Synonyms
Definitions
Physical attractiveness describes the degree to which a person’s physical features are considered aesthetically pleasing or beautiful. Personality traits are typically defined as descriptions of people in terms of their relatively stable patterns of behaviors, thoughts and emotions. People’s physical attractiveness and personality influences others’ perceptions of them in different ways, and also affects their important life domains, including their career, intimate relationships and health.
Introduction
Physical attractiveness depicts the degree to which a person’s physical features are considered aesthetically pleasing or beautiful. Accordingly, physical attractiveness is much less about physical features of the targets, but more about the perceptual process of the perceivers. Indeed, physical attractiveness is largely determined by a person’s unique thoughts about the world, which is...
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Agthe, M., Spörrle, M., & Maner, J. K. (2011). Does being attractive always help? Positive and negative effects of sttractiveness on social decision making. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 37(8), 1042–1054. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167211410355.
Aron, A., Norman, C. C., Aron, E. N., McKenna, C., & Heyman, R. E. (2000). Couples’ shared participation in novel and arousing activities and experienced relationship quality. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78(2), 273–284. https://doi.org/10.1037//0022-3514.78.2.273.
Bahns, A. J., Crandall, C. S., Gillath, O., & Preacher, K. J. (2017). Similarity in relationships as niche construction: Choice, stability, and influence within dyads in a free choice environment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 112(2), 329–355. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000088.
Barelds-Dijkstra, P., & Barelds, D. P. H. (2008). Positive illusions about one’s partner’s physical attractiveness. Body Image, 5(1), 99–108. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2007.07.004.
Barrick, M. R., Mount, M. K., & Judge, T. A. (2001). Personality and performance at the beginning of the new millennium: What do we know and where do we go next? International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 9(1&2), 9–30. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2389.00160.
Dion, K., Berscheid, E., & Walster, E. (1972). What is beautiful is good. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 24, 207–213.
Eastwick, P. W., Finkel, E. J., & Eagly, A. H. (2011). When and why do ideal partner preferences affect the process of initiating and maintaining romantic relationships? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 101(5), 1012–1032. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0024062.
Fletcher, G. J. O., & Kerr, P. S. G. (2010). Through the eyes of love: Reality and illusion in intimate relationships. Psychological Bulletin, 136(4), 627–658. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0019792.
Försterling, F., Preikschas, S., & Agthe, M. (2007). Ability, luck, and looks: An evolutionary look at achievement ascriptions and the sexual attribution bias. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92(5), 775–788. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.92.5.775.
Grammer, K., Fink, B., Mller, A. P., & Thornhill, R. (2003). Darwinian aesthetics: Sexual selection and the biology of beauty. Biological Reviews, 78(3), 385–407. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1464793102006085.
Hosoda, M., Stone-Romero, E. F., & Coats, G. (2003). The effects of physical attractiveness on job-related outcomes: A meta-analysis of experimental studies. Personnel Psychology, 56(2), 431–462. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-6570.2003.tb00157.x.
Klohnen, E. C., & Luo, S. (2003). Interpersonal attraction and personality: What is attractive–self similarity, ideal similarity, complementarity or attachment security? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85(4), 709–722. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.85.4.709.
Lemay, E. P., & Clark, M. S. (2015). Motivated cognition in relationships. Current Opinion in Psychology, 1, 72–75. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2014.11.002.
Lemay, E. P., Clark, M. S., & Greenberg, A. (2010). What is beautiful is good because what is beautiful is desired: Physical attractiveness stereotyping as projection of interpersonal goals. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 36(3), 339–353. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167209359700.
Little, A. C., Burt, D. M., & Perrett, D. I. (2006). What is good is beautiful: Face preference reflects desired personality. Personality and Individual Differences, 41(6), 1107–1118. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2006.04.015.
Liu, J., Ludeke, S., Haubrich, J., Gondan-Rochon, M., & Zettler, I. (2018). Similar to and/or better than oneself? Singles’ ideal partner personality descriptions. European Journal of Personality, 32(4), 443–458. https://doi.org/10.1002/per.2159.
Lorenzo, G. L., Biesanz, J. C., & Human, L. J. (2010). What is beautiful is good and more accurately understood: Physical attractiveness and accuracy in first impressions of personality. Psychological Science, 21(12), 1777–1782. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797610388048.
Malouff, J. M., Thorsteinsson, E. B., Schutte, N. S., Bhullar, N., & Rooke, S. E. (2010). The Five-Factor Model of personality and relationship satisfaction of intimate partners: A meta-analysis. Journal of Research in Personality, 44(1), 124–127. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2009.09.004.
Maner, J. K., Miller, S. L., Rouby, D. A., & Gailliot, M. T. (2009). Intrasexual vigilance: The implicit cognition of romantic rivalry. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97(1), 74–87. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0014055.
Meier, B. P., Robinson, M. D., Carter, M. S., & Hinsz, V. B. (2010). Are sociable people more beautiful? A zero-acquaintance analysis of agreeableness, extraversion, and attractiveness. Journal of Research in Personality, 44(2), 293–296. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2010.02.002.
Murray, S. L., Holmes, J. G., & Griffin, D. W. (1996). The benefits of positive illusions: Idealization and the construction of satisfaction in close relationships. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70(1), 79–98. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.70.1.79.
Olderbak, S. G., Malter, F., Wolf, P. S. A., Jones, D. N., & Figueredo, A. J. (2017). Predicting romantic interest at zero acquaintance: Evidence of sex differences in trait perception but not in predictors of interest. European Journal of Personality, 31(1), 42–62. https://doi.org/10.1002/per.2087.
Ozer, D. J., & Benet-MartÃnez, V. (2006). Personality and the prediction of consequential outcomes. Annual Review of Psychology, 57(1), 401–421. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.57.102904.190127.
Penton-Voak, I. S., Little, A. C., Jones, B. C., Burt, D. M., Tiddeman, B. P., & Perrett, D. I. (2003). Female condition influences preferences for sexual dimorphism in faces of male humans (Homo sapiens). Journal of Comparative Psychology, 117(3), 264–271. https://doi.org/10.1037/0735-7036.117.3.264.
Segal-Caspi, L., Roccas, S., & Sagiv, L. (2012). Don’t judge a book by its cover, revisited: Perceived and reported traits and values of attractive women. Psychological Science, 23(10), 1112–1116. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797612446349.
Suls, J. (2013). Anger and the heart: Perspectives on cardiac risk, mechanisms and interventions. Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases, 55(6), 538–547. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pcad.2013.03.002.
Swami, V., Buchanan, T., Furnham, A., & Tovée, M. J. (2008). Five-factor personality correlates of perceptions of women’s body sizes. Personality and Individual Differences, 45(7), 697–699. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2008.07.007.
Welling, L. L. M., DeBruine, L. M., Little, A. C., & Jones, B. C. (2009). Extraversion predicts individual differences in women’s face preferences. Personality and Individual Differences, 47(8), 996–998. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2009.06.030.
Zhang, Y., Kong, F., Zhong, Y., & Kou, H. (2014). Personality manipulations: Do they modulate facial attractiveness ratings? Personality and Individual Differences, 70, 80–84. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2014.06.033.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Liu, J. (2020). Personality and Physical Attractiveness. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T.K. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24612-3_715
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24612-3_715
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-24610-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-24612-3
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences