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Cited by 3,865Evolutionary Psychology and Human BehaviorSocial and Intergroup PsychologyPersonality Traits and Psychology

What is beautiful is good

Dion, Karen, Berscheid, Ellen, Walster, Elaine·1972·Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
DOI 10.1037/h0033731
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Abstract

A person's physical appearance, along with his sexual identity, is the personal characteristic that is most obvious and accessible to others in social inter-action. The present experiment was designed to determine whether physically attractive stimulus persons, both male and female, are (a) assumed to possess more socially desirable personality traits than physically unattractive stimulus persons and (6) expected to lead better lives (e.g., be more competent husbands and wives, be more successful occupationally, etc.) than unattrac-tive stimulus persons. Sex of Subject X Sex of Stimulus Person interactions along these dimensions also were investigated. The present results indicate a "what is beautiful is good " stereotype along the physical attractiveness dimen-sion with no Sex of Judge X Sex of Stimulus interaction. The implications of such a stereotype on self-concept development and the course of social inter-action are discussed. A person's physical appearance, along with his sexual identity, is the personal character-

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  • The evidence on the interaction between gender of stimuli and gender of evaluators regarding the attractiveness halo effect is mixed.

    “Again, there is mixed evidence in this regard.”

    From What is beautiful is still good: the attractiveness halo effect in the era of beauty filters (2024) · cites this paper as [4]

  • The choice of using intelligence, trustworthiness, sociability and happiness as dependent attributes for the halo effect was driven by existing literature.

    “The choice of using intelligence, trustworthiness, sociability and happiness as dependent attributes for the halo effect was driven by existing literature on this cognitive bias, such as [4,6,8,9,22,53,60–63].”

    From What is beautiful is still good: the attractiveness halo effect in the era of beauty filters (2024) · cites this paper as [4]

  • We observe several and novel significant interactions between the gender of the stimulus and the gender of the human evaluators, contradicting early work that reported a lack of such an interaction.

    “In sum, we observe several and novel significant interactions between the gender of the stimulus and the gender of the human evaluators, contradicting early work that reported a lack of such an interaction [4].”

    From What is beautiful is still good: the attractiveness halo effect in the era of beauty filters (2024) · cites this paper as [4]

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Dion, K., Berscheid, E., & Walster, E.
ORCID
Berscheid, Ellen
Venue
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
Publisher
American Psychological Association (APA)
Published
1972
Volume
24
Issue
3
Pages
285-290
ISSN
  • 0022-3514 (ISSN-L)
  • 1939-1315
DOI
10.1037/h0033731
OpenAlex
W2171099065
Cited by
3,865
References
0
Citations by year
2026: 97 · 2025: 143 · 2024: 135 · 2023: 178 · 2022: 151 · 2021: 155 · 2020: 151 · 2019: 140 · 2018: 133 · 2017: 141 · 2016: 143 · 2015: 149 · 2014: 160 · 2013: 145 · 2012: 152
FWCI
30.63
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Traits and Psychology
Keywords
physical attractiveness, social desirability, personality judgment, sex differences, self-concept development, social interaction, sexual identity
MeSH terms
Behavior, Esthetics, Female, Humans, Male, Marriage, Occupations, Personal Satisfaction, Personality, Self Concept, Social Behavior, Social Desirability, Social Perception, Stereotyped Behavior

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