People gravitate toward one another for sexual relationships because they find each other physically attractive. If they turn into a couple—as people have other motives and attractive qualities—who’s the better looking of the two in their opinions?
The first study to address self-perceptions of attractiveness was by Lerner, Orlos, & Knapp in 1976. They found that female attractiveness ratings were more central to female self-concept while men more concerned with the notion of personal effectiveness. Later studies have explored the inter-related concepts of body size, physical attractiveness and self-esteem (Wiederman & Hurst, 1998). These studies suggest that that the perception of one’s own attractiveness evolves over the lifetime by an interactive process between psychological evaluations and responses to external events in the world (Haavilo-Mannila & Purhonen, 2001).
A more recent study has thrown further light on the issue of perception of self vs. other attractiveness by focusing on how people feel about their own attractiveness. Each subject rated their own self and their romantic partners to flesh out gender differences in the evaluations of attractiveness. Seventy-two men and 83 women estimated their own level of attractiveness as compared to their opposite-sex partner’s physical attractiveness as well as the attractiveness of their own various body areas. The subject pool consisted of:
Afro-Caribbean 7.7%
Asian or British-Asian 25.8%
European 55.5%
Living together 13.5%
Married 18.1%
Single 55.5%
University educated 49.0%
The measurement system was quite simple. Subjects had to answer only six questions regarding physical attractiveness. Results showed significant gender differences in self-estimates of overall facial attractiveness and upper body features. Subjects across the board rated their opposite-sex partners as being significantly more attractive than themselves. Further, body weight and facial attractiveness were the best predictors of overall physical attractiveness.
The study also found wide gender differences in self-evaluations of facial beauty and upper body features, but no differences between genders in general physical attractiveness and lower body regions. Second, and most significantly, men and women rated their opposite-sex partners as being more physically attractive than themselves.
Closing Thoughts
The results of this study also showed that facial attractiveness and body weight estimates were the best predictors of overall physical attractiveness. This is consistent with previous studies that have shown facial attractiveness and overall body weight to be important components of male and female physical attractiveness (Furnham et al., 1997). It is also consistent with studies showing body weight to be the more important factor than body shape when judging the female form (Swami & Tovée, 2005; Tovée et al., 1999).
There appears to be a consistent cognitive bias[1] on the part of the test subjects leading to overconfidence in the physical attractiveness of a person’s partner which, in turn, serves to bolster their own self-esteem, sort of like a trophy wife phenomenon. This bias would then most certainly contribute to ego-reinforcement and raise personal well-being (Taylor & Brown, 1994). Of course, the flip side implies that no one wants to be seen with a partner who is less attractive than themselves resulting in a win-win situation. This is an interesting topic and says much about the strange vanity of human beings.
Paul Shane, Ph.D., LMT
Director, Academic Content
References
Furnham, A., Tan, T., & McManus, C. (1997). Waist-to-hip ratio and preferences for body shape: A replication and extension. Personal and Individual Differences 22, p. 539–549.
Gilovich, T., Griffin, D., & Kahneman, D. (Eds.) (2002). Heuristics and Biases: The Psychology of Intuitive Judgement. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Haavilo-Mannila, E. & Purhonen, S. (2001). Slimness and self-rated sexual attractiveness: Comparisons of men and women in two cultures. Journal of Sex Research 38, p 38, p. 102–111.
Lerner, R, Orlos, J., & Knapp, J. (1976). Physical attractiveness, physical effectiveness, and self-concept in late adolescents. Adolescence 11, p. 313–326.
Swami, V., Furnham, A., Georgiades, C., & Pang, L. (2007). Evaluating self and partner physical attractiveness. Body Image 4, p. 97-101.
Swami, V., & Tovée, M. (2005b). Male physical attractiveness in Britain and Malaysia: A cross-cultural study. Body Image 2, p. 383–393.
Taylor, S & Brown, J. D. (1994). Positive illusions and well-being revisited: Separating fact from fiction. Psychological Bulletin 116, p. 21–27.
Tovée, M., Maisey, D., Emery, J., & Cornelissen, P. (1999). Visual cues to female physical attractiveness. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B 266, p. 211–218.
Wiederman, M. & Hurst, S. (1998). Body size, physical attractiveness and body image among young adult women: Relationship to sexual experience and sexual esteem. Journal of Sex Research 35, p. 272–281.
[1] A cognitive bias is a fixed belief or belief system which rigidly filters incoming information and skews perception in favor of the bias (Gilovich, Griffin, & Kahneman, 2002).