A Make-over for Royalty: the Relationship of Physical Attractiveness and Perceptions of Leadership Ability


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The proper APA Style reference for this manuscript is:
MCCLAFLIN, M. T. (1999). A Make-over for Royalty: the Relationship of Physical Attractiveness and Perceptions of Leadership Ability. National Undergraduate Research Clearinghouse, 2. Available online at http://www.webclearinghouse.net/volume/. Retrieved September 26, 2023 .

A Make-over for Royalty: the Relationship of Physical Attractiveness and Perceptions of Leadership Ability
MAGGIE T. MCCLAFLIN
MWSC DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY
Sponsored by: Brian Cronk (cronk@missouriwestern.edu)

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this research was to determine if perceived attractiveness negatively affects leadership evaluations of women. Research has shown a positive link between perceived attractiveness and many personality attributes such as intelligence, honesty, and kindness to name but a few. It would appear that what is beautiful is perceived as being better. This perception does not hold true in all cases,however. Recent research has suggested that attractiveness in women can have detrimental effects in terms of perceptions of leadership ability.This study examines this perception from an historical perspective.

INTRODUCTION There has been a large amount of research on physical attractiveness and the importance it plays on the judgements we make of other persons. Handsome men are perceived as more masculine, and beautiful women as more feminine, than are less attractive individuals (Gillen, 1981); attractive defendants in a fictitious burglary case received lesser sentences than unattractive defendants(DeSantis & Kayson, 1997); unattractive children, described as having misbehaved, were more likely to be blamed for their action than attractive children described as participating in the same behavior (Dion, 1972). These findings support Dion, Berschied, and Walster (1972) in their conclusion that "what is beautiful is good." Despite differences in taste, there is actually a reasonable degree of agreement between people from different cultures as to which faces are attractive if one uses averaged responses (Langlois & Roggman, 1990). Although there can be wide variations between the views of any two individuals as to what is attractive, they actually vary around an underlying norm which is consistent across cultures. Although much of the research has focused on the positive attributes of individuals viewed as attractive, there have been some detrimental aspects observed with females and perceptions of leadership (Butler & Geis, 1990). Even today, women in positions of leadership are viewed as going against prevailing gender stereotypes. A study conducted by Sigelman et al (1986) found attractiveness a plus for males running for political office, but not for female candidates. Women were not discriminated against for being pretty, but they were not helped by attractiveness as were the men. 1986) The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of attractiveness to perceived leadership abilities between men and women.

METHOD

PARTICIPANTS
Students enrolled in psychology courses at a medium-sized public college in Northwest Missouri. No effort to make random or control the age, race, or gender will be employed.

MATERIALS
Biographical sketches of Queen Elizabeth I and King James I were used. Traditional pictures of both Elizabeth and James and computer re-touched pictures were shown. The computer re-touched version of Elizabeth reflects modern cosmetics, and the re-touched version of James provided more symmetry in facial features. An opinion survey with a Likert-type scale to measure responses of leadership perceptions of the monarchs was also used.

PROCEDURE
The participants were assigned to one of three groups. Group I were read the biographical sketches of Queen Elizabeth I and King James I, while viewing the traditional picture of the monarchs. They then completed the opinion survey. Group II were read the biographical sketches of Queen Elizabeth I and King James I, while viewing the computer re-touched pictures. They then completed the opinion survey. Group III were read the biographies only, with no pictures of the Queen and King, they then completed the opinion survey.

RESULTS A 3 x 2 mixed design ANOVA was used to examine the effects of attractiveness and sex of individuals on perception of leadership ability. James had significantly higher rated leadership abilities than Elizabeth, with a main effect for sex of leader and perceived leadership ability F(1, 53) = 12.5677, p = .001. Overall, Elizabeth was viewed as possessing less leadership ability than James. The main effect for viewing a picture did not have significance for sex of leader and perceived leadership ability F(2, 53) = .320, p = .728. Furthermore, the interaction between the picture and sex of leader on perceived leadership abilities was not significant F(2, 53) = .429, p = .653. Perceived leadership abilities were rated lowest for the enhanced pictures and highest for the traditional pictures. The effect of the pictures was the same for both James and Elizabeth.A significant main effect was found in the perception of sensitivity to their people and the sex of a leader F(2, 53) = 4.010, p = .024. James had a significantly higher rated sensitivity perception than Elizabeth F(1, 53) = 29.786, p = .000. No significance was found for interaction of a picture for sex of leader on perceived sensitivity F (2, 53) = .442, p = .645.

DISCUSSIONThe original hypothesis was not supported by the data. There was no indication that perception of leadership ability was effected by the sex of the leader and physical attractiveness.Although there was a significant effect for sex on both perceived leadership ability and sensitivity to their governed people, this was probably due to the difference in biographical sketches rather than actual gender bias. Future research should include a design to explore this possibility.The effect of the pictures on perception of leadership was interesting in that the traditional pictures were viewed higher in perceived leadership ability than the more attractive computer enhanced pictures. This is not consistent with much of the literature on attractiveness, which would support the opposite view. It is consistent with the findings of Sigelman et al (1986) with respect to attractiveness not being an asset for female candidates. Participants might have judged the traditional pictures higher in leadership ability due to the familiarity of the historical persons.Replication of this study should include identical biographical information except for sex and more closely matched re-touched pictures, to more evenly reflect the degree of attractiveness change.

REFERENCES Bruce, V., & Young, A. (1998). In The Eye of the Beholder: The Science of Face Perception. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Butler, D. & Geis, F.L. (1990). Nonverbal affect responses to male and female leaders: Implications for leadership evaluations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58, 48-59.Dion, K.L., & Dion, K.K. (1987). Belief in a just world and physical attractiveness stereotyping. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, 775-780.Gillen, B. (1981). Physical attractiveness: A determinant of two types of goodness. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 7, 277-281.Langlois, J.H., & Roggman, L.A. (1990). Attractive faces are only average. Psychological Science, 1, 115-121.Sigelman, C.K., Thomas, D.B., Sigelman, L., & Ribich, F.D. (1986). Gender, physical attractiveness, and electability: An experimental investigation of voter biases. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 16, 229-248.Sigelman, L., & Sigelman, C.K. (1982). Sexism, racism, and ageism in voting behavior: An experimental analysis. Social Psychology Quarterly, 45, 263-269.

APPENDIX A Please respond to the following questions about Elizabeth I by circling a number corresponding to your opinion.

1. Elizabeth was an effective leader.