Beyond Physical Attractiveness

Abstract

An experiment assessed the simultaneous effects of two interpersonal attraction factors, physical attractiveness of a target person and similarities in personal characteristics between a target and a perceiver. Participants were exposed to three pictures, each depicting a college student with varying degrees of physical attractiveness and rated the target person and themselves on personal characteristics (i.e., character traits, behavior, attitudes, demographic traits, and physical/biological traits). Seemingly Unrelated Regression (SUR) was utilized to examine the simultaneous effects of similarities and physical attractiveness on the level of attraction while limiting common error and confounding effects. The results revealed that character traits, attitudes, and physical and/or biological traits were significant and the pattern of the influence was similar across all three attractiveness conditions. The results suggest that similarities in such personal characteristics strongly contributed to interpersonal attraction and this relationship holds for all levels of physical attractiveness of the stranger.