Facial Attractiveness and Helping Behavior Beliefs
Both Attractive and Unattractive Targets Are Believed to Be Unhelpful Relative to Moderately Attractive Targets
Abstract
On a between-subjects (Experiment 1A) and within-subjects (Experiment 1B) basis, participants indicated a belief that attractive and unattractive targets engage in less actual helping behavior than moderately attractive targets. In Experiment 2, attractive and moderately attractive targets were seen as more capable of helping than unattractive targets; attractive and unattractive targets were seen as less willing to help than moderately attractive targets. Multilevel modeling indicated that perceptions of helping capability and willingness mediated perceptions of how much targets actually help and should help. Whereas unattractive targets are seen as unhelpful due to both a lack of ability and motivation to help (negativity halo), attractive targets are also seen as unhelpful, but due uniquely to a perceived unwillingness to help.
References
(1986). The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 1173–1182.
(1984). The eye of the beholder. Psychology Today, 18, 46–52.
(1992). Cognitive adaptations for social exchange. In , The adapted mind: Evolutionary psychology and the generation of culture (pp. 163–228). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
(1975). When beauty may fail. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 31, 1168–1176.
(1972). What is beautiful is good. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 24, 285–290.
(2006). The social psychology of prosocial behavior. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
(2009). The his and hers of prosocial behavior: An examination of the social psychology of gender. American Psychologist, 64, 644–658.
(1991). What is beautiful is good, but … : A meta-analytic review of research on the attractiveness stereotype. Psychological Bulletin, 110, 109–128.
(2002). Evolutionary psychology of facial attractiveness. Current Directions in Psychological Sciences, 11, 154–158.
(2002). A model of (often mixed) stereotype content: Competence and warmth respectively follow from perceived status and competition. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82, 878–902.
(2006). Stereotype directionality and attractiveness stereotyping: Is beauty good or is ugly bad? Social Cognition, 24, 187–206.
(2011). “A thing of beauty is a joy forever.” Returns to physical attractiveness over the life course. Social Forces, 89, 983–1003.
(1980). Contrast effects and judgments of physical attractiveness: When beauty becomes a social problem. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 38, 131–140.
(2006). The good, the bad, and the ugly: An fMRI investigation of the functional anatomic correlates of stigma. Social Neuroscience, 1, 5–15.
(2001). Multilevel modeling of individual and group level mediated effects. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 36, 249–277.
(2001). Willingness and capacity: The determinants of prosocial organizational behaviour among nurses in the UK. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 12, 1029–1048.
(2004). A lifespan database of adult facial stimuli. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 36, 630–633.
(2007). Pathogen-avoidance mechanisms and the stigmatization of obese people. Evolution and Human Behavior, 28, 410–414.
(1996). Identifying peer mentors in the sales force: An exploratory investigation of willingness and ability. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 24, 125–136.
(2003). Perceived functional impact of abnormal facial appearance. Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery, 111, 2140–2146.
(2006). The evolutionary psychology of facial beauty. Annual Review of Psychology, 57, 199–226.
(2012). Don’t judge a book by its cover, revisited: Perceived and reported traits and values of attractive women. Psychological Science, 23, 1112–1116.
(2008). Monte Carlo method for assessing mediation: An interactive tool for creating confidence intervals for indirect effects [Computer software]. June Retrieved from quantpsy.org/
(2011). Charitable Intent: A moral or social construct? A revised theory of planned behavior model. Current Psychology, 30, 355–374.
(1987). A formal analysis of ratings of physical attractiveness: Successive contrast and simultaneous assimilation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 23, 230–249.
(1997). What is beautiful is culturally good: The physical attractiveness stereotype has different content in collectivist cultures. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 23, 795–800.
