The strength of the halo effect in physical attractiveness research
Abstract
Summary Two studies to assess the strength of the “halo effect” of physical attractiveness on person perception examined the ratings of 24 male and female targets by 155 male and 155 female American college students. Both the first study and its replication indicate that the halo effect is much more limited than previously implied. However, three attributions, sexiness, femininity/masculinity, and liking showed a strong relationship to physical attractiveness, especially for female targets.
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The identified saturation effect provides a unifying explanation for several inconsistent findings reported in the literature regarding the existence and strength of the attractiveness halo effect.
“However, the identified saturation effect provides a unifying explanation for several inconsistent findings reported in the literature regarding the existence [38,39] and strength [11,41,80] of the attractiveness halo effect.”
From What is beautiful is still good: the attractiveness halo effect in the era of beauty filters (2024) · cites this paper as [80]
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- Authors
- Lucker, G. W., Beane, W. E., & Helmreich, R. L.
- Affiliations
- University of Michigan (US)
- Venue
- The Journal of Psychology
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 1981-01
- Volume
- 107
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 69-75
- ISSN
- 0022-3980 (ISSN-L)
- 1940-1019
- OpenAlex
- W2160672264
- Cited by
- 60
- References
- 8
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 4 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 4 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 0.58
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- The Journal of Psychology (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
- halo effect, physical attractiveness, person perception, attractiveness judgments, sexiness, femininity, masculinity, liking, gender differences, replication
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