A team of social psychologists rounded up 664 student volunteers
and asked them to participate in a ‘‘computer dance’’ where
their partner of the evening would be selected by a computer. In
reality, the partners were matched randomly with a single constraint:
Researchers ensured that each man was taller than his female
partner.
At intermission, the band took a break and rating forms were
passed around. Participants answered questions, such as how much
they liked their date, how eager they were to ask the person out
again, how attractive they found their date, how attractive they
thought their date found them, and so forth.
The researchers wanted to see if the dates’ rated physical attractiveness
corresponded to how much their partner liked them. The
researchers’ starting hypothesis was that if personality, intelligence,
and other qualities are indeed important, then the linkage of ratings
of physical attractiveness to ‘‘liking the person’’ should not be
high.
In fact, however, men placed significant importance on PA, as
shown by a very high correlation—78 percent—between how attractive
male participants rated their date and how much they liked
her. For women the correlation was only slightly lower: 69 percent.
While the researchers had anticipated there would be some importance
for PA, they were surprised that other factors, which they
considered nearly as important, actually mattered so little. For example,
the experimenters knew how each subject had ranked in high
school and used this as a measure of relative intelligence. Although
typical student subjects said that they wanted dates that were intelligent,
in reality students’ smarts had no correlation at all with how
well their dates liked them.
The researchers had also expected that the partners of students
with introverted personalities would not like them very much as
future dates. Wrong again! Data from the ‘‘computer dance’’ experiment
showed that there was no difference between introverted and
extroverted personalities when it came to being liked by a date.
What mattered was how pretty or handsome the other person was.
The conclusion of this seminal study: The only thing that
seemed to matter to these young college students was the physical
attractiveness of their date.22
JFL
and asked them to participate in a ‘‘computer dance’’ where
their partner of the evening would be selected by a computer. In
reality, the partners were matched randomly with a single constraint:
Researchers ensured that each man was taller than his female
partner.
At intermission, the band took a break and rating forms were
passed around. Participants answered questions, such as how much
they liked their date, how eager they were to ask the person out
again, how attractive they found their date, how attractive they
thought their date found them, and so forth.
The researchers wanted to see if the dates’ rated physical attractiveness
corresponded to how much their partner liked them. The
researchers’ starting hypothesis was that if personality, intelligence,
and other qualities are indeed important, then the linkage of ratings
of physical attractiveness to ‘‘liking the person’’ should not be
high.
In fact, however, men placed significant importance on PA, as
shown by a very high correlation—78 percent—between how attractive
male participants rated their date and how much they liked
her. For women the correlation was only slightly lower: 69 percent.
While the researchers had anticipated there would be some importance
for PA, they were surprised that other factors, which they
considered nearly as important, actually mattered so little. For example,
the experimenters knew how each subject had ranked in high
school and used this as a measure of relative intelligence. Although
typical student subjects said that they wanted dates that were intelligent,
in reality students’ smarts had no correlation at all with how
well their dates liked them.
The researchers had also expected that the partners of students
with introverted personalities would not like them very much as
future dates. Wrong again! Data from the ‘‘computer dance’’ experiment
showed that there was no difference between introverted and
extroverted personalities when it came to being liked by a date.
What mattered was how pretty or handsome the other person was.
The conclusion of this seminal study: The only thing that
seemed to matter to these young college students was the physical
attractiveness of their date.22
JFL
