Physical attractiveness and attributions for disability.

80 undergraduates viewed stimulus slides of an unattractive or attractive female or an unattractive or attractive male who had allegedly become paraplegic as a result of an automobile accident. Ss then completed a questionnaire assessing the potential causes of the accident, prognosis for the victim's disability, and the victim's level of responsibility for the accident. Results demonstrate that the unattractive victims were perceived as having more permanent disabilities and needing longer rehabilitation periods than the attractive victims. Ss made different attributions of the injury and assigned more personal responsibility to the physically attractive victims. Findings are discussed within the context of the "just world" hypothesis proposed by M. Lerner et al (1976). (13 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of physical attractiveness on attribution of responsibility.

Previous research has shown that a stereotype favorable to physically attractive individuals seems to exist. The present study examined how this "what is beautiful is good" stereotype influences observers' attributions of responsibility to target persons. Ss were 72 male and 72 female high school students. A significant interaction was found between physical attractiveness and the outcome of the event. Physically attractive women were seen as more responsible for a good outcome than unattractive women, while unattractive females were seen as more responsible for a bad outcome than attractive females. Results are interpreted within a framework of balance theory. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of children's physical attractiveness on teachers' evaluations.

After viewing the photograph of a physically attractive or unattractive child and a vignette depicting a misbehavior possibly committed by the child, 144 female elementary school teachers evaluated the pupil for blame, personality, and punishment before and after reading a report card characterizing the child as a good, satisfactory, or poor student. Though attractive children generally received more desirable personality ratings than unattractive children, a misbehavior was deemed less undesirable if attributed to unattractive rather than attractive children. Furthermore, unattractive girls were blamed less frequently and received more lenient recommendations for punishment than did unattractive boys. Implications for the physical attractiveness stereotyping hypothesis are discussed as well as explanations for the differential evaluations based on the child's sex. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Body image, physical attractiveness, and depression.

224 17–63 yr olds completed measures of self-perceived physical attractiveness and depression, and static full-body videotapes of Ss were assessed by objective raters, to investigate the relationship between Ss' body image, rated physical attractiveness, and depression. Measures included the Body-Self Relations Questionnaire, Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), a body parts satisfaction scale, and a self-labeling depression scale. Ss were classified as depressed (n?=?35) or nondepressed (n?=?42) on the basis of conjunctive criteria of self-labeling and extreme groups on the CES-D. It was hypothesized that (1) depressed Ss would report being less satisfied with their body parts and physical appearance and would regard themselves as less physically attractive than would nondepressed Ss, (2) objective raters would perceive depressed Ss as less physically attractive than nondepressed Ss, and (3) depressed Ss would distort their degree of physical attractiveness and perceive themselves to be less attractive than objective raters regarded them. Results indicate that, as hypothesized, depressed Ss were less satisfied with their bodies and saw themselves as less physically attractive than nondepressed Ss. These groups did not differ with respect to observer-rated physical attractiveness. Support was obtained for A. T. Beck's (1973, 1976) cognitive hypothesis that depressed persons negatively distort their body images; however, results also indicate substantial positive distortion among nondepressed Ss. (40 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of profane language and physical attractiveness on perceptions of counselor behavior.

Assigned 72 undergraduates to 1 of 8 experimental conditions of videotaped counseling sessions where they rated the counselor on a variety of dependent measures related to their impressions of counselor professional and personal attributes, likelihood of counseling for a variety of presenting problems, and their satisfaction. Multivariate analyses revealed that counselors using profanity were rated less favorably across all measures regardless of physical attractiveness. A significant multivariate interaction indicated that when profanity was present, female counselors were rated more positively than male counselors. Overall, physically attractive counselors, regardless of their sex or use of profanity, were judged to have more favorable attributes. (11 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of student race and physical attractiveness on teachers' judgments of transgressions.

60 student teachers (STs) and 137 practicing teachers (PTs) rated the severity of classroom misbehaviors ascribed to either a Black or White attractive or unattractive child. Following student teaching, STs' ratings of Black children's transgressions significantly increased in severity, while ratings of White children's transgressions remained the same. PTs were affected by student attractiveness but not by race, with transgressions by attractive children of both races being rated more severely than transgressions by unattractive children. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of expert and referent influence, physical attractiveness, and gender on perceptions of counselor attributes.

Investigated the predictions of social influence theory with respect to Ss' perceptions of counselors' professional and personal attributes and Ss' evaluations of the counselors. Expert and referent power bases and influence attempts were crossed with levels of counselor physical attractiveness together with S and counselor gender in a counseling analog. 64 male and 64 female undergraduates viewed 1 of 8 videotaped simulated counseling interviews and completed rating forms assessing their perceptions and evaluations. Analyses supported social influence theory in that (a) expert conditions produced higher ratings of professional attributes than did referent conditions, (b) referent conditions produced higher ratings of personal attributes than did expert conditions, (c) congruent conditions (power base and influence attempt) produced higher ratings than did incongruent conditions on all measures, and (d) physical attractiveness mediated the effects of congruence for personal but not for professional attributes. No gender differences were present. Implications for the social influence process are discussed. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Communicator physical attractiveness and persuasion.

In a field setting, each of 68 physically attractive or unattractive male and female communicator Ss (undergraduates) delivered a persuasive message to 2 undergraduate target Ss of each sex. Results indicate that attractive (vs unattractive) communicators induced significantly greater persuasion on both a verbal and behavioral measure of target agreement. In addition, female targets indicated greater agreement than male targets. Data gathered from communicator Ss during an earlier laboratory session indicate that physically attractive and unattractive communicators differed with respect to several communication skills and other attributes relevant to communicator persuasiveness, including GPA, Scholastic Aptitude Test scores, and several measures of self-evaluation. These findings suggest that attractive individuals may be more persuasive than unattractive persons partly because they possess characteristics that dispose them to be more effective communicators. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of grade, syllable segmentation, and speed of presentation on children's word-blending ability.

Subsyllabic awareness was investigated with a word synthesis task. Children from kindergarten, 1st grade, and 2nd grade attempted to blend auditorily presented CCVC word segments (where C?=?consonant and V?=?vowel) to produce words. Subsyllabic segmentation and presentation rate of the word segments were varied, and the dependent measure was percentage correct in each condition. Several posttests were administered to measure the children's preexisting ability to recognize visually presented consonants, consonant clusters, rimes, and words. Second graders performed better than 1st graders, who in turn performed better than kindergarteners. Performance of all children was best on words that were segmented between onset and rime and poorest for words that were segmented into individual phonemes. Performance for word segrnents that were presented at the fast rate was better than for those presented at the slow rate. The authors suggest that preliterate children are able to manipulate suprasegmental units such as onset and rime, and that those units should be emphasized in early reading instruction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of age, sex, and physical attractiveness on child-peer relations, academic performance, and elementary school adjustment.

Assessed the effects of age, sex, and physical attractiveness for 56 4th- and 48 6th-grade male children's actual and perceived social, personal, and academic development. Ss' physical attractiveness was rated by 97 adults who viewed standardly posed photographs of them. Teachers rated Ss for academic ability and adjustment. Actual academic performance was indexed by GPAs. Actual adjustment was measured through subsections of the California Test of Personality. Positive and negative peer relations scores were derived from peer nominations. Physical attractiveness was positively related to positive peer relations and teachers' appraisals of academic ability and adjustment, and was negatively related to negative peer relations. Evidence was found for relations among physical attractiveness, GPA, and actual adjustment. No sex or grade effects were found. Organismic developmental notions, specifying how a child's physical attributes provide a basis of his own development, are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of concentration presentation order and intraoral delivery on sucrose intake.

In this article, intraoral intake of an ascending concentration series of sucrose was found to plateau between concentrations of 0.3 M and 2.0 M, and thus failed to show the typical inverted U-shaped intake function found in standard intake tests. Two experiments were conducted to explain this result. In Exp 1, intraoral and standard 30-min, 1-bottle intake of ascending sucrose concentrations (0.03, 0.1, 0.3 1.0, 1.3, and 2.0 M) were compared. Sucrose intake was similar for both delivery methods. In a second experiment we examined the effect of the order of sucrose concentration presentation on the 1-bottle 30-min intake of nondeprived intact rats. An ascending concentration order of the solutions produced a significantly greater intake of concentrated sucrose solutions than did a random order. This result strongly suggests that the standard decline in sucrose intake at higher concentrations is determined not only by postoral factors but also by experiential factors (i.e., order of presentation). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of order of presentation on perceptions of the counselor.

Attempted to determine whether the order in which 2 counselors were presented on videotape would affect ratings of their performances. 70 participants (63 women and 7 men) randomly assigned to 2 groups viewed and rated counseling interviews conducted by C. Rogers and E. L. Shostrom. Groups differed only in the order of presentation of counselors. The resulting 2?×?2 split-plot factorial design had 1 between-Ss factor (order of presentation) and 1 within-S factor (counselor). A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) yielded a statistically significant interaction, indicating that the order in which counselors were evaluated significantly affected the magnitude of ratings of their performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of stimulus sexuality, order of presentation, and sex guilt on free associative latencies.

Studied the free associative latencies of 56 high- and low-sex-guilt male undergraduates (classified by scores on the Mosher Forced-Choice Guilt Inventory) on a set of stimulus words graded along a dimension of sexuality that were presented in either a descending or ascending order. The descending order of presentation began with high-sexuality words, progressed through moderately sexual words, and ended with asexual words. The ascending order began with low-sexuality words and ended with highly sexual words. High- and low-sex-guilt Ss differed significantly on highly sexual stimulus words, with low-guilt Ss exhibiting longer latencies. The sexuality of the stimulus words had a strong effect upon latencies, with the longest latencies occurring on highly sexual words. There was also a significant Stimulus Sexuality * Order of Presentation interaction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A developmental study of effort and ability attributions.

Used paired-comparison and serial-integration measures to determine ability attributions (from effort and outcome information) and effort attributions (from ability and outcome information) for 16 males and 16 females at each of the following levels: 1st grade, 3rd grade, 5th grade and undergraduate. First and 3rd graders were tested individually and orally; 5th graders and undergraduates were tested in groups and in written form. Analysis of responses on the 4 paired-comparison and the 4 serial-integration questions revealed that, by the 1st grade, children demonstrate some appreciation of the inverse relation between effort and ability. Further, it appears that inferring effort expenditure from ability and outcome information occurs developmentally prior to making ability attributions from effort and outcome information. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Modeling, direct instruction, and attributions: Effects on altruism.

In a study with 63 male and 63 female 7–10 yr olds, Ss were induced to donate winnings from a game to charity either by having seen a model donate, by being instructed to donate, or by a combination of the 2. They were subsequently either told they had donated because they must enjoy helping others, told they had donated because they thought they were expected to, or not given any reason for their behavior. There was more donation both immediately and 2 wks later in the modeling group given a self-oriented attribution than in the modeling group given an externally oriented attribution. Attributions had no effect in the 2 influence procedures involving direct instruction. On a generalization test, Ss in the self-attribution group shared more pencils with another child than either those in the no-attribution or external-attribution group, regardless of training condition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Concomitants of social support: Social skills, physical attractiveness, and gender.

Investigated the naturally occurring relations among self-reported social support and social skills, on the one hand, and behavioral measures and rated physical attractiveness on the other, using 84 male and 84 female undergraduates who were selected on the basis of high- and low-number scores on the Social Support Questionnaire. Ss were videotaped in 2 dyadic situations with a same-sex partner. Ss also completed the UCLA Loneliness Questionnaire, a social competence questionnaire, a story completion task, and self and partner evaluations. The videotaped behavior was rated qualitatively and quantitatively. Results show significant differences in the social skills of Ss who were high and low in social support; Ss high in social support were more favorably evaluated. Women also were found to be significantly more socially skilled and were rated as being more physically attractive than men. The various self-report and behavioral measures of social skills were significantly interrelated. Results indicate the dimensions of social support by demonstrating the relation between social support and social skills. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Two presentation order effects.

Two distinct effects operate to produce changes in response accuracy with changes in stimulus presentation order: (a) Fechner's time-order errors (TOE), and (b) an assimilation or central-tendency effect. The present study questioned the extent to which L. Allan's (1977) model of TOE describes data collected with her roving standard technique and argues that these data do not reflect the effects commonly considered to be TOE. Results found with a roving standard design in duration comparison experiments with 6 undergraduates reflect primarily assimilation effects rather than TOE. (French summary) (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)