced by the physical attractiveness of the other person.

People tend to prefer people who are young, who have symmetrical facial features and bodies, and who appear average. These preferences may be because these features suggest to us that the person is healthy. Although men and women agree on many aspects of what they find attractive, women are relatively more focused on the social status of their romantic partners, whereas men are more focused on the youth and attractiveness of their partners.

We tend to like people who share our values and beliefs, both because similarity makes things easier and because similarity reinforces our own values and beliefs.

Proximity and the principle of mere exposure are two important determinants of interpersonal attraction. We tend to like people more when we are in a good mood. Our current state of physiological arousal tends to polarize our liking. Another factor frequently cited in pop culture is smell, sometimes in the context of pheromones.

Some experts, like Fisher, say that the sense does not have significant bearing on whom we find attractive. That said, other experts do believe factors like deodorants, perfumes, and bodily smells can play a role in attraction. Research on this specific topic is inconclusive, with one study indicating that women preferred men whose genes displayed a different immune response from theirs, and another revealing that women were turned on by men who smelled similarly to them.

According to research , altruism, in particular, is a compelling trait, particularly for women. This emphasis makes sense. For men and women, symmetrical faces are appealing. Similarly, straight men in one study responded to a specific spinal curvature in women, one linked with the ability to successfully birth children.

Importantly, many of the studies available on this subject are based on relatively small groups of primarily white people, meaning the findings may very well not be representative of people of other races or of the general population.

This is an issue in many areas of scientific research, but it's particularly important to point out in the case of attraction, much of which may be heavily influenced by factors such as race, socioeconomic status, or other aspects of identity. These factors play a large role in our cultural understanding of beauty, and so studies that don't take them into account may not fully capture the truth about attraction.

Indeed, cultural body ideals play a sizable role in what people find attractive. For instance, the glorification of thin frames is a relatively recent, Western phenomenon.

To that end, we also tend to be influenced by the opinions of our friends, family, and society as a whole. When media narratives frequently show us images of thinner, light-skinned women as the beauty ideal, for example, we internalize them until they become a subconscious preference. Validating this, according to one study of white college students, men preferred women with lower BMIs than are actually healthy.

Interestingly, the qualities people seek out also differ depending on whether their goal is a fling or serious partnership. These preferences may reflect the evolutionary trade-off of the importance of good genetic quality versus the importance of finding a partner who will stay over the long-term and potentially help to raise offspring.

In fact, a recent study revealed that being the object of attraction is a predictor of sexual desire for women. Another predictor is the ineluctable energy we experience with certain people.

If we wish to adjust or be more open-minded about our attractions, it helps to understand the factors that influence our pull toward others. By remaining conscious of our innate preferences and qualities that trigger our attraction, we can engage our higher-order thinking if we choose to do so. The result: a more intentional process for finding potential mates. Want your passion for wellness to change the world? Become A Functional Nutrition Coach! Sure, love is mysterious, but, in some ways, attraction is not.

Science actually has an explanation for why we are attracted to certain people and why we don't give others the time of day. INSIDER spoke to several experts to find out what it is that draws us towards certain people in terms of our biological makeup. It's worth noting that much of the research about attraction tends to focus on heterosexual relationships, but obviously that's not the limit of attraction or love. Have you ever noticed that it's not uncommon to see co-stars from your favorite series or movie dating in real life?

Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling, for instance, dated on and off for three years off screen after starring together in "The Notebook. Why does this seem to be a pattern? This is backed up by 50 years worth of scientific research that has found that proximity is one of the most powerful indicators of attraction. We simply are drawn to the people we see frequently, which explains why celebrity co-stars end up getting together due to how closely they work with one another on a regular basis.

Whether we realize it or not, we are biologically attracted to people who look healthy and who look like they can reproduce. This can explain why you see photos of women in the s wearing bustles to overemphasize their healthy, childbearing hips in order to attract men. Additionly, research suggests that people are also attracted to those who look healthy. Face symmetry, face structure, and hip-shoulder ratios are all important when it comes to attraction because these physical features indicate good health, according to Live Science.

Beyond physical features, Walley-Jean said our families, peers, and media all play a role in helping us learn what to view as attractive. For instance, some heterosexual people may seek out partners who share attributes that remind them of their opposite-sex parent because that is what they've always known growing up.

These are just a couple of examples of how we can learn who or what is attractive.