Attributions of Physical Attractiveness: tests of the Social Deviance and Social Identity Hypotheses.

Three studies sampling from different populations of Canadian university and high school students tested whether individuals would sort photographs of more attractive individuals into categories representing groups from which they derived social identity or photographs of less attractive individuals into categories labeled as socially deviant. More attractive women were perceived by university students to be heterosexual. As predicted by the social identity hypothesis but not by the social deviance hypothesis, more attractive persons were perceived to be supporters of subjects' preferred political parties. Self-described introverts perceived extraverts as more attractive, a result predicted by neither hypothesis. Members of student government were perceived to be more attractive but were not identified with by university students or labeled less deviant than comparison groups. Similarly, high school students not aspiring to university careers perceived university-bound students to be more attractive, a result in opposition to predictions of both hypotheses. Findings of these and other studies indicate the pervasiveness of attributions of physical attractiveness to members of various social groups. Existing explanations, however, fail to account for obtained results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]