Personal Space

as possible determinants of subjects' responses; (c) situational factors, which may be denned as anything specific to the interaction between subject and experimenter at the time of the experiment, such as the relationship between the two, appearance of the laboratory, or the experimenter's prior experience in conducting psychological research; and (d) expectancy effects, which refer to the effects of the experimenters' expectations on the outcome of the experiment. Each of these sources of possible artifact has received considerable attention, and documentation of the effect of each may be found elsewhere (Adair, 1973; Rosenthal, 1966,
1969, 1976; Rosenthal & Rosnow, 1969; Rosenthal
& Rubin, 1978).
In an attempt to extend the literature on experimenter effects, we examined the effect of experimenters' physical attractiveness and attire on subjects' responses and experimenters' own subsequent behavior. Considerable evidence from a number of studies suggests that there exists a stereotype in American culture for physically attractive individuals.
Specifically, more attractive persons are assumed to have more socially desirable personality traits, to be happier and more successful, and to be more successful in the future than are less physically attractive people
(Dion, Berscheid, & Walster, 1972; Larrance
& Zuckerman, 1981; Miller, 1970; Sparacino
& Hansell, 1979). This perception extends to nearly every positive personality characteristic, including warmth, responsiveness, sensitivity, kindness, poise, modesty, and sociability; in addition, physically attractive people are perceived as more interesting and more outgoing than their physically unattractive counterparts
(Berscheid & Walster, 1974). Dion et al.
(1972) showed that this stereotyped perception is also robust; its effects are evident regardless of the sex of the experimenter or subject.
Furthermore, subjects are more lenient when recommending punishments for