An extrapolation of the physical attractiveness and sex variables within the Byrne attraction paradigm.

Twenty male and 20 female volunteer general psychology students were assigned to one of four treatment conditions in a totally randomized 2 by 2 ANOVA to test the hypothesis that subjects would perceive attractive strangers of the opposite sex as possessing attitudes similar to their own. Physical attractiveness was defined in terms of independent ratings via a Q sort of 74 male and 74 female yearbook pictures. The ANOVA yielded a significant main effect for attractiveness. These results were interpreted as supporting both the Byrne attraction paradigm and Newcomb's cognitive symmetry hypothesis. A follow-up experiment, using a population of adult apartment residents who were allowed to choose the stimulus photograph they felt to be most or least attractive, replicated the results obtained in Experiment I and revealed an even more pronounced attractiveness effect.

RCT Entities:   Population Interventions Outcomes