Neurobiology

Physical attractiveness has been established by studies in the past decade as an
important evaluative cue in social interactions. Physical attractiveness stereotypes have
been studied since 1972, when Dion, Berscheid and Walster published their first
influential paper on the "What is beautiful is good" stereotype. In this current paper we
treat stereotype activation and its activation in regard of perceived physical
attractiveness from a social cognitive perspective. We present a series of theories
regarding category activation and its effects in stereotypical judgements, determinants
of category activation, application and suppression of those categories.
Our purpose for this paper is to identify the existence of physical attractiveness
stereotypes and to explore the influence of those stereotypes on friendship formation.
We also theorise that the level of self perceived attractiveness influences the level of
attractiveness perceived in close friends. Moreover, we theorise that people evaluate
attractive targets in a similar way they evaluate close friends.
The sample used in this study included 75 subjects, selected in a semi-
randomised manner. In this sample we included 25 men and 50 women, the majority of
which were 20-29 years old. Most of the subjects were majors in psychology, although
we also included subjects with different backgrounds, and domains of activity. A special
questionnaire was developed for the purpose of this study. It included 17 photos, 7 of
these photos depicted female models, while the other 7 depicted male models. For each
of these photos, respondents had to evaluate a series of qualities (trust, empathy,
sociability, intelligence, independence, kindness, physical attractiveness). Thus, we had
the possibility to analyse the data both at individual level and global level. The results
confirm our predictions regarding the influence of physical attractiveness on personal
trait evaluation at a global level, and they partially confirm those predictions on an
individual level.
On an individual level, we analysed results for each item of the questionnaire
separately. The results showed significant correlations between some scales and the
level of attractiveness, but those varied across the whole questionnaire depending on the
model. We theorise that this variance in correlations is due to different facial features of
models that inspire different personal traits. On a global level, on the other hand,
physical attractiveness correlated positively with all other personal traits. We conclude
that physical stereotypes exist and influence person perception in general, but individual
facial features might create a bigger influence than the general level of attractiveness of
an individual.