Physical Attractiveness And Sex As Determinants Of Trait Attributions.

Abstract

Two studies were conducted to examine (a) the implicational qualities of trait terms that describe stereotypic males and females, and (b) the influence of a target person's gender and physical attractiveness on the attributions of traits with specific qualities. On the basis of previous research and theory concerning sex-role and attractiveness stereotypes, it was predicted that the attribution of evaluative traits would be affected by the attractiveness of the target (the what-is-beautiful-is-good phenomenon) but not by sex. However, for traits with primarily sex-linked implicational properties, it was expected that the effect of attractiveness would be dependent upon the target's sex such that the attribution of "masculine" traits would vary only with the attractiveness of male targets and the attribution of "feminine" traits only with the attractiveness of female targets. In Study I a multidimensional scaling analysis revealed both evaluative and non-evaluative qualities underlying trait ratings of male and female stereotypes. In Study II the predicted results for evaluative traits were obtained. For "masculine" and "feminine" traits, however, the effects of attractiveness were not symmetrical for male and female targets as originally predicted. The results suggest that attractiveness of males, but not females, leads to a narrowing of the types of traits that are attributed to them.