Effects of Physical Attractiveness on Affect and Perceptual Judgments: When Social Comparison Overrides Social Reinforcement

Earlier theorists assumed that exposure to physical attractiveness leads to pleasant affect. However this relationship might hold only for judgments of the opposite sex. In this study, subjects exposed to opposite-sex photos showed a pattern consistent with the affect-attraction model: highest mood after attractive faces but lower mood if the series was interrupted by an average face. Those exposed to the same sex, however, showed lowered mood following attractive photos, whether or not an average face interrupted the attractive series. Further judgments of the average target's attractiveness were independent of subjects' affective states but followed a pattern consistent with a contrast model-relatively lowest ratings if the target followed attractive faces, whether or not the photos were of the same or the opposite sex. This suggests that the cognitive appraisal of physical attractiveness in others can operate independently of the affective reaction they evoke.