Attractiveness is an individual trait that affects society’s perception of a person. The Franklin and Zebrowitz chapter explores how different theories of attractiveness combine in a society. They examine the halo effect-the benefits of conventionally attractive appearance, which Eagly, Ashmore, Makhijani, & Longo have also studied. The authors emphasize that specific physical attributes increase attractiveness, as do mannerisms and behaviors. The differences in approaches to beauty have led to three theories.
Advantages of attractiveness
The attractiveness halo describes the positive influence of attractiveness on perception in society. The authors rightly argue that a pleasant first impression, success in education and work, and social advancement are among the benefits1. Like Feingold’s research, Franklin and Zebrowitz suggest that men are more strongly influenced by attractiveness, related to social attitudes. The halo effect appears when a person does not expect to get the profits but gets them because of appearance.
What makes a person attractive?
Attractiveness is a multifactorial phenomenon that stems from people’s different cultural and social experiences. The key concepts that make a person attractive to society are physical criteria and behavioral traits. Advantageous physical rates include symmetry, clear skin, and average facial configuration. Franklin and Zebrowitz suggest that gender differences may predict attractiveness1. The authors point out that visually attractive individual components do not always together make up an organic appearance. Conscientiousness does not always accompany attractiveness evaluation, and there may be contests between emotions and the brain.
Why are some people attractive?
Attractiveness and its origins are evaluated based on three main approaches: cognitive, evolutionary, and overgeneralization theory. The cognitive approach is based on the idea that there is an accepted prototype that reflects a set of average criteria for attractiveness1. This key concept is called facial morph and varies from society to society. The authors draw attention to how facial morphs vary across cultures and, like Halberstadt, attempt to find average criteria for significance. Individual traits close to the morph are considered more attractive than those that are distant. This phenomenon is based on remembering familiar stimuli and is called simple exposure.
The evolutionary approach states the definition of attractiveness as the adaptive value of physical qualities necessary for survival. The key concept of the theory is the good genes hypothesis, a phenomenon describing a benefit for the next generations1. According to Franklin and Zebrowitz, the good genes hypothesis is one of the preeminent sources of transformation in our consciousness. The way an individual perceives environmental stimulus represents genetic diversity and makes him a candidate for offspring continuation.
The key concept of overgeneralization theory is that high attractiveness is a predictor of low adaptability. This phenomenon is based on the fact that people prefer to avoid conventionally unattractive people, believing that their health is poor. In particular, this theory necessitates detecting low adaptability independently of attractiveness. It means that the attractiveness halo effect does not equal survivability or other qualities that would positively affect social interaction.
References
Franklin RG, Zebrowitz L. Attraction and beauty. In R. Biswas-Diener & E. Diener, eds. Introduction to Psychology. Champaign, IL: DEF publishers, 2022.