Physical Attractiveness Stereotyping in Cross-Cultural Perspective

Abstract

Dion, Pak, and Dion claim that physical attractiveness stereotyping (PAS) is weaker among people from collectivist societies, whereas Chen, Shaffer, and Wu and Wheeler and Kim argue that PAS is a strong phenomenon, the content of which varies across cultures. In a fully crossed, cross-cultural design, American and Taiwanese undergraduates made characterological inferences about attractive and unattractive American and Taiwanese stimulus persons. Consistent with the Chen et al. and Wheeler and Kim model, Taiwanese undergraduates actually showed as strong (or stronger) PAS of ethnic peers than did American undergraduates. Study 2 revealed that Taiwanese undergraduates who have most heartily embraced that society’s push toward modernization closely resemble Americans, limiting their PAS of ethnic peers to individualistic (but not communal) attributes. Discussions centered on whether the Westernized pattern of judgments displayed by highly modernized Taiwanese undergraduates implied that these individuals are losing their respect for collectivist values.