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"Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall...?"

Contrast Effects and Self-Evaluations of Physical Attractiveness

Old Dominion University and Virginia Consortium for Professional Psychology

Diane Walker Cash

Old Dominion University and Virginia Consortium for Professional Psychology

Jonathan W. Butters

Old Dominion University and Virginia Consortium for Professional Psychology

Several studies confirm the operation of contextual contrast effects on judgments of the physical attractiveness of others. The present experiment was conducted to determine whether contrast effects also occur on self-evaluations of physical attractiveness. Fifty-one female college students rated their own attractiveness and body-parts satisfaction following exposure to same-sexed stimulus persons who either were not physically attractive, were physically attractive, or were designated as attractive professional models. The predicted contrast effect was supported for self-perceived attractiveness but not for body satisfaction. Consistent with social comparison theory, subjects gave lower self-ratings in the attractive versus the not attractive and the professionally attractive stimulus context. Correlational analyses also indicated that self-rated attractiveness was related to several personality variables.

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