How do pairs matched in physical attractiveness form if people are unaware of their own attractiveness?

• Authors: Krzysztof Kościński

Abstracts

EN

The correlation of physical attractiveness in romantic partners has been widely documented. However, it has also repeatedly been demonstrated that people are largely unaware of their own attractiveness, which raises the question about the mechanism responsible for the within-pair matching. One hitherto unexplored possibility is that low accuracy in attractiveness self-assessments results from methodological drawbacks. Participants were usually asked to rate their attractiveness on a numeric scale, and independent judges evaluated them on the basis of facial photographs. We hypothesized that the accuracy of self-assessment may be increased if (1) participants and judges evaluate the same characteristic, e.g., both groups assess facial attractiveness, (2) own attractiveness is estimated in a comparative manner (with reference to attractiveness of other individuals) rather than by abstract numbers, (3) judges rate attractiveness of people as seen in video clips rather than in photographs. To test these hypotheses we photographed and videotaped faces of 96 women and 78 men. Independent judges rated attractiveness from these photographs and video clips, and the participants assessed own attractiveness in several ways. None of the above hypotheses was confirmed by statistical analysis. We discuss how the within-pair matching in attractiveness can arise, given such poor awareness of own appeal.

PL

Partnerzy romantyczni częściej są podobni niż niepodobni do siebie pod względem atrakcyjności fizycznej. Pary dobrane pod tym względem są trwalsze i odnoszą statystycznie większy sukces reprodukcyjny. Skłonność do wiązania się z osobami o podobnej atrakcyjności jest więc przystosowawcza i powinna była powstać w toku ewolucji. Znajomość swojej atrakcyjności w oczywisty sposób ułatwia wybór partnera o atrakcyjności podobnej do własnej, dlatego zaskakujący jest fakt, że ludzie zwykle postrzegają swoją atrakcyjność fizyczną inaczej niż jest ona postrzegana przez osoby postronne (zazwyczaj ją zawyżają).Przyczyną słabej korelacji pomiędzy samooceną atrakcyjności a oceną przez niezależnych obserwatorów może być niedoskonałość metodyczna dotychczasowych badań. Po pierwsze, badani zwykle szacowali swoją ogólną atrakcyjność, a sędziowie oceniali ich atrakcyjność na podstawie zdjęcia samej twarzy. Po drugie, badane osoby określały swoją atrakcyjność fizyczną na skali liczbowej, więc ich odpowiedzi mogły być wypaczone przez różną interpretację wartości tej skali. Po trzecie, sędziowie najczęściej oceniali atrakcyjność na podstawie statycznych zdjęć, natomiast oceniane osoby znają wygląd swojej twarzy w ruchu.Można więc przypuszczać, że trafność samooceny atrakcyjności będzie wyższa, jeżeli: (1) uczestnicy i sędziowie będą oceniać atrakcyjność tej samej cechy, na przykład twarzy, (2) ocena własnej twarzy będzie dokonywana w odniesieniu do twarzy innych osób, (3) sędziowie będą oceniać atrakcyjność twarzy widzianej w ruchu. W celu weryfikacji tych hipotez sfotografowano i sfilmowano twarze 96 kobiet i 78 mężczyzn, którzy ponadto oceniali swoją atrakcyjność fizyczną na kilka sposobów. Niezależni sędziowie oceniali atrakcyjność zdjęć i filmów tych osób (Tab. 1). Korelacje pomiędzy samooceną atrakcyjności a jej niezależnymi ocenami wynosiły ok. 0,25-0,35. Nie potwierdzono żadnej z powyższych hipotez (Tab. 2), co oznacza, że niska trafność samooceny atrakcyjności wynika z innych przyczyn niż niedoskonałość dotychczas stosowanych metod.W celu wyjaśnienia zaskakująco niskiej trafności samooceny atrakcyjności zaproponowano mechanizm wyboru partnera, który może prowadzić do znacznego podobieństwa partnerów pod względem atrakcyjności nawet przy całkowitym braku znajomości własnej atrakcyjności (Fig. 1). Mechanizm ten zakłada, że atrakcyjność fizyczna osobnika wpływa, wraz z innymi jego cechami, na zachowania partnerskie (zaloty i reakcje na zaloty) potencjalnych partnerów, które to z kolei zwrotnie i regulacyjnie wpływają na przyszłe zachowania partnerskie tego osobnika, ale nie na jego postrzeganie własnej atrakcyjności fizycznej. Zachowania potencjalnych partnerów wykorzystywane są więc przez osobnika, by uczyć się, do kogo można skutecznie kierować swoje zaloty oraz czyje zaloty opłaca się odrzucić w nadziei na utworzenie w przyszłości związku z lepszym kandydatem.

Keywords

EN

assortative mating; self-assessment; methodology

• Publisher: Sciendo
• Journal: Anthropological Review
• Year: 2011
• Volume: 74
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 69-85

Contributors

author

Krzysztof Kościński

• Institute of Anthropology, Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University; Umultowska 89, 61-614 Poznań, Poland

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Identifiers

DOI

10.2478/v10044-010-0007-y