Stereotyped evaluative judgments and female attractiveness

Abstract

This article explores individuals’judgments about the personality and relationships of “attractive” women. Front facial photographs of models from Cosmopolitan and Playboy were shown to eighty young women and men. Respondents did not know the source of the photographs of the women's faces. After each viewing, respondents were asked to write down their impressions of the women pictured. A content analysis of the open-ended descriptions revealed six major impression categories: flirt/tease, cold/superficial, confident/strong, sensitive/caring, timid/weak, exotic/sensual. Most of the images were perceived by the readers to have poor interpersonal relationships. Women, but not men, had different impressions of the Cosmopolitan and Playboy model images. This research establishes that there are diverse and contradictory readings of the images of beauty as depicted in popular magazines, and most readings of attractiveness are imbued with stereotypical characteristics of attractive women.