Physical Attractiveness Stereotypes

Physical attractiveness has impacted the image perceived of an average person. Whether it was how an individual saw themselves or how an individual saw someone else. It’s important to see the influence physical attractiveness has on “normal” people and the impacts. For instance, how has someone’s perceived beauty affected or impacted them cognitively? Or how does the stereotypes that are created because of physical attractiveness impact people and their behavior? Weller was curious about the perceptions of physical attractiveness and that affect it had on people. He hypothesized that there would be a relation between perception of beauty and using Wrightsman’s first three scales which measured the positive and negative human qualities or traits.
They predicted that the way media actively portrays physical attractiveness lowers a person’s self-esteem. The study consisted of seventy-one females all between the ages of eighteen and twenty-two. In the control group there was twenty non-beauty advertisements. The experimental group consisted of fourteen out of the twenty advertisements that actively portrayed attractive people or beauty products. After each participant was showed they twenty various ads. Their self-esteem was measured. The second test that was administered started with an * to enhance their focus on the computer screen. This was then followed by a series of words either having to do with beauty or intelligence or the complete opposite. For example, a participant may come across the world stunning or possibly even repulsive. After this test was administered each participant was asked if it was a positive or negative effect. The final test that was completed was the distribution of three scales; Rosenburg Self-Esteem Scale (1965), the State Self-Esteem Scale (Heatherton and Polivy, 1991), and the Self-Attributes Questionnaire (SAQ: Pelham & Swann,