The DOI matches its Crossref record; 299 of the 299 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Maxims or myths of beauty? A meta-analytic and theoretical review
Abstract
Common maxims about beauty suggest that attractiveness is not important in life. In contrast, both fitness-related evolutionary theory and socialization theory suggest that attractiveness influences development and interaction. In 11 meta-analyses, the authors evaluate these contradictory claims, demonstrating that (a) raters agree about who is and is not attractive, both within and across cultures; (b) attractive children and adults are judged more positively than unattractive children and adults, even by those who know them; (c) attractive children and adults are treated more positively than unattractive children and adults, even by those who know them; and (d) attractive children and adults exhibit more positive behaviors and traits than unattractive children and adults. Results are used to evaluate social and fitness-related evolutionary theories and the veracity of maxims about beauty.
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“Physical attractiveness is one of the most powerful demographic variables known to science (Langlois et al., 2000), and it is substantially genetic (Gangestad & Scheyd, 2005).”
From A process-based approach to psychological diagnosis and treatment:The conceptual and treatment utility of an extended evolutionary meta model (2020) · cites this paper as Langlois et al., 2000
Citations
Cites
Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences
Muller, K. (1989) · Technometrics · doi:10.1080/00401706.1989.10488618 · Cited by 99,167
Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences
(1990) · Computers, Environment and Urban Systems · doi:10.1016/0198-9715(90)90050-4 · Cited by 65,269
Advances In Experimental Social Psychology
(2022) · Advances in Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/s0065-2601(22)x0002-6 · Cited by 22,259
The descent of man and selection in relation to sex
(1907) · The Journal of the Anthropological Society of Tokyo · doi:10.1537/ase1887.22.495 · Cited by 10,892
Statistical Methods for Meta-Analysis
Wasserman, S., Hedges, L. V., & Olkin, I. (1988) · Journal of Educational Statistics · doi:10.2307/1164953 · Cited by 10,326
Parental Investment and Sexual Selection
(2017) · Sexual Selection and the Descent of Man · doi:10.4324/9781315129266-7 · Cited by 9,510
The file drawer problem and tolerance for null results.
Rosenthal, R. (1979) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.86.3.638 · Cited by 9,068
Andersson, M. (1994) · Princeton University Press eBooks · doi:10.1515/9780691207278 · Cited by 7,401
Sexual Selection and the Descent of Man: The Darwinian Pivot
(2017) · Routledge eBooks · doi:10.4324/9781315129266 · Cited by 7,252
The Adapted mind : evolutionary psychology and the generation of culture
Barkow, J. H., Cosmides, L., & Tooby, J. (1992) · Cited by 5,221
Research works printed but not linked: 23
- Brunswick, 1945, Social perception of traits from photographs., Psychological Bulletin, 45, 535
- 10.1037/0022-3514.37.8.1387 · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.37.8.1387 · Paper page
- 10.1037/0022-3514.41.2.330 · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.41.2.330 · Paper page
- 10.1037/0021-843X.100.2.181 · DOI
- 10.1037/0022-3514.50.5.925 · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.50.5.925 · Paper page
- 10.1037/0022-3514.59.1.61 · DOI
- 10.1037/0022-3514.68.2.261 · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.68.2.261 · Paper page
- Daly, 1990, Evolutionary theory and parental motives., 25
- 10.1037/0003-066X.50.3.145 · DOI · Paper page
- 10.2307/1129726 · doi:10.2307/1129726 · Paper page
- Farkas, 1987, Linear proportions in above- and below-average women's faces., 119
- 10.1037/0033-2909.112.1.125 · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.112.1.125 · Paper page
- 10.1037/0033-2909.111.2.304 · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.111.2.304 · Paper page
- 10.1037/0022-3514.63.6.947 · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.63.6.947 · Paper page
- 10.1037/0012-1649.31.3.464 · doi:10.1037/0012-1649.31.3.464 · Paper page
- 10.1037/0012-1649.27.1.79 · doi:10.1037/0012-1649.27.1.79 · Paper page
- 10.1037/0012-1649.23.3.363 · doi:10.1037/0012-1649.23.3.363 · Paper page
- Mohr, 1932, Beauty as related to intelligence and scholarship., Psychological Bulletin, 29, 564
- Nunnally, 1978, Psychometric theory.
- 10.1037/0022-3514.48.2.456 · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.48.2.456
- Thornhill, 1998, Darwinian aesthetics., 543
- Waldrop, 1971, Minor physical anomalies and hyperactive behavior in young children., Vol. 2, 343
- 10.1037/0022-3514.65.1.85 · DOI
Cited by
Items 301–400 of 1,004
Humans or LLMs as the Judge? A Study on Judgement Bias
Chen, G. H., Chen, S., Liu, Z., Jiang, F., & Wang, B. (2024) · Proceedings of the 2024 Conference on Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing · doi:10.18653/v1/2024.emnlp-main.474 · Cited by 76
“Common examples include authority bias, beauty bias and verbosity bias.”
BackgroundPerceived intelligence is associated with measured intelligence in men but not women
Kleisner, K., Chvátalová, V., & Flegr, J. (2014) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0081237 · Cited by 75
“Even though this contrasts some previous findings [10,11,40,41], we did not observe any significant correlation between measured IQ and attractiveness.”
BackgroundResultThe Auto-eFACE: Machine Learning–Enhanced Program Yields Automated Facial Palsy Assessment Tool
Miller, M. Q., Hadlock, T. A., Fortier, E., & Guarín, D. L. (2020) · Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery · doi:10.1097/prs.0000000000007572 · Cited by 75
DETERMINANTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA WEBSITE ATTRACTIVENESS
Wirtz, B. W., Piehler, R., & Ullrich, S. (2013) · Journal of electronic commerce research · Cited by 75
Peer Perceptions of Social Skills in Socially Anxious and Nonanxious Adolescents
Miers, A. C., Blöte, A. W., & Westenberg, P. M. (2009) · Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology · doi:10.1007/s10802-009-9345-x · Cited by 81
“It is well established that attractive persons receive more positive attributions from others (Langlois et al. 2000) and attractiveness has been linked to both social skills and social anxiety (Feingold 1992).”
BackgroundHall, J. A., Carter, S., Cody, M. J., & Albright, J. M. (2010) · Communication Quarterly · doi:10.1080/01463373.2010.524874 · Cited by 85
“Biological sex, physical attractiveness, and environmental constraints play important roles in describing and predicting human mating strategies (Buss & Schmitt, 1993; Langlois et al., 2000; Li, Bailey, Kenrick, & Linsenmeier, 2002; Schmitt, 2005).”
BackgroundInfluentialBest Friends: Alliances, Friend Ranking, and the MySpace Social Network
DeScioli, P., Kurzban, R., Koch, E. N., & Liben‐Nowell, D. (2011) · Perspectives on Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/1745691610393979 · Cited by 81
“The authors declared that they had no conflicts of interest with respect to their authorship or the publication of this article.”
BackgroundBias in Radiology Resident Selection: Do We Discriminate Against the Obese and Unattractive?
Maxfield, C. M., Thorpe, M. P., Desser, T. S., Heitkamp, D. E., Hull, N. C., Johnson, K. S., Koontz, N. A., Mlady, G. W., Welch, T. J., & Grimm, L. J. (2019) · Academic Medicine · doi:10.1097/acm.0000000000002813 · Cited by 76
Afterimages of savages: Implicit associations between primitives, animals and children
Saminaden, A., Loughnan, S., & Haslam, N. (2009) · British Journal of Social Psychology · doi:10.1348/014466609x415293 · Cited by 78
Taking a shine to it: How the preference for glossy stems from an innate need for water
Meert, K. W., Pandelaere, M., & Patrick, V. M. (2013) · Journal of Consumer Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jcps.2013.12.005 · Cited by 79
Fruhen, L. S., Watkins, C. D., & Jones, B. C. (2015) · The Leadership Quarterly · doi:10.1016/j.leaqua.2015.07.001 · Cited by 76
Attractiveness Is Multimodal: Beauty Is Also in the Nose and Ear of the Beholder
Groyecka-Bernard, A., Pisanski, K., Sorokowska, A., Havlíček, J., Karwowski, M., Puts, D. A., Roberts, S. C., & Sorokowski, P. (2017) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00778 · Cited by 82
An Adult Developmental Approach to Perceived Facial Attractiveness and Distinctiveness
Ebner, N. C., Luedicke, J., Voelkle, M. C., Riediger, M., Lin, T., & Lindenberger, U. (2018) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00561 · Cited by 78
“It is processed automatically and characterized by a high degree of inter-individual and inter-cultural consistency (Perrett et al., 1994; Slater et al., 1998; Langlois et al., 2000).”
BackgroundA comparative assessment of videoconference and face-to-face employment interviews
Sears, G. J., Zhang, H., Wiesner, W. H., Hackett, R. D., & Yuan, Y. (2013) · Management Decision · doi:10.1108/md-09-2012-0642 · Cited by 84
Reinhard, M., & Sporer, S. L. (2010) · Social Psychology · doi:10.1027/1864-9335/a000014 · Cited by 82
Masip, J., Garrido, E., & Herrero, C. (2004) · International Journal of Psychology · doi:10.1080/00207590444000014 · Cited by 81
Personality in Perspective: Judgmental Consistency across Orientations of the Face
Rule, N. O., Ambady, N., & Adams, R. B. (2009) · Perception · doi:10.1068/p6384 · Cited by 75
“Facial attractiveness exerts a particularly strong influence on the way in which individuals are perceived (Dion et al 1972; see Langlois et al 2000, for review).”
For Your Local Eyes Only: Culture-Specific Face Typicality Influences Perceptions of Trustworthiness
Sofer, C., Dotsch, R., Oikawa, M., Oikawa, H., Wigboldus, D. H. J., & Todorov, A. T. (2017) · Perception · doi:10.1177/0301006617691786 · Cited by 80
“…judgments of both own- and other-culture faces included mostly linear (and weaker quadratic) components within the testing range of the study and (b) attractiveness was judged similarly across cultures, consistent with previous studies (e.g., Langlois et al., 2000; Perrett et al., 1994).”
BackgroundResultKrämer, N. C., Feurstein, M., Kluck, J. P., Meier, Y., Rother, M., & Winter, S. (2017) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00188 · Cited by 81
“…as the Frontiers in Psychology | www.frontiersin.org 3 February 2017 | Volume 8 | Article 188 characteristics of average faces (e.g., Ariely, 2001; Langlois and Roggman, 1990; Brady and Alvarez, 2011) and argued that an interplay of three cognitive phenomena is causative: (a) various objects are…”
BackgroundLiew, T. W., & Tan, S.-M. (2021) · Telematics and Informatics · doi:10.1016/j.tele.2021.101721 · Cited by 76
Bigler, R. S., & Wright, Y. F. (2014) · Child Development Perspectives · doi:10.1111/cdep.12057 · Cited by 82
Competitive disadvantage facilitates risk taking
Mishra, S., Barclay, P., & Lalumière, M. L. (2013) · Evolution and Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2013.11.006 · Cited by 78
“In support of this hypothesis, various domains of embodied capital are both empirically and perceptually associated (e.g., intelligence and attractiveness; Kanazawa, 2011; Langlois et al., 2000).”
BackgroundAdolescent support seeking as a path to adult functional independence
Szwedo, D. E., Hessel, E. T., Loeb, E. L., Hafen, C. A., & Allen, J. P. (2017) · Developmental Psychology · doi:10.1037/dev0000277 · Cited by 71
“Each of these constructs has been linked in previous research to a greater provision of help and support from others, as well as to outcomes of interest to this study (Ceci & Williams, 1997; Kobak & Sceery, 1988; Langlois et al., 2000).”
BackgroundResultPerceived facial adiposity conveys information about women's health
Tinlin, R., Watkins, C. D., Welling, L. L. M., DeBruine, L. M., Al‐Dujaili, E. A. S., & Jones, B. C. (2012) · British Journal of Psychology · doi:10.1111/j.2044-8295.2012.02117.x · Cited by 72
Siemionow, M., & Sönmez, E. (2008) · Annals of Plastic Surgery · doi:10.1097/sap.0b013e3181844ea3 · Cited by 71
“For instance, they are occupationally more successful, are more popular, more assertive, and have more self-confidence.(25,26) Social and developmental psychologists have also shown that facial attractiveness produces a “halo effect,” causing people to ascribe many positive qualities and characteristics to attractive…”
BackgroundA first look at user activity on tinder
Gareth Tyson, A., Perta, V. C., Haddadi, H., & Seto, M. C. (2016) · IEEE/ACM International Conference on Advances in Social Networks Analysis and Mining (ASONAM) · doi:10.1109/asonam.2016.7752275 · Cited by 71
“These findings are backed by decades of psychology research, showing that initial physical attractiveness is often associated with other positive attributes, e.g., intelligence [8].”
BackgroundMethodMalkinson, S., Waldrop, T. C., Gunsolley, J. C., Lanning, S. K., & Sabatini, R. (2012) · Journal of Periodontology · doi:10.1902/jop.2012.120403 · Cited by 72
I'm Hot, So I'd Say You're Not: The Influence of Objective Physical Attractiveness on Mate Selection
Montoya, R. M. (2008) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167208320387 · Cited by 75
“Because past research has demonstrated a strong relationship between ratings of men and women by same- and opposite-sex raters (e.g., Kopera, Maier, & Johnson, 1971; Langlois et al., 2000), raters rated both the male and female participants.”
ResultBerry, D. S. (2000) · Advances in experimental social psychology · doi:10.1016/s0065-2601(00)80007-6 · Cited by 73
Managing menopause at work: The contradictory nature of identity talk
Steffan, B. (2020) · Gender Work and Organization · doi:10.1111/gwao.12539 · Cited by 80
“designed based on previous research into appearance bias (Langlois et al., 2000), bodily ageing (Hurd Clarke & Griffin, 2008; Krekula, 2016), and the notion of successful ageing (Zacher, 2015).”
Fallon, E. A., Hausenblas, H. A., & Nigg, C. R. (2005) · Psychology of sport and exercise · doi:10.1016/j.psychsport.2005.01.003 · Cited by 69
Beauty and the feast: Examining the effect of beauty on earnings using restaurant tipping data
Parrett, M. (2015) · Journal of Economic Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.joep.2015.04.002 · Cited by 69
“Another explanation of why beauty pays has to do with certain stereotypes people ascribe to attractive people, including but not limited to intelligence, competence, leadership skills, and health (Eagly, Ashmore, Makhijani, & Longo, 1991; Feingold, 1992; Langlois et al., 2000).”
Hairstyle as an adaptive means of displaying phenotypic quality
Meskó, N., & Bereczkei, T. (2004) · Human Nature · doi:10.1007/s12110-004-1008-6 · Cited by 69
“Human beings have been selected to be able to evaluate cues associated with the reproductive value of a potential mate (Buss and Schmitt 1993; Langlois et al. 2000; Symons 1979).”
BackgroundHigh Heels, Low Grades: Internalized Sexualization and Academic Orientation Among Adolescent Girls
McKenney, S. J., & Bigler, R. S. (2014) · Journal of Research on Adolescence · doi:10.1111/jora.12179 · Cited by 69
Baron, R. A., Markman, G. D., & Bollinger, M. (2006) · Journal of Applied Social Psychology · doi:10.1111/j.0021-9029.2006.00015.x · Cited by 71
“Although previous research suggests that attractiveness exerts equally strong effects for both genders (Langlois et al., 2000), only further research can fully address these issues.”
BackgroundInfluentialPerceived trustworthiness is associated with position in a corporate hierarchy
Linke, L., Sarıbay, S. A., & Kleisner, K. (2016) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2016.04.076 · Cited by 70
“, 2000) and have higher mating success (Barber, 1995; Jokela, 2009; Rhodes, Simmons, & Peters, 2005), and stronger possibility to achieve higher social status (Anderson, John, Keltner, & Kring, 2001; Langlois et al., 2000).”
BackgroundInfluentialMcGloin, R., & Denes, A. (2016) · New Media & Society · doi:10.1177/1461444816675440 · Cited by 78
“Research has consistently identified a relationship between perceived attractiveness and trustworthiness (Dion et al., 1972; Langlois et al., 2000).”
BackgroundGender and beauty in the financial analyst profession: evidence from the United States and China
Li, C., Lin, A., Lu, H., & Veenstra, K. (2020) · Review of Accounting Studies · doi:10.1007/s11142-020-09542-z · Cited by 69
Cultural differences in preferences for facial coloration
Han, C., Wang, H., Hahn, A. C., Fisher, C. I., Kandrik, M., Fasolt, V., Morrison, D. K., Lee, A. J., Holzleitner, I. J., DeBruine, L. M., et al. (2017) · Evolution and Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2017.11.005 · Cited by 70
“, 2011, 2012) and aversions to cues of poor health are hypothesized to occur across cultures (Langlois et al., 2000), some researchers have predicted that the effects of facial coloration on attractiveness judgments and health perceptions will be universal (Stephen et al.”
BackgroundInfluentialKothari, S., Gray, A. R., Lyons, K. M., Tan, X., & Brunton, P. A. (2019) · Journal of Dentistry · doi:10.1016/j.jdent.2019.03.007 · Cited by 68
Predictors of enhancing human physical attractiveness: Data from 93 countries
Kowal, M., Sorokowski, P., Pisanski, K., Valentová, J. V., Varella, M. A. C., Frederick, D. A., Al-Shawaf, L., García, F. E., Giammusso, I., Gjoneska, B., et al. (2022) · Evolution and Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2022.08.003 · Cited by 73
“For instance, more attractive individuals are often treated more positively (Langlois et al., 2000), are preferred as potential partners (Walter et al., 2020) and friends (Vannatta, Gartstein, Zeller, and Noll, 2009; Zakin, 1983), are perceived as healthier (Fink et al., 2017) and as more competent…”
The Role of Facial Attractiveness and Facial Masculinity/Femininity in Sex Classification of Faces
Hoss, R. A., Ramsey, J. L., Griffin, A. M., & Langlois, J. H. (2005) · Perception · doi:10.1068/p5154 · Cited by 67
Self-citationBrand, R. J., Bonatsos, A., D’Orazio, R., & DeShong, H. L. (2011) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2011.08.023 · Cited by 75
“First, social learning theory explains this effect based on the self-fulfilling prophecy (Langlois et al., 2000; Snyder, Tanke, & Berscheid, 1977).”
BackgroundResultInfluentialA review of infants’ and children’s facial cues’ influence on adults’ perceptions and behaviors.
Franklin, P., & Volk, A. A. (2018) · Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences · doi:10.1037/ebs0000108 · Cited by 66
“This literature has already generated several helpful reviews (e.g., Adams, 1977; DeBruine, Hahn, & Jones, 2016; Hahn & Perrett, 2014; Hahn et al., 2016; Jia & Zhang, 2016; Langlois et al., 2000; Lucion et al., 2017; Luo et al., 2015).”
InfluentialNoser, A. E., & Zeigler‐Hill, V. (2013) · Body Image · doi:10.1016/j.bodyim.2013.11.006 · Cited by 81
"A Thing of Beauty is a Joy Forever"? Returns to Physical Attractiveness over the Life Course
Jæger, M. M. (2011) · Social Forces · doi:10.1093/sf/89.3.983 · Cited by 84
Psychosocial impact of hypodontia in children
Laing, E. R., Cunningham, S. J., Jones, S., Moles, D. R., & Gill, D. S. (2009) · American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics · doi:10.1016/j.ajodo.2008.01.024 · Cited by 66
Are attractive men's faces masculine or feminine? The importance of type of facial stimuli.
Rennels, J. L., Bronstad, P. M., & Langlois, J. H. (2008) · Journal of Experimental Psychology Human Perception & Performance · doi:10.1037/0096-1523.34.4.884 · Cited by 73
“Plus, strong cross-cultural agreement about who is and is not attractive (Langlois et al., 2000) suggests that our findings may be generalizable to other face populations.”
BackgroundInfluentialSelf-citationThe Social Servicescape: A Multidimensional Operationalization
Line, N. D., & Hanks, L. (2018) · Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research · doi:10.1177/1096348018767948 · Cited by 66
Comparing theory-driven and data-driven attractiveness models using images of real women’s faces.
Holzleitner, I. J., Lee, A. J., Hahn, A. C., Kandrik, M., Bovet, J., Renoult, J. P., Simmons, D. R., Garrod, O., DeBruine, L. M., & Jones, B. C. (2019) · Journal of Experimental Psychology Human Perception & Performance · doi:10.1037/xhp0000685 · Cited by 68
“For example, people generally prefer to form romantic and platonic relationships with facially attractive individuals and even prefer to hire and vote for individuals with attractive faces (Langlois et al., 2000; Rhodes, 2006).”
InfluentialMeier, B. P., Robinson, M. D., Carter, M. S., & Hinsz, V. B. (2010) · Journal of Research in Personality · doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2010.02.002 · Cited by 70
“While such results are often explained in terms of a ‘‘halo effect”, Langlois et al. (2000) found that observer ratings of extraversion and social skills predict observer ratings of attractiveness.”
BackgroundResultInfluentialRisk aversion and physical prowess: Prediction, choice and bias
Ball, S. B., Eckel, C. C., & Heracleous, M. (2010) · Journal of Risk and Uncertainty · doi:10.1007/s11166-010-9105-x · Cited by 66
Ideals of Facial Beauty Amongst the Chinese Population: Results from a Large National Survey
Samizadeh, S., & Wu, W. T. L. (2018) · Aesthetic Plastic Surgery · doi:10.1007/s00266-018-1188-9 · Cited by 65
Lee, S. Y., Pitesa, M., Pillutla, M. M., & Thau, S. (2015) · Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes · doi:10.1016/j.obhdp.2015.02.003 · Cited by 69
Self-Fulfilling Prophecies as a Link between Men’s Facial Width-to-Height Ratio and Behavior
Haselhuhn, M. P., Wong, E. M., & Ormiston, M. E. (2013) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0072259 · Cited by 67
“Such social processes may have long-term effects as well–high versus low fWHR men may be socialized over the course of their lives to show particular patterns of competition, prompted by the differential responses of others (see [20–22]).”
BackgroundUnbuttoned: The Interaction Between Provocativeness of Female Work Attire and Occupational Status
Howlett, N., Pine, K. J., Cahill, N., Orakçıoğlu, İ., & Fletcher, B. C. (2015) · Sex Roles · doi:10.1007/s11199-015-0450-8 · Cited by 75
“…which can be enhanced by clothing choices, has been widely shown to create positive impressions of adults and children across cultures (Langlois et al., 2000) and shown, using a mixed gender sample of supervisors and managers in financial institutions from the US, to influence hiring…”
BackgroundWho can you trust? Behavioral and neural differences between perceptual and memory-based influences
Rudoy, J. D. (2009) · Frontiers in Human Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/neuro.09.016.2009 · Cited by 70
“…interactions but also in real-world situations such as when one makes fi nancial decisions with input from professional consultants, chooses among multiple job applicants, or selects which political candidates to support (Langlois et al., 2000; Todorov et al., 2005; van ’t Wout and Sanfey, 2008).”
BackgroundDevelopmental changes in perceptions of attractiveness: a role of experience?
Cooper, P. A., Geldart, S., Mondloch, C. J., & Maurer, D. M. (2006) · Developmental Science · doi:10.1111/j.1467-7687.2006.00520.x · Cited by 66
“Adults’ preference for average faces appears to arise, at least in part, from a perceptual process favouring stimuli near the average of a category, be it a human face, a dog, a fish, or a bird ( Langlois, Kalakanis, Rubenstein, Larson, Hallam & Smoot, 2000; Halberstadt & Rhodes, 2000, 2003).”
BackgroundInfluentialThe beautiful and the accurate: Are children’s selective trust decisions biased?
Bascandziev, I., & Harris, P. L. (2016) · Journal of Experimental Child Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jecp.2016.06.017 · Cited by 64
Seeing Dogs: Human Preferences for Dog Physical Attributes
Hecht, J., & Horowitz, A. (2015) · Anthrozoös · doi:10.2752/089279315x14129350722217 · Cited by 63
“While there are individual differences in what is considered attractive (see little, Jones and DeBruine 2011), aesthetic preferences are nevertheless pervasive both within and between cultures (langlois et al. 2000; Rhodes et al. 2001).”
BackgroundCutting Words: Priming Self-Objectification Increases Women’s Intention to Pursue Cosmetic Surgery
Calogero, R. M., Pina, A., & Sutton, R. M. (2013) · Psychology of Women Quarterly · doi:10.1177/0361684313506881 · Cited by 72
Priming semantic concepts affects the dynamics of aesthetic appreciation
Faerber, S. J., Leder, H., Gerger, G., & Carbon, C. (2010) · Acta Psychologica · doi:10.1016/j.actpsy.2010.06.006 · Cited by 64
Gender and the returns to attractiveness
Wong, J. S., & Penner, A. M. (2016) · Research in Social Stratification and Mobility · doi:10.1016/j.rssm.2016.04.002 · Cited by 71
Is sociopolitical egalitarianism related to bodily and facial formidability in men?
Price, M. E., Sheehy-Skeffington, J. A., Sidnaius, J., & Pound, N. (2017) · Evolution and Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2017.04.001 · Cited by 65
“Moreover, attractive people have higher bargaining power because they are preferred as social associates (Langlois et al., 2000), a manifestation of the attractiveness “halo effect”which leads to the attribution of a range of positive traits to attractive individuals (Dion, 2002; Eagly, Ashmore, Makhijani, & Longo, 19…”
BackgroundGood genes, complementary genes and human mate preferences
Roberts, S. C., & Little, A. C. (2008) · Genetica · doi:10.1007/s10709-008-9254-x · Cited by 63
Reconciling Evolutionary Psychology and Ecological Psychology: How to Perceive Fitness Affordances
Miller, G. F. (2007) · Cited by 62
Li, Y., Chun, Z., & Fang, S. (2021) · Journal of Business Research · doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.11.051 · Cited by 64
On the Validity of RateMyProfessors.com
Timmerman, T. A. (2008) · Journal of Education for Business · doi:10.3200/joeb.84.1.55-61 · Cited by 61
Reynolds, B. M., & Juvonen, J. (2010) · Journal of Youth and Adolescence · doi:10.1007/s10964-010-9619-1 · Cited by 65
“…physical attractiveness will be controlled in each analysis, as it presumably correlates with popularity among both boys and girls (Eder 1985; Feingold 1992; Langlois et al. 2000), thereby allowing an assessment of the unique contributions of physical maturation to perceived popularity among peers.”
BackgroundResultChapter 4 Shallow Cues With Deep Effects: Trait Judgments From Faces and Voting Decisions
Hall, C. C., Goren, A., Chaiken, S., & Todorov, A. T. (2009) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195335453.003.0004 · Cited by 64
Collova, J. R., Sutherland, C. A. M., & Rhodes, G. (2019) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/pspa0000167 · Cited by 68
“…that children’s facial appearance influences behavioral expectations of them (e.g. Barocas & Black, 1974; Berkowitz & Frodi, 1979; Clifford & Walster, 1973; Kenealy et al., 1988; Langlois et al., 2000; Ritts et al., 1992; Salvia et al., 1977; Zebrowitz et al., 1992; Zebrowitz et al., 1991).”
BackgroundInfluentialReproductive strategy, sexual development and attraction to facial characteristics
Cornwell, R. E., Smith, M. J. L., Boothroyd, L. G., Moore, F. R., Davis, H. P., Stirrat, M., Tiddeman, B., & Perrett, D. I. (2006) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2006.1936 · Cited by 61
Gender Stereotyping in Newspaper Advertisements
Tartaglia, S., & Rollero, C. (2015) · Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology · doi:10.1177/0022022115597068 · Cited by 70
“Yet although physical attractiveness is a noteworthy advantage for both genders, human culture values attractiveness more in women than in men, and more frequently women are evaluated on the basis of their physical appearance (Langlois et al., 2000).”
Rantala, M. J., Coetzee, V., Moore, F. R., Skrinda, I., Kecko, S., Krama, T., Kivleniece, I., & Krams, I. (2013) · Biology Letters · doi:10.1098/rsbl.2013.0255 · Cited by 61
“The growing field of evolutionary psychology reports a large body of evidence to suggest that standards of beauty are not arbitrary cultural conventions, pointing to, for example, cross cultural agreement in preferences for cues to health and fertility[1].”
BackgroundFace and voice attractiveness judgments change during adolescence
Saxton, T. K., DeBruine, L. M., Jones, B. C., Little, A. C., & Roberts, S. C. (2009) · Evolution and Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2009.06.004 · Cited by 62
“Physical trait attractiveness has positive influences on social interactions in childhood (Dion 1973; Eagly et al. 1991; Langlois et al. 2000), and associations have been made between pro-social personality traits and facial symmetry (Fink et al. 2005; Shackelford & Larsen 1997) and facial…”
BackgroundInterpersonal attraction: In search of a theoretical Rosetta Stone.
Finkel, E. J., & Eastwick, P. W. (2014) · American Psychological Association eBooks · doi:10.1037/14344-007 · Cited by 69
“domain-generality of this tendency, people tend to be especially attracted to physically attractive others even in platonic contexts (Feingold, 1990; Langlois et al., 2000), and even three-month-old”
BackgroundRifkin, W. J., Kantar, R. S., Ali-Khan, S., Plana, N. M., Diaz-Siso, J. R., Manos Tsakiris, A., & Rodriguez, E. D. (2018) · The AMA Journal of Ethic · doi:10.1001/journalofethics.2018.20.4.peer1-1804 · Cited by 61
Quantifying idiosyncratic and shared contributions to judgment
Martinez, J. E., Funk, F., & Todorov, A. T. (2020) · Behavior Research Methods · doi:10.3758/s13428-019-01323-0 · Cited by 60
Early aesthetic choices: Infant preferences for attractive premature infant faces
Duuren, M. V., Kendell-Scott, L., & Stark, N. (2003) · International Journal of Behavioral Development · doi:10.1080/01650250244000218 · Cited by 64
Verosky, S. C., & Todorov, A. T. (2013) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2013.02.004 · Cited by 66
“More generally, a series of meta-analyses found that attractive children and adults are judged and treated more positively than unattractive children and adults in a range of settings, even by those who know them (Langlois et al., 2000).”
BackgroundInfluentialTsfati, Y., Markowitz-Elfassi, D., & Waismel-Manor, I. (2010) · The International Journal of Press/Politics · doi:10.1177/1940161209361212 · Cited by 63
“As Langlois et al. (2000) explain, the cultural and biological theories are not necessarily mutually exclusive, and may be operating simultaneously.”
BackgroundResultInfluentialA general intelligence factor in dogs
Arden, R., & Adams, M. J. (2016) · Intelligence · doi:10.1016/j.intell.2016.01.008 · Cited by 63
“…Luciano et al., 2010;Mõttus, Luciano, Starr, & Deary, 2013; Schou, Østergaard, Rasmussen, Rydahl-Hansen, & Phanareth, 2012), physical attractiveness (Langlois et al., 2000; Zebrowitz, Hall, Murphy, & Rhodes, 2002), brain resilience (Santarnecchi, Rossi, & Rossi, 2015), and life-expectancy (Batty…”
Bridging the Gap Between Modern Evolutionary Psychology and the Study of Individual Differences
Penke, L. (2010) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195372090.003.0009 · Cited by 61
The Attractiveness Advantage At Work: A Cross-Disciplinary Integrative Review
Nault, K., Pitesa, M., & Thau, S. (2020) · Academy of Management Annals · doi:10.5465/annals.2018.0134 · Cited by 65
Confidence and capital raising
Huang, W., Silvio Vismara, A., & Wei, X. (2021) · Journal of Corporate Finance · doi:10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2021.101900 · Cited by 56
First Impressions of the Face: Predicting Success
Rule, N. O., & Ambady, N. (2010) · Social and Personality Psychology Compass · doi:10.1111/j.1751-9004.2010.00282.x · Cited by 71
Attractiveness and Rivalry in Women’s Friendships with Women
Bleske-Rechek, A. L., & Lighthall, M. (2010) · Human Nature · doi:10.1007/s12110-010-9081-5 · Cited by 64
“As has been demonstrated many times (for reviews, see Gangestad and Scheyd 2005; Langlois et al. 2000), humans show consensus in their perceptions of what is and is not attractive.”
BackgroundDetecting racial identification: The role of phenotypic prototypicality
Wilkins, C. L., Kaiser, C. R., & Rieck, H. (2010) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2010.05.017 · Cited by 67
Palomares, N. A., & Lee, E. (2009) · Journal of Language and Social Psychology · doi:10.1177/0261927x09351675 · Cited by 61
“In fact, avatars have behavioral consequences by inducing avatar-consistent communication: In line with attractiveness stereotypes (cf. Langlois et al., 2000), intimacy (e.g., self-disclosures) was greater for people represented by attractive than less attractive avatars (Yee & Bailenson, 2007,…”
BackgroundFactors affecting the adoption of fashion mobile shopping applications
Soni, M., Jain, K., & Kumar, B. (2019) · Journal of Global Fashion Marketing · doi:10.1080/20932685.2019.1649165 · Cited by 68
“For the Physical Appearance there were fi ve items in the scale from Langlois et al. (2000).”
BackgroundContributions of Nonverbal Cues to the Accurate Judgment of Personality Traits
Breil, S. M., Hirschmüller, S., Nestler, S., & Back, M. D. (2020) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190912529.013.13 · Cited by 65
“2 For more studies and meta-analyses concerning the specific link between attractiveness and intelligence please refer to Jackson, Hunter, & Hodge, 1995, Kanazawa, 2011, Langlois et al., 2000, and Mitchem et al., 2015.”
BackgroundChronic sun damage and the perception of age, health and attractiveness
Matts, P. J., & Fink, B. (2010) · Photochemical & Photobiological Sciences · doi:10.1039/b9pp00166b · Cited by 61
Wearing mask hinders emotion recognition, but enhances perception of attractiveness
Parada‐Fernández, P., Herrero‐Fernández, D., Jorge, R., & Comesaña, P. C. (2021) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2021.111195 · Cited by 63
Interpersonal effects of Appearance-based Rejection Sensitivity
Park, L. E., & Pinkus, R. T. (2009) · Journal of Research in Personality · doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2009.02.003 · Cited by 63
“to possess the confidence, optimism, and social skills that enhance their interactions with others (Langlois et al., 2000).”
BackgroundIntelligence and attractiveness in the face: Beyond the attractiveness halo effect
Moore, F. R., Filippou, D. K., & Perrett, D. I. (2011) · Journal of Evolutionary Psychology · doi:10.1556/jep.9.2011.3.2 · Cited by 66
Effects of Inversion and Negation on Social Inferences from Faces
Santos, I. M., & Young, A. W. (2008) · Perception · doi:10.1068/p5278 · Cited by 59
“In the attractiveness stereotype, attractive individuals tend to be attributed generally positive characteristics (Dion et al 1972; Langlois et al 2000; Zebrowitz et al 2002).”
BackgroundFace, body and speech cues independently predict judgments of attractiveness
Saxton, T. K., Burriss, R. P., Murray, A. K., Rowland, H. M., & Roberts, S. C. (2009) · Journal of Evolutionary Psychology · doi:10.1556/jep.7.2009.1.4 · Cited by 57
“While raters tend to agree on the attractiveness of others (LANGLOIS et al. 2000), this broad agreement can hide systematic individual variation.”
Naini, F. B., Donaldson, N., Cobourne, M. T., & McDonald, F. (2011) · European Journal of Orthodontics · doi:10.1093/ejo/cjr098 · Cited by 59
Building trust in the leader of virtual work teams
Guinalíu, M., & Jordán, P. (2016) · Spanish Journal of Marketing - ESIC · doi:10.1016/j.reimke.2016.01.003 · Cited by 83
Mazzaferro, D. M., Wes, A. M., Naran, S., Pearl, R. L., Bartlett, S. P. P., & Taylor, J. A. (2017) · Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery · doi:10.1097/prs.0000000000003760 · Cited by 61
Metadata
- Authors
- Langlois, J. H., Kalakanis, L., Rubenstein, A. J., Larson, A., Hallam, M., & Smoot, M.
- Affiliations
- The University of Texas at Austin (US)
- Venue
- Psychological Bulletin
- Published
- 2000
- Volume
- 126
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 390-423
- ISSN
- 0033-2909 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1455
- OpenAlex
- W2088165831
- Cited by
- 2,429
- References
- 297
- Citations by year
- 2026: 84 · 2025: 105 · 2024: 111 · 2023: 131 · 2022: 116 · 2021: 148 · 2020: 127 · 2019: 131 · 2018: 132 · 2017: 118 · 2016: 126 · 2015: 135 · 2014: 121 · 2013: 129 · 2012: 138
- FWCI
- 20.60
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychological Bulletin (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01HD021332)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Traits and Psychology
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Aesthetic Perception and Analysis
- Keywords
- physical attractiveness, beauty, attractiveness judgments, evolutionary psychology, socialization theory
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Animals, Beauty, Child, Biological Evolution, Female, Humans, Interpersonal Relations, Male, Self Concept, Social Behavior, Social Perception
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
Data sources
Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.
Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).
Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.
