ntroduction
There has been a widespread debate regarding the factors that are considered to lead to romantic attraction between two people. One such major factor that is believed to spark an interest in somebody is that of physical attractiveness. This paper aims at exploring the different research done in the field of physical attractiveness and its impact while selecting a partner, as well as the different perceptions that exist around this topic. The common thread that runs along all the three articles analysed in this paper is that of physical attractiveness and how gender differences vary while giving importance to it. The first paper aims at unravelling the choices made by men and women while choosing short-term and long-term mates based on physical attractiveness (ie. body and face attractiveness) and psychological traits ( ie. kindness, sincerity, ambition, and social level) (Jonason, Raulston & Rotola, 2012). The second paper intends to explore the gender differences that exist in viewing a partners physical attractiveness and its impact on their marital satisfaction (Meltzer & McNulty, 2014). The third paper delves into how gender and self perception influence the value we place on physical attractiveness while choosing a long term partner.
Impact of Physical attractiveness while choosing short-term and long-term mates
Researchers Jonason, Raulston and Rotola theorized that in the short-term mating duration both men and women considered body and facial attractiveness as more important whilst psychological traits like kindness, sincerity, ambition, and social level are seen to be more important factors in choosing long term mates for women. They attempted to show this by conducting two studies. The first study was conducted in a southwestern US University and consisted of 401 participants ( 69% female and 31% male), who belonged to age groups 18-52 years. The mating choices of the participants was assessed through an online survey consisting of 8 normative questions, which measured the desirability for bodily attractiveness, facial attractiveness, sincerity, and ambition in their long-term and short-term mates on a scale where a rating of 1 implied not at all desirable and a rating of five meant very much desirable. The results of this study indicated that men and women provided more weightage to both the dimensions of physical attractiveness ie. Bodily attractiveness and facial attractiveness even though bodily attractiveness was valued more while selecting short term mates. Whereas, traits like sincerity and ambitiousness were valued more in long term mates (Jonason, Raulston & Rotola, 2012).
The second study was also conducted in a southwestern US University and consisted of 90 participants (69 female and 21 male), who belonged to age groups 18-41 years. The participants were given a budget of 10 mate dollars and were asked to allocate them amongst the five traits ( ie. bodily attractiveness, facial attractiveness, liveliness, social level and kindness) for both short term and long term mates. The results of this study implied that kindness was prioritised over facial attractiveness while choosing a long term mate. Whereas, body attractiveness was seen as the most important factor while select short term mates (Jonason, Raulston & Rotola, 2012).
The role of physical attractiveness in determining marital satisfaction
In contrast to the above research, this paper focused on determining marital satisfaction rather than long-term and short-term mating choices based on physical attractiveness. This paper undertook 4 independent, longitudinal studies of newly weds. The first study consists of 82 newly wed couples as participant whereas the second study consisted of 169 newlywed couples as participants. The participants in both the studies were , from Northern Florida. The third study was conducted in Northern Ohio with 72 newly wed couples as participants, and the fourth study consisted of 135 newlywed couples from an East Tennessee. The subjects were mailed a self reporting questionnaire that consisted of information regarding their demographics and satisfaction in their marriage. They were asked to fill in this questionnaire without consulting their spouse (Meltzer & McNulty, 2014).
Facial attractiveness was taken as an all round measure for physical attractiveness and was objectively rated by trained research assistants. These ratings in the first, second and third study were provided on the basis of a video of a discussion between the couples whereas ratings in study four were given by seeing pictures of each of the spouses. Post rating the physical attractiveness of the couples, the researchers theorised that men who considered their significant other as physically attractive were more satisfied in the starting years of their marriage and this satisfaction continued the same way for the first four years of their marriage. The impact of the wife’s attractiveness on the husbands satisfaction was stronger than the almost insignificant that the husbands attractiveness had on the wife's marital satisfaction (Meltzer & McNulty, 2014).
The influence of gender and self perception in valuing physical attractiveness while choosing a long term partner.
This research hypothesised that men had a stronger preference for physical attractiveness while choosing their long term partners, than women and it also aimed to discover the effects of physical attractiveness of candidate-mates and one's self perception of physical attractiveness. Candidate-mates are referred to as people who are available to date solely on the basis of proximity (Jonason, 2009).
To test this they conducted a study consisting of 228 heterosexual undergraduate women, with mean age of 20 years who belonged to three universities in Connecticut. Fifty-nine percent of the participants were single while the rest 41% were in a committed relationship (Jonason, 2009). To test the impact of the physical attractiveness on ones choice of a long term partner, a survey consisting of twelve items was designed. The aim of the survey was to know the choices of the participants on the basis of the prospective people who they would date in locations such as the gym, sports events, classroom, movie hall etc (Jonason, 2009).
The importance that the participants gave to the physical attractiveness of their potential long-term romantic partners was measured through a five-item likert scale. The results of the study indicated a positive correlation between the ratings that the participant gave to the local candidate on the basis of physical attractiveness with the importance that he/she gave physical attractiveness in their long term partners. Furthermore, men rated the candidate-mate on the higher side while seeing attractiveness than women. This also implies that participants with a lower self perceived mate value, gave less preference to physical attractiveness (Jonason, 2009).
Conclusion
While the first study by Jonason, Raulston and Rotolo looks at physical attractiveness in terms of both facial and bodily attractiveness, the second study by Meltzer and McNulty measures physical attractiveness through facial attractiveness, which according to them is the best predictor of physical attractiveness. All three papers seem to build on one another while bringing out the same idea in different contexts and were not of opposing views. All three of them concluded that men valued physical attractiveness more while choosing a long term partner. A reason for this inclination in men towards physical attractiveness was stated in the research by Jonason, Raulston and Rotola, according to which a physically attractive women is perceived to have better reproductive abilities and is also considered to be healthy thus avoiding additional stressors leading to more satisfaction in her relationship (Jonason, Raulston & Rotola, 2012) (Meltzer & McNulty, 2014).
It was also concluded that women look for psychological aspects rather than physical attractiveness while choosing a long term partner and our hence drawn to qualities such as kindness, sincerity, ambition, and social level more than physical attractiveness (Jonason, Raulston & Rotola, 2012). A major reason for this could be that women look for a man who will provide her future security both financially and psychologically (Jonason, Raulston & Rotola, 2012).