The influence of facial attractiveness on imitation

People judge, evaluate, and treat attractive people better than moderately attractive or unattractive people [Langlois, J. H., Kalakanis, L., Rubenstein, A. J., Larson, A., Hallam, M., & Smoot, M. (2000). Maxims or myths of beauty? A meta-analytic and theoretical review. Psychological Bulletin,...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of experimental social psychology 2009-11, Vol.45 (6), p.1295-1298
Main Authors: van Leeuwen, Matthijs L., Veling, Harm, van Baaren, Rick B., Dijksterhuis, Ap
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Attractiveness
Behavior. Attitude
Biological and medical sciences
Cultural imitation
Experimental psychology
Experiments
Face
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Imitation
Interpersonal attraction
Judgement
Life Sciences
Meta-analysis
Neurons and Cognition
Physical appearance
Psychological aspects
Psychology and behavior
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Social psychology
Unconscious
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Summary:People judge, evaluate, and treat attractive people better than moderately attractive or unattractive people [Langlois, J. H., Kalakanis, L., Rubenstein, A. J., Larson, A., Hallam, M., & Smoot, M. (2000). Maxims or myths of beauty? A meta-analytic and theoretical review. Psychological Bulletin, 126, 390–423]. The fact that individuals like attractive people combined with the finding that individuals imitate the ones they like, suggests that they may be more prone to imitate attractive people. The present research extends previous work on attractiveness and imitation by examining this hypothesis. Using a novel coloring procedure, we show that attractive females are imitated more than unattractive females (Experiment 1) and that attractive males are imitated more than unattractive males (Experiment 2). Importantly, this imitation occurs without any direct or anticipated contact with the target individual and without awareness of the influence of attractiveness on imitation behavior.
ISSN:0022-1031
1096-0465
DOI:10.1016/j.jesp.2009.07.008