Personality manipulations: Do they modulate facial attractiveness ratings?

Women’s Attractiveness Perception of Men’s Dance Movements in Relation to Self-Reported and Perceived Personality

“…In short, people may provide higher attractiveness ratings when they perceive-based on facial appearancethat the target has desired personality characteristics. Zhang et al (2014) arrived at a similar conclusion when they requested facial attractiveness ratings in the presence or absence of personality information. Faces presented with positive personality information were rated highest on attractiveness, followed by those with no personality information and faces with negative personality information.…”

“…Studies using facial stimuli indicate that personality attributions are affected by raters' valuations of personality Zhang et al 2014). We did not ask our female participants to report desired personality characteristics before they rated male dancers on attractiveness and personality.…”

“…Dion et al (1972) documented that people attribute desirable personality characteristics to attractive people-the "what is beautiful is good" stereotype. Although this heuristic is often regarded as bias in social perception, people sometimes use such stereotypes to identify prospective romantic partners with personality characteristics they desire Zhang et al 2014). Little et al (2006) asked men and women to report the personality characteristics they desire in a romantic partner and then rate the attractiveness of composite facial images.…”

Gender and the returns to attractiveness

“…As only 2.91 percent are categorized as very unattractive, and only 3.0 percent are categorized as unattractive, we collapse the two unattractive categories. Research suggests that personality and perceptions of attractiveness are often intertwined, so that individuals with agreeable personalities are rated higher in physical attractiveness (Gross & Crofton, 1977;Zhang, Kong, Zhong, & Kou, 2014) while attractive individuals can be rated less favorably if they have undesirable personality traits such as vanity or egoism (Dermer & Thiel, 1975). Controlling for interviewer-rated personality attractiveness ensures that our results for physical attractiveness are not driven by the interviewer's assessment of the respondent more generally.…”

The influence of intelligence on the endorsement of the intelligence–attractiveness halo

“…Further, previous research has found that non-physical factors (e.g., information about personality, previous academic achievement) can have a significant influence on perceptions of attractiveness (Kniffin & Wilson, 2004;Zhang, Kong, Zhong, & Kou, 2014). In an analysis of human mate preferences across 37 cultures, intelligence ranked among the top four desired characteristics in potential mates (Buss, 1989).…”