Experiment: Attractiveness Halo Effect on Human Faces

Matriculation Number: 140011607

Partial Research Report

Abstract

The aim of this report was to test for an attractiveness halo effect on human faces. This experiment was conducted in the University of Dundee and the participants were international undergraduate students of both genders. The independent variable was the level of physical attractiveness, while the dependent variable was the estimated IQ score the participants gave to the male and female faces that have been selected at random. The hypothesis predicted that there will be an effect of attractiveness of faces on their perceived intelligence, meaning that subjects would rate highly attractive individuals with higher IQ levels and those with less attractive characteristics with lower IQ. The participants were asked to rate for attractiveness (7= very attractive and 1= not attractive at all) ten male and ten female faces shown to them that have been selected at random from a pre-existing data set and afterwards provide an estimated IQ score. The obtained results signify that there is a high correlation between high attractive faces and higher IQ scores. This is in accordance with previous research, such as the attractiveness halo effect that is the tendency to assign positive personality qualities to people bases on their looks and Eagly’s (1991) research which claims that attractive people are attributed with lots of positive traits.

Introduction

Individuals are confronted with many serious decisions in their everyday life where they are either judging others or being judged. Langlois & Kalakanis (2000) demonstrated that physical attractiveness plays a significant part in decision-making in situations such as hiring decisions, voting behavior and romantic partner choices. Physical attractiveness is a complicated concept that reflects numerous significant factors. According to Pansu & Dubois (2002) facial attractiveness consists one of the main determinants of total rankings of attractiveness. Furthermore, Thornhill & Gangestad, (1999) claimed that with regard to the face itself, masculinity, femininity and symmetry all rise perceived attractiveness. People that are more attractive tend to be advantaged in several critical and appraising ways. The halo effect can help interpreting the ‘what is beautiful is good’ stereotype. The halo effect is a traditional corollary in psychology. It is the idea that one person’s central positive (such as attractiveness) or negative characteristic, affect another’s person’s decision about their other characteristics (for example, intelligence). According to Eagly (1991) people regularly ascribe positive traits to attractiveness and negative traits to less attractive individuals. This belief leads to erroneous judgmental, attribution errors and regular human perceptual partialities.

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By using practical research, Edward Thorndike was the first contending the halo effect. The definition he gave to the halo effect was ‘a question that rises in data collection when there exists a conveyance from an estimation to another’. Moreover, he conducted a study in 1920 in which commanding officers of the American army requested to classify their soldiers on groups of guidance, intelligence, character and physique. The findings of the study showed that there exists a direct interaction among all negative and all positive characteristics. After his study has been completed, Thorndike extended his first definition of the halo effect to be ‘an expansion of a total impression of an individual (or of one specific characteristic) to affect the total impression of that person’. Additionally, this is the part that has been highlighted in this research. If an individual is considered attractive then this person is deemed to possess many more positive attributes such as intelligence.

Furthermore, there is some proof that the effects of attractiveness on perceived intelligence may vary between women and men. In a study conducted by Chia, Allred, Grossnickle and Lee (1998) that was examining the effects of gender and physical attractiveness on conceptions of academic success, initiative, accomplishment related characteristics, intelligence and ascriptions of effort in respect to academic success, it was found that men and more attractive people would be assessed more positively comparably to women and less attractive people.

This study relates the above research on the halo effect as its aim is to test for an attractiveness halo effect in human faces, while providing an estimated IQ score. In addition it is hypothesized that there will be an effect of attractiveness of faces on their perceived intelligence.

Method

Participants

The target population is restricted to the opportunistic sample of 152 international undergraduate students of both genders of the University of Dundee. 103 of the people participated in the experiment were females and the other 49 were males.

Materials

This study is an experimental design as it has IV and DV. The independent variable is the level of physical attractiveness, while the dependent variable is the estimated IQ score the participants gave to the male and female faces that have been selected at random. The research hypothesis states that there will be an effect of attractiveness of faces on their perceived intelligence and the aim of the experiment is to test for an attractiveness halo effect in human faces. Descriptive Statistics will be used in order to test the hypothesis stated above.

The materials used in this study where:

• Ten male faces and ten female faces have been selected at random from a pre-existing data set and displayed in a computer screen.
• The computer, which enable participants to see the pictures of the male and the female faces.
• The data collection sheet, in which participants wrote their ratings of attractiveness and the estimated IQ scores.
• Standardized instructions (Appendix 1).

Procedure

• The opportunistic sample was obtained and welcomed in a silent room.
• Applicants were asked to sit to the desks.
• The experimenter informed the participants about the experiment by using a consistent set of instructions.
• Data collections sheets were distributed to the students.
• Students completed the survey by seeing the twenty different faces on the computer, rating them for attractiveness and provide an estimated IQ score for each face.
• After the participants completed the survey, the data collection sheets were collected by the experimenter.
• Once the data have been collected, faces were split into two groups based on the median of attractiveness and mean IQ score for each face was calculated.
• Students were debriefed about the nature of the experiment.

Results

Table 1

Mean number (M) of estimated IQ scores in faces with low and high attractive characteristics, plus standard deviations (SD)

Table 2

Mean number (M) of estimated IQ scores in male and female faces with low and high attractive characteristics, plus standard deviations (SD)

As can been seen in Table 1, faces with low attractive characteristics are estimated with lower IQ levels (M= 100.9, SD= 7.85) than faces with high attractive characteristics (M= 118.35, SD=15.55). A between-groups t-test revealed that faces with low attractive characteristics have significantly lower IQ levels than faces with high attractive characteristics, t (13.3) = -3.17, p = 0.007.

As we can see in Table 2, column one, males with low face attractive characteristics are estimated with lower IQ levels (M=98.18, SD= 9.96) than males with faces with high attractive characteristics (M=129.84, SD=13.18). A between-groups t-test revealed that male faces with low attractive characteristics have significantly lower IQ levels than male faces with high attractive characteristics, t(8) = -4.29, p=0.003

As we can see in Table 2, column two, females with faces with low attractive characteristics are estimated with lower IQ levels (M=103.63, SD=4.55) than females with faces high attractive characteristics (M=106.86, SD=6.35). A between-groups t-test revealed that female faces with low attractive characteristics did not have significantly lower IQ levels than female faces with high attractive characteristics, t(8)= -0.9, p=0.38.

Discussion

The hypothesis that there will be an effect of attractiveness of faces on their perceived intelligence was supported. This means that participants rated people with faces with more attractive characteristics with higher IQ levels, where those with less attractive faces with lower IQ levels.

This finding is similar to the study conducted by Thorndike in which he asked army officers to classify their soldiers on groups of guidance, intelligence, character and physique. The findings of the study, like in our experiment, showed that there exists a direct interaction among all negative and all positive characteristics and that participants rated more highly the ones that were more physically attractive than those who were not. The result also bolster the work of Eagly. In which is stated that people regularly mete positive traits to attractiveness and negative traits to less attractive individuals. In our example participants rated the more attractive people with higher IQ levels. Moreover, Chia, Allred, Grossnickle and Lee claimed in their study the existence of some proof that the effects of attractiveness on perceived intelligence may vary between women and men. They found that men and more attractive people would be assessed more positively comparably to women and less attractive people. This finding was supported in our experiment as men and more attractive individuals were rated with higher IQ levels while women and less attractive individuals were rated with lower IQ levels.

In conclusion, the insinuation of our findings is that our opinion of others can be defective as a result of the tendency we have to generalize the personalities of people, or their ability to think based on positive traits they have, in this case, face physical attractiveness.

References

• Chia, R., Allred, L., Grossnickle, W., & Lee, G. (1998). The Journal of Social Psychology. Effects of Attractiveness and Gender on the Perception of Achievement – Related Variables, 138(4), 471-473.
• Eagly, A., Makhijani, M., Ashmore, R., & Longo, L. (1991). What Is Beautiful Is Good, But… A Meta-Analytic Review of Research on the Physical Attractiveness Stereotype, 110(1), 109-113.
• Langlois, J., Kalakanis, L., Rubenstein, A., Larson, A., Hallam, M., & Smoot, M. (2000). Maxims or myths of beauty? A meta-analytic and theoretical review. Psychological Bulletin, 126(3), 390-399. doi:10.1037//0033-2909.126.3.390
• Nisbett, R., & Wilson, T. (1977). The halo effect: Evidence for unconscious alteration of judgments. Journal Of Personality And Social Psychology, 35(4), 250-256. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.35.4.250
• Shinners, E. (2009). Journal of Undergraduate Research XII. Effects Of The ‘ What Is Beautiful Is Good’ Stereotype On Perceived Trustworthiness, 1-3.

Appendix 1

Before the begging of the experiment the experimenter gave the following instructions:

1. “If at any time you feel uncomfortable and wish to leave the experiment you may do so.”
2. “If at the end of the experiment you wish your results to be removed, they can be.”
3. “All results will be kept in confidence.”
4. “Open the computers, go to ‘My Dundee’ then to ‘Module Materials’ then to ‘Workshops’ then to ‘Research Report’ and then open the ‘Faces presentation folder’.
5. ‘Use the data collection sheet to rate each of the faces and provide an estimated IQ score’
6. After completing the experiment we were asked to make sure we have completed all sections of the data collection sheet
7. The final instruction was to close the PowerPoint and log out of My Dundee.

Appendix 2

Raw Data