Perceived Age and Perceived Physical Attractiveness

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to determine if there exists an inverse relationship between perceived age and perceived physical attractiveness, i.e., are older faces evaluated as less attractive? Four groups of 15 subjects were studied: adult males and females (aged 31 to 38 yr., M = 34.53 yr.), adolescent males and females (aged 14 to 16 yr., M = 14.63 yr.). Subjects were given written instructions asking them to arrange two sets of photographs, male and female, according to physical attractiveness and then according to age. Perceived age and perceived physical attractiveness were negatively correlated ( rho = –.91, p < .01), i.e., as perceived age increased perceived attractiveness decreased. Differences in rankings by 30 male vs 30 female subjects and by 30 adolescent vs 30 adult subjects were not significant. However, there was greater agreement among the adolescent females than among members of the other groups for rankings of both males' attractiveness and females' age. All subjects showed greater agreement for what constitutes females' physical attractiveness than for what constitutes males' physical attractiveness.