Gender differences in effects of physical attractiveness on romantic attraction: A comparison across five research paradigms

Abstract

Evolutionary and sociocultural theories of mate selection preferences contend that men place greater value on physical attractiveness than do women. Thus, meta-analyses were conducted of findings from 5 research paradigms that have examined the hypothesis: (1) questionnaire studies, (2) analyses of lonely hearts advertisements, (3) studies that correlate attractiveness with opposite sex popularity, (4) studies that correlate attractiveness with liking by a dyadic interaction partner, and (5) experiments that manipulate the attractiveness and similarity of an opposite sex stranger. The anticipated sex difference emerged in all 5 meta-analyses, although it was larger in research that examined self-reports than in research that examined social behavior.