Do Looks Matter? | Applied Social Psychology (ASP) (2024)

It is often said that one’s inner beauty and personality are more important than their physical appearance. Then, is it true that our looks do not matter? The honest answer is that they do matter. Beautiful and physically attractive people are pleasing to look at; however, the importance of physical appearance extends well beyond the pleasant experiences we have when we look at attractive individuals. What makes our looks so important? To answer this question, I will introduce striking findings from previous studies on physical attractiveness that cover the computer-match study, the primary effect, and physical attractiveness stereotypes.

Researchers at the University of Minnesota conducted a study called the computer-match study to ascertain the reasons for dating choices among first-year college students at a Welcome Week dance party (Walster et al., 1966). Several hundred student volunteers were told that a computer would find the best match for each student by collecting their personal data. After they paired up for the party, they were asked to complete the questionnaires to rate themselves and their partners on their self-esteem, the physical attractiveness of their partners, and the similarities between them. When the data was analyzed, the researchers found that the only factor that predicted whether a student wanted to see his or her date again was the partner’s physical attractiveness, not their similarities, the quality of their conversation, or the respondent’s level of self-esteem. This study revealed that looks are more powerful factors of attraction than other desirable characteristics of individuals.

It is clear that our looks do matter, but why do they mater? When we first meet a person, we unconsciously judge that person to a certain extent by their looks, as it is impossible to know their other qualities, such as personality, at first sight. This phenomenon may occur due to the primary effect, which is the tendency to be influenced and recall information presented first rather than information presented later (Gruman et al., 2017). Usually, physical appearance is the first piece of information that is gleaned about a person we have just met; thus, according to this theory, we are more likely to be influenced by and recall a person’s looks. This may explain why people often say that one’s first impression is important in dates or meetings.

With the importance of pleasant feelings caused by seeing attractive people having been established, additional studies found that beautiful people were also judged to be better at other qualities than unattractive people. Dion et al. (1972) found that physically attractive people are generally expected to be better; attractive people are assumed to be more sensitive, sexually responsive, interesting, and friendly than those who are unattractive. Another study also found that attractive people are considered positively; they are found to have wider social appeal, interpersonal and occupational competence, or adjustment, purely based on their physical looks, than unattractive people (Langlois et al., 2000). These findings do not mean that attractive people are generally good at almost every aspect of life, but they are simply assumed to have better qualities because of existing biases. These assumptions arise from the physical attractiveness stereotype, which is the general expectancy that physically attractive people have better and positive qualities while unattractive people have negative qualities.

We all know that humans and other animals are naturally born with high preferences for beauty (Little et al., 2011). For example, even a baby recognizes a pretty face or other things that are beautiful or not. This post aimed to explain why our looks matter by introducing previous scientific findings on physical attractiveness, including studies on the primary effect and the physical attractiveness stereotype, as well as the computer-match study. These interesting findings are somewhat disappointing in that they confirm that physical appearance has a stronger influence than other attributes. Still, instead of sabotaging ourselves, it is essential to remember that our physical attractiveness is determined by a variety of factors other than facial structure. For instance, non-verbal factors, such as posture, facial expression, hair or fashion style, attitude, and personality, make up our attractiveness and make each of us unique and beautiful.

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