Essay on Social Psychology Research Proposal

In another study, Langlois and Roggaman (1990) took photos of faces and morphed them together to produce composite images made up of 4, 8, 16 or 32 images. Participants rated faces as increasingly attractive the more faces that went into each image; this applied to both male and female faces. The more faces in an image, the more symmetrical they become, it seems that moving a facial image closer to the average increases its perceived attractiveness. It is likely that symmetry equates to fitness and “good genes”, these people are less likely to have been affected by harmful mutation. People with attractive faces are preferred because of the benefits of passing on these attractive characteristics to offspring. Little & Hancock propose that humans have evolved to be attracted to symmetrical faces because they indicate “averageness”, which equates to genetic health. Grammar and Thornhill (1994) found that females are attracted to males with masculine characteristics, for example: large jaw and prominent cheekbones. These features arise as a result of testosterone, which is also a handicap because it suppresses the immune system. Therefore, showing only “healthy” individuals can afford to produce these traits- advertising a strong immune system. Cartwright (2000) supported this, finding men prefer photographs of women with symmetrical faces and vice versa.

When researchers presented mock judicial cases paired with female faces that varied in attractiveness, they concluded that the less attractive defendants were convicted more often than attractive defendants (Darby & Jeffers, 1988). The faces rated as highly attractive were deemed less responsible for the crime they committed. The attractive faces were also rated as more likable, trustworthy and happy than the unattractive defendants. High attractive faces received less punitive punishments than faces that ranked lower on the attractiveness scale. Not only did this study evaluate defendant’s level of attractiveness, it also took into account attractiveness of the juror. When the juror was highly attractive, they were more inclined to convict an unattractive defendant. Jurors were likely to show preference to defendants whose attractiveness level was comparable to their own (Darby & Jeffers,

Whenever advertisements appear on the side of my internet browser marketing trending attire such as lingerie from Victoria’s Secret to eye glasses from LensCrafters, I have yet to see an unattractive person modeling the apparel. Another example of beauty superseding intellect is in the movie Legally Blonde. Regardless of that fact that El Woods, an attractive, ditzy sorority girl, had none of the credentials for getting in to Harvard Law School, El is accepted into Harvard because of a seductive video of herself in a bikini that she sent to the admissions committee. According to the Harvard Law School website, the acceptance rate for the Harvard School of Law is 15.4 percent (“Admissions Overview”). With such a low percentage of admitted applicants is it plausible to believe that beauty might give a candidate an edge over other candidates applying? Many colleges and universities have begun using Facebook and other forms of social media as an investigative tool to assess prospective students. A more appealing or aesthetically pleasing profile picture could potentially have an impact on a student’s college

There is a common debate that physical health is more important than mental health. It is commonly believed that “physically fit people have better mental health and do better at academia” (Debatewise 1). Exercise releases endorphins that make people happy and helps people to be alert and mentally active. This is not proven to be true. In reverse, physically fit people may do better in school because they have great mental health that allows them to focus. Another argument is that attractive people with great psychical health are given other advantages in life. Daniel Hamermesh of the University of Texas and Jeff Biddle of Michigan State University state “plain people earn 5 to 10 percent less than people of average looks, who in turn earn 3 to 8 percent less than those deemed good-looking” (Debatewise 2). There may be a correlation, but there is no proof that physical health is a causal factor in a person’s earning salary. People have their may favor one side of their health over another, but scholars argue that all three sides are equally

It reinforces our understanding of how we mentally judge/assess people using "snap" and "systematic" judgements. The article shows that goodlooking people are attracted to other goodlooking people most likely because they subconsiously trust them and feel like they are virtuous people based on their looks because of the social stereotype and perceiver expectation that reinforce that thinking. On the other hand, the article and the experiments reinforce our understanding that when two people are friends for a relatively long time, they move onto "systematic" judgements that allow them to make more in-depth and more accurate evaluation of each other. They do so by observing the behaviour and understanding the motives, thoughts and feelings of

Varied the physical attractiveness of a criminal defendant (attractive, unattractive, or no information) and the nature of the crime (attractiveness-related or attractiveness-unrelated) in a factorial design. After reading 1 of the case accounts, 120 undergraduates sentenced the defendant to a term of imprisonment. An interaction was predicted: When the crime was unrelated to attractiveness (burglary), Ss would assign more lenient sentences to the attractive defendant than to the unattractive defendant; when the offense was attractiveness-related (swindle), the attractive defendant would receive harsher treatment. Results confirm the predictions, thereby supporting a cognitive explanation for the relationship between the physical attractiveness

I think this piece could focus on other areas of the hiring process. They could have incorporated an interview portion into the experiment. How does the interview effect whether or not someone attractive can get hired at a competitive workplace? Can unattractive males get hired in team work places? Do references in a resume help decide who gets hired in each work place even if they are attractive?

This next study, done by Addison in 1989, was performed in an effort to control for attractiveness of the individuals. They selected 114 undergraduate Psychology students, of which 59 were female and 44 were male. Their ages range from 18 to 24, with a mean age of 19. They had them look at 25 pictures from a recent college year book and rank them on six aspects on a ten point scale. These aspects were masculinity, aggressiveness, dominance, attractiveness, intelligence, and strength. Using the ratings that the participants did for attractiveness, the researchers found 8 of the pictures, four with facial hair and four without, that were equal on the attractiveness scale. This made the attractiveness of the males themselves equal, and so any of the variations between the two should be because of the differences in facial hair, not due to the differences in the men’s appearance. Using these eight males the researchers then were able to compare the other five characteristics between the men with and without facial hair. It was found that men with facial hair were seen as being more masculine, dominant, and having more strength with a p value for all of them of less than

Heflick and Goldenberg ran a total of three different studies with the purpose of finding out whether a woman, but not men, are objectified by others when the focus is on their appearance. The results as predicted in the three studies conducted indicated that females were perceived as less intelligent and capable (competent), as well as less kind and friendly (warm), lastly been less sincere and trustworthy (moral), when we focus on their appearance. This research applies to a greater social issue or problem in the real world in a way that traditionally society has a molded perspective regarding women and how they should look, where social norms dictate certain gender roles for both sexes. Men have been regarded as dominant, masculine, and independent, while women are often depicted as weak, sensitive, and dependent.

Throughout history, handsome people have had better chances at attaining jobs over less-handsome people. In American retail stores, the new growing trend is hiring attractive sale representatives because the company wants to portray a modern image, which is not illegal to do. What is illegal, is to discriminate a potential hiree based on age, sex, or ethnicity. Every store has a different hiring strategy. For example, one may take a lot of pride in hiring for diversity while others may only want blonde haired, blue eyed women. It is important for a business, before they hire a worker, to ask themselves if they are choosing based on professionalism or attractiveness. Many corporations across the country have been sending a message to diversify their staff in order to relate to a variety of consumers, which would lead to a larger network of consumers and evidently, bring in ore money for the company. All in all, discrimination toward a candidate is a complication that continues to grow, which ultimately is a benefit or a detriment for a company.

Remarkably, the red effect clouded men’s judgments only when they were rating the woman’s attractiveness and sexual desirability. It did not influence them when they were assessing the woman’s friendliness, kindness, and intelligence. Also, women who participated in the “lady-in-red” study did not exhibit the color bias. The red effect is therefore limited to males and

Cara Di Yanni a psychology professor from Rider University believes that attraction can be based off more than just genetics. In Ben Moy’s article, The science of sex-appeal; The ideal man and woman, Di Yanni agreed that, “We are biologically predisposed to find certain aspects of humans to be attractive, and others are most definitely learned.” She gives examples of how men find that women with long hair, large breasts, a healthy weight, and an hour-glass shape. These all indicate fertility and the capability to give birth.

Over the past decades there have been many studies that have looked into the concept of appearance and its effects toward the likelihood of ether being hired for a job that someone applied for or becoming an elected official in which they were voted in by the people the person will be governing. Regardless of the case, appearance can be very influential to how someone like a job interviewer or the people of a town will portray a certain someone by the way they present themselves and their physical features. A question may arise like, how does job interviews and elections coincide with each other? It’s simple, when running for public office many can say that it is like a job interview and the politician is being interviewed by the people

Topic: How does an individual’s level of physical attractiveness affects his/her probability of getting a teaching job in today’s economy? Is the physical attractiveness bias beneficial or detrimental when hiring new employees in the teaching profession?

There is an old saying “don’t judge a book by its cover”, but to judge a person by their character. This is a more adequate way to form an opinion of someone, but people’s natural instincts unconsciously overpower this learned behavior. People tend to form initial opinions of someone based on appearance. Perceptions of beauty affect social interaction when forming friendships, romantic relationships, and casual encounters. There are a number of factors that affect our interactions, such as technology, societal views, human cognition, physical attractiveness, and so on.