What is beautiful is good, but…: A meta-analytic review of research on the physical attractiveness stereotype.

Abstract

This review demonstrates that the physical attractiveness stereotype established by studies of person perception is not as strong or general as suggested by the often-used summary phrase what is beautiful is good. Although subjects in these studies ascribed more favorable personality traits and more successful life outcomes to attractive than unattractive targets, the average magnitude of this beauty-is-good effect was moderate, and the strength of the effect varied considerably from study to study Consistent with our implicit personality theory framework, a substantial portion of this variation was explained by the specific content of the inferences that subjects were asked to make: The differences in subjects* perception of attractive and unattractive targets were largest for indexes of social competence; intermediate for potency, adjustment, and intellectual competence; and near zero for integrity and concern for others. The strength of the physical attractiveness stereotype also varied as a function of other attributes of the studies, including the presence of individuating information. One of the most widely cited conclusions from research on physical attractiveness is summarized by Dion, Berscheid, and Walster's (1972) claim that, in people's perceptions of others, "what is beautiful is good" (p. 285). This statement linking beauty and goodness suggests the existence of a stereotype whereby physically attractive individuals are believed to possess a wide variety of positive personal qualities. In this article, we integrate the available research on the physical attractiveness stereotype to determine the extent to which the statement that what is beautiful is good provides an accurate summary of people's inferences from cues that convey physical attractiveness. In the classic study on the physical attractiveness stereotype, Dion and her associates (1972) had subjects rate facial photographs that had been selected on the basis of judges' agreement that the pictured individuals were low, medium, or high in physical attractiveness. Subjects' ratings pertained to various person-This research was supported by National Science Foundation Grants BNS-8616149 to Richard EX Ashmore and Frances K. Del Boca, Co-Principal Investigators, and BNS-S605256 to Alice H. Eagl>; Principal Investigator. A preliminary report of this research was reported at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Society, June 1989. A table showing the effect sizes and study characteristics for each study included in the meta-analysis is available from Alice H. Eagly or Richard EX Ashmore. We thank Thomas Alley, Ellen Berscheid, Linda Jackson, and three anonymous reviewers for their comments on a draft of the article.

Maxims or myths of beauty? A meta-analytic and theoretical review.

“…However, the studies included in his 1990 meta-analysis were virtually identical to those included in Feingold (1992b) and are therefore not cited here as a third meta-analysis. Barber, 1995;Berscheid & Walster, 1974;Buss, 1998Buss, , 1999Buss & Schmitt, 1993;Cunningham, Druen, & Barbee, 1997;Eagly et al, 1991;Feingold, 1992a;L. A. Jackson, 1992;D.…”

“…Like the stranger-attribution research reviewed by Eagly et al (1991), most of the research we reviewed categorized people into two levels of attractiveness, high or low. Even after reviewing over 900 effect sizes, we can conclude only that attractive and unattractive individuals are different in how they are judged, how they are treated, and how they behave.…”

The Influence of Physical Attractiveness and Gender on Ultimatum Game Decisions

“…Several studies have identified distinct economic advantages to being attractive (Dion, Berscheid, & Walster, 1972;Eagly, Ashmore, Makhijani, & Longo, 1991;Hatfield & Sprecher, 1986). In particular, attractive people generally fare better in the labor market.…”

Percepções sobre pessoas com deficiências e o prognóstico para o atendimento educacional especializado

“…Em concordância com Eagly et al (1991) que desenvolveram um estudo de metaanálise destacando que a força da atratividade física sobre os julgamentos e expectativas não seria universal e tão intensa como advogam inúmeras pesquisas sobre estereótipos, tratando-se sempre de uma questão relativa e suscetível a inúmeras circunstâncias e fatores.…”