Module 04 · Determinants of Initial Attraction初始吸引的决定因素
Physical Attractiveness外貌吸引力
Overview 概述
If you told people that physical attractiveness plays a role in interpersonal attraction, polite people would likely say, “That makes sense,” and ruder people might just say, “Duh!” Put another way, the idea that being physically attractive increases a person’s likability seems obvious. However, there are some nuances to consider.
如果你告诉人们外表吸引力在人际吸引中扮演着角色，礼貌的人可能会说：“这很有道理”，而不太礼貌的人可能会说：“当然了！”换句话说，外表吸引人能增加一个人受欢迎程度的观点似乎很明显。然而，还有一些细微之处需要考虑。
The Fundamental Role of Physical Attractiveness 物理吸引力的基本作用
Reflection Question 反思问题
Before we begin talking about how physical attractiveness impacts liking, think about who is likely to base their impressions of others on how they look. Which groups (e.g., particular genders, ages) might do this more or less? How about individuals? Take a few minutes and compile a list of people who you think are more and less affected by others’ physical attractiveness.
在开始讨论外表吸引力如何影响喜好之前，想想谁可能会根据别人的外表来形成印象。哪些群体（例如，特定性别、年龄）可能会这样做更多或更少？个人呢？花几分钟时间，列出你认为受他人外表吸引力影响更大或更小的人。
Consider how many sayings advise us not to judge others based on their physical appearance:
考虑有多少谚语告诫我们不要根据别人的外貌来评判他们：
“Don’t judge a book by its cover.”
不要以貌取人。
“Looks are deceiving.” 外表会欺骗人。
“Beauty is only skin deep.”
美只是肤浅的。
“What really matters is invisible to the eyes.”
“真正重要的是肉眼看不见的。”
“All that is gold does not glitter.”
“真金未必闪闪发光。”
And yet, research has found that physical appearance has a strong influence on a remarkably wide range of social phenomena:
然而，研究发现，外貌对一系列广泛的社会现象有着强烈的影响：
- When presented with pairs of photographs of one attractive and one unattractive face, 2- to 3-month-old infants stared longer at the attractive face (Langlois et al., 1987).
当呈现一对一张吸引人和一张不吸引人的面孔的照片时，2-3 个月的婴儿会更长时间地注视吸引人的面孔（Langlois 等，1987）。 - In ratings of classmates by 4- to 6-year-old children, unattractive children were found to be less popular and were more often identified as engaging in antisocial behavior than attractive children (Dion & Berscheid, 1974).
在 4 至 6 岁儿童对同班同学的评级中，长相不佳的孩子被发现不如长相吸引人的孩子受欢迎，并且更常被识别为参与反社会行为（Dion & Berscheid，1974）。 - Fifth-grade teachers who were given information about a child, as well as a photograph of the child, rated attractive children as smarter and more likely to do well in school (Clifford & Walster, 1973).
五年级教师在被提供关于一个孩子的信息以及孩子的照片后，认为吸引人的孩子更聪明，更有可能在学业上表现良好（Clifford & Walster，1973）。 - Mock juries assigned lighter sentences to attractive defendants (Stewart, 1985).
模拟陪审团对有吸引力的被告判处较轻的刑罚（斯图尔特，1985）。
Physical attractiveness is also a major determinant of friendship and attraction (Berscheid et al., 1971; Luo & Zhang, 2009; Reis et al., 1980; Walster et al., 1966). Social psychologist Karen Dion and her colleagues summarized the effects of physical attractiveness in the title of their article, “What is beautiful is good” (Dion et al., 1972).
身体吸引力也是友谊和吸引力的一个重要决定因素（Berscheid 等，1971；Luo & Zhang，2009；Reis 等，1980；Walster 等，1966）。社会心理学家 Karen Dion 及其同事在他们的文章标题中总结了身体吸引力的效应，“美即是善”（Dion 等，1972）。
Reflection Follow-up 反思随访
Think back to the groups and individuals who you thought would be most likely to be influenced by others’ appearances. How does your list compare to the social phenomena described above? Which research findings surprised you?
回想起你认为最可能受到他人外貌影响的群体和个人。你的名单与上述社会现象相比如何？哪些研究发现让你感到惊讶？
As you might have expected from what you just read, despite our intuition that specific groups or individuals might be less likely to base their impressions of others on physical attractiveness, the “what’s beautiful is good” stereotype seems to be a universal phenomenon.
正如您从刚才阅读的内容中可能预料的，尽管我们直觉认为某些群体或个人可能不太可能基于他人的外貌吸引力来形成印象，但“美即是好”的刻板印象似乎是一种普遍现象。
The Beauty of Symmetry 对称之美
Until fairly recently, most people believed that ratings of beauty were entirely subjective, that beauty was in the eye of the beholder. More and more, though, research seems to suggest that some qualities may be more objectively attractive than others. One such quality is facial symmetry. Much research suggests that faces that are more symmetrical are seen as more attractive (Mealey et al., 1999). Psychologist Linda Mealey and her colleagues asked participants to look at side-by-side facial images of identical twins. One group of participants rated how symmetrical each face was. A second group rated each face for attractiveness. The researchers found that the twin whose face was rated as more symmetrical by one group was rated as more attractive by the second group. Furthermore, the more symmetrical a face was rated, the more attractive it was rated.
直到最近，大多数人认为美丽评价完全是主观的，美丽在于观察者的眼中。然而，越来越多的研究表明，某些特质可能比其他特质更具客观吸引力。其中一种特质就是面部对称性。许多研究表明，面部对称性更高的人被认为更有吸引力（Mealey 等，1999）。心理学家琳达·梅利和她的同事要求参与者观察一对同卵双胞胎的并列面部图像。一组参与者评估每张脸的对称性。另一组参与者评估每张脸的吸引力。研究人员发现，被第一组认为面部对称性更高的双胞胎，在第二组中被认为更有吸引力。此外，面部对称性评估越高，其吸引力评估也越高。
Averaged Faces 平均面孔
The attractiveness of symmetry explains another interesting research finding. Although you may think that individuals with unique features would be rated as more attractive, research shows just the opposite: Faces that are more average are rated as more attractive.
对称的吸引力解释了另一个有趣的研究发现。虽然你可能认为具有独特特征的人会被认为更有吸引力，但研究表明恰恰相反：更平均的面孔被认为更有吸引力。
Consider a study by psychologists Judith Langlois and Lori Roggman (1990). They asked participants to rate the attractiveness of individual faces as well as of composite images created by merging 4, 8, 16, or 32 faces. That is, they randomly selected groups of 4, 8, 16, or 32 faces, digitized them, and merged them. The more faces that were merged to make the average face, the more attractive the face was rated. As suggested, this finding is due at least in part to the attractiveness of symmetry, as averaged faces are more symmetrical than individual faces (Jones et al., 2007).
考虑心理学家 Judith Langlois 和 Lori Roggman（1990 年）的一项研究。他们要求参与者对单个面孔以及由合并 4、8、16 或 32 张面孔创建的合成图像的吸引力进行评分。也就是说，他们随机选择了 4、8、16 或 32 张面孔的组别，将它们数字化并合并。合并到平均面孔中的面孔越多，面孔的吸引力评分就越高。正如所建议的，这一发现至少部分归因于对称性的吸引力，因为平均面孔比单个面孔更对称（Jones 等人，2007 年）。
The Matching Hypothesis 匹配假说
If physical appearance is such a powerful determinant of attraction, is our goal to get together with the most attractive person we can find? According to the matching hypothesis, the answer to this question appears to be “no.” Rather, research suggests that we use a matching principle, in which we try to find a partner about as attractive as we think we are (Berscheid et al., 1971).
如果外貌是如此强大的吸引力决定因素，我们的目标是否是找到我们所能找到的最有吸引力的人？根据匹配假设，这个问题的答案似乎是否定的。相反，研究表明我们使用匹配原则，即我们试图找到一个与我们认为自己一样有吸引力的人（Berscheid 等人，1971 年）。
In a series of studies in the 1960s and 1970s, social psychologist Ellen Berscheid and her colleagues examined the matching phenomenon under a number of conditions. In one study, Berscheid and colleagues recruited students who were attending a campus dance and who agreed to be computer-matched with a partner (Berscheid et al., 1971). After rating themselves on several dimensions, including attractiveness, participants were asked to specify the qualities they wanted in a partner. They could specify, for example, how intelligent, considerate, and physically attractive they wanted their partner to be. Berscheid and colleagues concluded that the more attractive a participant was, the more attractive they wished their date to be—evidence of matching at work.
在 20 世纪 60 年代和 70 年代的一系列研究中，社会心理学家艾伦·贝斯切德及其同事在多种条件下考察了匹配现象。在一项研究中，贝斯切德及其同事招募了参加校园舞会并同意与计算机匹配配对的学生（贝斯切德等，1971 年）。在对自己在吸引力等多个维度进行评分后，参与者被要求具体说明他们希望伴侣具备的品质。例如，他们可以具体说明希望伴侣有多聪明、多体贴以及有多吸引人。贝斯切德及其同事得出结论，参与者的吸引力越强，他们希望约会对象越有吸引力——这是匹配现象的证据。
More recently, psychologist Ischa van Straaten and his colleagues examined the matching phenomenon in a sample of men and women from the Netherlands (van Straaten et al., 2009). They found that men showed more approach behavior toward a woman who was similar in level of attractiveness to themselves. The approach behavior of women, however, was not influenced by their perceptions of similarity in attractiveness.
最近，心理学家 Ischa van Straaten 及其同事对荷兰男性女性样本中的匹配现象进行了研究（van Straaten 等，2009）。他们发现，男性对与自己吸引力水平相似的女性的接近行为更多。然而，女性的接近行为并未受其对自己吸引力相似性的感知所影响。
Sex Differences in Attraction 性别差异在吸引力中
Another common finding in attraction research is differences between the sexes. For example, Berscheid and colleagues, in their assignment of computer-matched dates, found that women expressed more interest in a partner who was intelligent, considerate, and outgoing than did men, who more strongly prioritized physical attractiveness (Berscheid et al., 1971). Does this mean that men are more likely than women to base their impressions on physical attractiveness? It’s not quite that simple.
另一种在吸引力研究中的常见发现是性别之间的差异。例如，Berscheid 及其同事在分配计算机匹配的约会对象时发现，女性对聪明、体贴和外向的伴侣表现出更多的兴趣，而男性则更加强调外貌吸引力（Berscheid 等人，1971 年）。这意味着男性比女性更有可能基于外貌吸引力来形成印象吗？事情并非如此简单。
To assess these sex differences, social psychologists Paul Eastwick and Eli Finkel (2008) recruited more than 100 people to complete a questionnaire describing their ideal partner and then to participate in a speed-dating event. Both during and after the event, participants recorded their assessments of each of their dates. According to the pre-event questionnaire, men were indeed more likely than women to consider physical attractiveness to be a dealbreaker for matching with a speed-date. However, these preferences did not predict participants’ actual desires or actions during or after the event. In fact, the data revealed no sex differences in regards to people’s interest in real-life potential partners and these potential partners’ attractiveness. More recent studies continue to provide evidence that both men and women strongly and equally base their impressions on physical attractiveness (Eastwick et al., 2014).
为了评估这些性别差异，社会心理学家保罗·伊斯特威克和艾利·芬克尔（2008 年）招募了 100 多人来完成一份描述他们理想伴侣的问卷，并参加一个速配活动。在活动期间和活动之后，参与者记录了他们对每位约会对象的评估。根据活动前的问卷，男性确实比女性更可能将外貌吸引力视为与速配匹配的底线。然而，这些偏好并不能预测参与者在活动期间或活动之后的实际愿望或行为。事实上，数据显示在人们对现实生活中潜在伴侣的兴趣以及这些潜在伴侣的吸引力方面，没有性别差异。更近期的研究表明，男性和女性都强烈且平等地基于外貌吸引力来形成印象（Eastwick 等人，2014 年）。
In spite of the many phrases that caution us not to judge others based on their appearance, physical attractiveness is undoubtedly an important predictor of liking. Looks may not be everything, but they are a crucial determinant of initial attraction.
尽管有许多短语告诫我们不要根据别人的外貌来判断他们，但外表吸引力无疑是喜欢的一个重要预测因素。外表可能不是一切，但它们是初始吸引力的关键决定因素。