IMRaD rough draft
Physical Attraction and Opportunity
Archie Kipp
University of Iowa
Abstract
Attractiveness is a feature that many pursue and value through the course of their life. Attractive people are perceived to have more desirable characteristics and have more chances for opportunity. We set out to discover if this was true throughout different age groups. 31 participants from varying ages answered a survey. The survey consisted of questions asking participants about how they would react to people of various attractiveness levels. The study revealed an apparent decrease in attractiveness as a significant factor of judgement for older people (ages 40-65). However, the study proved inconclusive for age groups 18-25 and 25-40. As a result of the findings, we know more about the vanity of younger generations that can be shed as people get older.
Introduction
People are obsessed with beauty and people who they think look good. Our society has made the attractive-looking people of our generation into idols on Instagram and Snapchat. With such a cultural focus on attractiveness one must think that it plays some part in how we interact with one another.
Psychiatrist Robert Waldinger (2015) talks about the discoveries of a 75-year case study, called the Grant Study, on human happiness. On the Ted stage he explains how what gives long-term fulfillment to people, more than anything else, is connection. Connecting on an intimate level and having meaningful relationships is essential to having a significant life and being human. However, before we develop a relationship we have to first interact with other people.
The prisoner’s dilemma is a concept of social exchange theory that applies when people first meet each other. With the choice of either co-operating or defecting, people can redeem the benefit of connection if both parties co-operate but risk embarrassment if they choose to co-operate and the other party defects (Bravetti & Padilla, 2018). If both parties defect, then both parties avoid embarrassment but lose out on a possible connection. In a study conducted by Matthew Mulford, John Orbell, Catherine Shatto, and Jean Stockard(1998), they found that, “subjects are also more likely to choose to cooperate with others they judge as attractive”(pg. 1585). People who are attractive gain the advantage of an increased likelihood that somebody will want to converse and interact with them.
Research suggests that people who are physically attractive are also perceived to have contain socially desired characteristic traits (Mulford, Orbell, Shatto, & Stockard, 1998). So, whenever a social interaction occurs, people who are attractive are perceived to be more desirable, and thus more likely to connect with people. In addition, a study-conducted by Michael McCall(1997), from Ithaca College, on whether more attractive kids had an easier time buying alcohol found that attractive under-age drinkers had a significantly lower probability of being asked to provide proof of their age. Attractive people seem to be more desirable, get away with more, and have an easier time forming relationships.
Although much research has been conducted on the idea that attractiveness increases our likelihood to connect with other people, a gap still exists as to whether that trend is consistent amongst different age groups. I was curious as to whether people get either more or less judgmental as they got older after they have had more life experience.
Methods
Participation
For this research, it was imperative that people of various ages answered the survey. A total of 31 People participated in the survey. Participants were split up into three different groups based on age: 18-25, 25-40, and 40-65. Many of the first group were made up of college freshman in the Midwest area from colleges such as the University of Iowa, University of Kansas, and the University of Missouri. In the other two groups, participants were residents from the St. Louis area.
Procedures
Surveyors were initially asked which of the three age groups they fell into, and if they were a male or a female. After those introductory questions, the survey asked participants to answer 12 sections, each consisting of 2 questions, about the likelihood of whether they would give their cell phone to different looking strangers on a scale of 1-10. They were then asked to rate the attractiveness of the person on a scale of 1-10. The strangers were picked from the internet to have a varied level of perceived attractiveness. After the 12 photos were shown, the participants reviewed the survey and were asked what influenced their answers of the likelihood they would give the stranger their cell phone. This was an open-ended question to give an opportunity for surveyors to expand on their reasoning. The survey was completely anonymous, and the results were compiled in google forms.
Data Analysis
The data was compiled and analyzed based on how each age group responded to each of the different photos. Some of the participants who decided to expand upon their results were analyzed through their open-ended responses. Conclusions were drawn based on the results of the different age-groups and how they responded to each example.
Results
Different Age Groups’ Willingness to Give Cellphone to Strangers
Figure 1: Participants’ response to how likely they were to give their cellphone to 6 different males compared amongst different age groups. Based on a 1-10 scale range with 10 being extremely likely and 1being not likely at all.
As shown in Figure 1, the participants had much variability in how they rated each of the different males that they were shown. Aside from example 2, both age groups 18-25 and 25-40 followed the trend of the rated attractiveness, so as the male’s got more attractive they were more likely to give their cellphone. However, the 40-65 age group stayed much more consistent with a high rating of, n = 5.6 (example 6), and a low rating of, n = 5.2 (example 3 and example 5). The results seem to indicate that the 40-65 age group was less likely to be influenced on the attractiveness of the subjects. The 25-40 age group had much more variability that the 18-25 group, as they had a range of 2.67 compared with a range of 1.4 for the 18-25 group.
Table 2: Did Participants’ Think that Attractiveness Impacted their Decision?
%Yes
|
%No
|
%Not sure
| |
18-25
|
73.3
|
26.7
|
0
|
25-40
|
66.7
|
16.7
|
16.7
|
40-65
|
40
|
50
|
10
|
After completing the survey, participants were asked whether they believed that attractiveness impacted their decision. The data from Table 2 indicates that 40-65 subject group did not think that attractiveness played a part in their decision with only 40% believing that it did. This data reinforces the idea that 40-65 group does not care about the attractiveness of the people they meet as much as the others. The 25-40 group had only 66% of its’ participants say they cared about attractiveness, well below the 73% of the 18-25 group, which contradicts the information found in Figure 1.
A significant part of the survey was a free-response section where participants were given the opportunity to explain what things they thought would influence whether they would give somebody their phone. More responses in the 18-25 and 25-40 age groups involved some part of how the person appeared. Some responses included. “attractiveness”, “facial symmetry, facial expression, age, my associative memory”, and “How trustworthy they look. Also, attractiveness definitely is a factor”. Whereas the 40-65 age group contained less surface level judgements like, “their particular behavior when asking”, or, “The more respectable somebody was”. Again, these responses demonstrate that the oldest age group has less of a focus on attractiveness when encountering new people.
Discussion
This study suggests that as you get you get much older in life you do get less dependent of physical attraction to base who you interact with. While the study proved inconclusive as to how it progresses through early adulthood and through people’s 30’s, it appears that as people enter their middle-age life (40’s and beyond), they shed the judgement on who to interact with. While the 18-25 year old group and 25-40 year old group were more likely to give their cellphone to more attractive people, the 40-65 year old group stayed approximately consistent in their likelihood.
There were many limitations in the study, with one huge one beings able to isolate the variable of attraction. Human beings are jam-packed with biases and judgements about people’s race, sex, smile, and other inexplicable associations that we make with certain people’s features. The data that was collected was almost certainly contaminated by these biases.
Another possible limitation would be that the survey relied on the honesty of the participants. While people may think they would do things given certain circumstances, it cannot be determined (in the survey) if their actions would meet their expectations. For example, I could say that I would give subject A my phone 3/10 times, but in the moment, I might give it 7/10 times because I don’t recognize my inability to tell others no.
The results of this study suggest that people become less vain as they older in their life, and care less about the attractiveness of others. While this is an elementary study, much more research is needed to validate the results. More intricate age groups and larger samples could pinpoint at what point’s in life we care more and less about attractiveness.
References
Bravetti, A., & Padilla, P. (2018, January 31). An optimal strategy to solve the Prisoner's
Dilemma. Scientific Reports, 8. doi:10.1038/s41598-018-20426-w
Cherry, K. (2019, October 25). Understanding Social Exchange Theory in Psychology
https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-social-exchange-theory-2795882.
McCall, M. (1997). Physical Attractiveness and Access to Alcohol: What Is Beautiful Does Not
Get Carded. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 27(5), 453-462. doi. 10.1111/j.1559-1816.1997.tb00641.x
Mulford, M., Orbell, J., Shatto, C., & Stockard, J. (1998, May). Physical Attractiveness,
Opportunity, and Success in Everyday Exchange. American Journal of Sociology, 103(6),
1565-1592. Doi: 10.1086/231401
Waldinger, R. (2015, November). What makes a good life? Lessons from the longest study on
happiness. Ted Conferences, LLC. https://www.ted.com/talks/robert_waldinger_what_makes_a_good_life_lessons_from_the_longest_study_on_happiness?language=en.
Appendix
1) What age group do you fall into?
a. 18 – 25
b. 25-40
c. 40-65
2) What is your natal sex?
a. Male
b. Female
3) How likely are you to give the person below your phone so that they can call somebody? (1-10 Scale)
4) Please rate the person on a scale of attractiveness (1-10 Scale)
5) REPEAT 3 AND 4, 11 MORE TIMES (12 TIMES TOTAL)
6) After answering the survey, what things do you think influenced how likely you were to give your phone to a stranger? Why is that the case?
7) Did attractiveness alter your decision at all?
a. Yes
b. No
Abstract:
ReplyDeleteDon’t forget to summarize research the research on the topic and identify a gap.
Introduction:
The paragraph about the prisoner’s dilemma was confusing at first. Consider starting the paragraph with something about how attractiveness benefits people in social interactions. For example, you could move the final sentence of the paragraph to the beginning.
Results:
In the first figure, it’s a little bit confusing to have the rated attractiveness on the same graph as the likelihood the participants would lend their phone. Consider presenting the attractiveness first in a separate graph. If you keep them on the same graph, consider putting the results in order of attractiveness so you can see the differences in people’s willingness to lend their phones more easily.
When discussing figure 2, you say that the 25-40 age group’s responses to the question about whether or not attractiveness influenced their decision, but do not explicitly say how. You could add a sentence or two explaining it in detail.