“The correlation between liking of the date and evaluation of the date’s physical attractiveness is .78 for male subjects and .69 for female subjects. . . Sheer physical attractiveness appears to be the overriding determinant of liking.”
Also interesting:
“The correlation between how much the man says he likes his partner and how much she likes him is virtually zero: r = .03.”
“Male’s MSAT scores correlate .04 with both the woman’s liking for him and her desire to date him.” (For females the equivalent figure was around -.06.)
I trust this data more than folk psychology or self-reports, but I would be interested if anyone knows of any subsequent studies confirming or disconfirming these types of figures, or assessing its generalizability from 18 year olds on blind dates.
“The correlation between liking of the date and evaluation of the date’s physical attractiveness is .78 for male subjects and .69 for female subjects. . . Sheer physical attractiveness appears to be the overriding determinant of liking.”
You left out a really important factor, mentioned in the paragraph before this. These were the participants’ ratings of their partners’ physical attractiveness, and were not taken independently. The correlations were only half as good with an independent rating of physical attractiveness, made by four raters who were not going to be dating any of the subjects, and didn’t interact with them for more than a few seconds.
In other words, the data of the study actually support a hypothesis that people find people they like more physically attractive, rather than the other way around… and it supports that hypothesis for both men and women, though more so for women than for men.
The correlations with independent ratings of attractiveness were still .44 and .39. Compared to .04 and -.06 for intelligence, that still supports the conclusion that “sheer physical attractiveness appears to be the overriding determinant of liking.”
They also used various personality measures assessing such things as social skills, maturity, masculinity/femininity, introversion/extroversion and self-acceptance. They found predominantly negative correlations (from -.18 to -.08) and only two comparatively small positive correlations .14 and .03.
The correlations with independent ratings of attractiveness were still .44 and .39. Compared to .04 and -.06 for intelligence, that still supports the conclusion that “sheer physical attractiveness appears to be the overriding determinant of liking.”
Speaking from a hypothetical PUA’s point of view, there are still some uncontrolled-for factors:
Degree of a male’s control over his rating of physical attractiveness (via choice of clothes, grooming, posture, voice tone, etc.)
Male’s ability to display desirable characteristics through attitude, touch, story, listening, and other ways of creating mood, chemistry, or attraction.
Degree of interest shown in a male by other females (note that other studies have found that women are much more likely to perceive men to be attractive if it appears that other women are attracted to them)
These are just a few of the qualities that PUAs use to influence attraction, none of which were measured or controlled for by the study.
So, your summary is an overstatement: at .69 individual correlation, this means that even by a woman’s own judgment of physical attractiveness is not an absolute factor. You can still come out ahead (or screw it up) by what else you have/do.
What’s more, at .39 independent rating correlation, this means that people differ in attractiveness ratings for the same person. Whether people in general find you attractive matters considerably less than what the individual you’re after thinks.
Last, but not least, IIUC not a single PUA theory of attraction is even tested by this research, let alone debunked. So even if you’re ugly, there’s still hope for you. ;-)
“The correlation between liking of the date and evaluation of the date’s physical attractiveness is .78 for male subjects and .69 for female subjects. . . Sheer physical attractiveness appears to be the overriding determinant of liking.”
Also interesting: “The correlation between how much the man says he likes his partner and how much she likes him is virtually zero: r = .03.”
“Male’s MSAT scores correlate .04 with both the woman’s liking for him and her desire to date him.” (For females the equivalent figure was around -.06.)
“Importance of Physical Attractiveness in Dating Behavior”, Elaine Walster, et al., p. 514-515 http://www2.hawaii.edu/~elaineh/13.pdf
I trust this data more than folk psychology or self-reports, but I would be interested if anyone knows of any subsequent studies confirming or disconfirming these types of figures, or assessing its generalizability from 18 year olds on blind dates.
You left out a really important factor, mentioned in the paragraph before this. These were the participants’ ratings of their partners’ physical attractiveness, and were not taken independently. The correlations were only half as good with an independent rating of physical attractiveness, made by four raters who were not going to be dating any of the subjects, and didn’t interact with them for more than a few seconds.
In other words, the data of the study actually support a hypothesis that people find people they like more physically attractive, rather than the other way around… and it supports that hypothesis for both men and women, though more so for women than for men.
The correlations with independent ratings of attractiveness were still .44 and .39. Compared to .04 and -.06 for intelligence, that still supports the conclusion that “sheer physical attractiveness appears to be the overriding determinant of liking.”
They also used various personality measures assessing such things as social skills, maturity, masculinity/femininity, introversion/extroversion and self-acceptance. They found predominantly negative correlations (from -.18 to -.08) and only two comparatively small positive correlations .14 and .03.
Speaking from a hypothetical PUA’s point of view, there are still some uncontrolled-for factors:
Degree of a male’s control over his rating of physical attractiveness (via choice of clothes, grooming, posture, voice tone, etc.)
Male’s ability to display desirable characteristics through attitude, touch, story, listening, and other ways of creating mood, chemistry, or attraction.
Degree of interest shown in a male by other females (note that other studies have found that women are much more likely to perceive men to be attractive if it appears that other women are attracted to them)
These are just a few of the qualities that PUAs use to influence attraction, none of which were measured or controlled for by the study.
So, your summary is an overstatement: at .69 individual correlation, this means that even by a woman’s own judgment of physical attractiveness is not an absolute factor. You can still come out ahead (or screw it up) by what else you have/do.
What’s more, at .39 independent rating correlation, this means that people differ in attractiveness ratings for the same person. Whether people in general find you attractive matters considerably less than what the individual you’re after thinks.
Last, but not least, IIUC not a single PUA theory of attraction is even tested by this research, let alone debunked. So even if you’re ugly, there’s still hope for you. ;-)
Thanks for clarifying what factors you think are relevant. I agree that those have not been tested.