chapter 3 - Pearson Learning Solutions

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Chapter 3 Nonverbal Communication 73
of the emphasis projected by the advertising industry on attractiveness in their
magazine, newspaper, and television ads.
The attitude toward the way people look carries over into the way people are
evaluated. Attractive people are often given credit—known as the halo effect—for
other qualities such as high intelligence and better job performance. Meanwhile,
unattractive people may be cast by the devil effect—a negative evaluation because
of the way they look, regardless of their intelligence or job performance. 70
Attractiveness is in the eye of the beholder. What it means to be attractive differs
from culture to culture. For example, judges at international beauty contests have
difficulty determining who the winner is because of the vast physical differences
among the contestants and the lack of a universal definition of beauty. And, though
thinness for women might be the “in” beauty criterion in the white European
American culture, that is not necessarily true in African American culture. In a study
of teenage girls, white girls painted attractiveness as “5' 7," between 100 and 110
pounds, with blue eyes and long flowing hair.” 71 However, the black girls in the study
named full hips and large thighs as the signs of attractiveness. 72
It is generally assumed that females are more vain, more concerned about their
physical appearance, and more dissatisfied with their bodies than males are. It is
known for example, that more females than males have eating disorders such as
bulimia and anorexia. However, “It’s not just women who are dissatisfied with their
bodies: men seem to be, too. Men’s dissatisfaction stems primarily from believing
themselves to be less muscular than they really are. Body image is linked to depression,
eating pathology, low self-esteem and using performance-enhancing
substances.” 73
A jury’s decision can be affected by both the plaintiff’s and the defendant’s physical
appearances. In one study, participants in an automobile-negligence trial heard
Attractiveness is in the eye
of the beholder.
Communicating: A Social and Career Focus, Tenth Edition, by Roy M. Berko, Andrew D. Wolvin, and Darlyn R. Wolvin. Published by Allyn & Bacon.
Copyright © 2007 by Pearson Education, Inc.