The matching hypothesis however (similar to the equity theory) proposes that we seek individuals who we feel are the same attractiveness as ourselves. Reasons for this include, a fear of rejection and to achieve a balance in the relationship. Walster (1966) asked a number of students to rate their partners. This study found that attraction was not related to matching. It was found that the participants preferred partners who were more physically attractive.
However, other studies have found support for the matching hypothesis. Walster and Walster did a repeat of their original computer dance (where random participants were rated by judges and then went on a date, where they had to fill in a questionnaire about the dance and their dates. It was found the ‘better looking’ the date the more the participant liked them). This time, however, the students had time to meet beforehand which meant they were able to think about the qualities they would like to see in a partner. This time, it was found that people choose those of a similar level of attractiveness.
Murstein (1972) obtained further support through a study, where the physical attractiveness of engaged couples and those in a relationship was judged from photographs. He found the same tendency.
Aim – My aim is to replicate Murstein’s (1972) study. I am to find out whether there is a significant positive correlation between the attractiveness of newly married couples on their wedding day.
Alternative Hypothesis – There will be a significant positive correlation between the perceived attractiveness of the married couple.
Null Hypothesis – The will be no significant correlation between the perceived attractiveness of the married couple. Any correlation is due to chance factors.
The level of significance measured is 5% due to chance.
Method and Design– For this piece of work, I choose to use a non-experimental method and correlational design. The reason for this, is that it cannot be carried out as an experiment. A criticism of using this method design is that it is not possible to find cause and effect; only a relationship between two variables is shown. In this research the variables were, the attractiveness of the males and females of the newly married couples. However there as there is no IV or DV in my study you cannot determine cause and effect so you do not know which variable will manipulate the other. An advantage of using a correctional study is that you can see a correlation and also there are less ethical implication. To make the research results reliable and accurate I tired to control as many of the extraneous variables as possible. Some of the situational variables included time of day, light, temperature, noise. To try and minimise the negative effects these could have on my results I made sure that all the participants did the experiment in the same room as each other at approximately the same time. This meant that the difference in light and temperature were controlled to a certain extent, with only minor fluctuation. Other variables included the size and colour of the pictures, and the length of time participants were given. I choose to give all participants an unlimited amount of time so that they did not make any hasty decisions. I also used the same pictures in this experiment and made sure the pictures were all black and white, so that there could be no comparison made between the males and the females clothes. In addition I made all the pictures the same size so that the clarity of the pictures was replicated. I also choose to use counterbalancing and naïve participants in order to overcome order effects . This meant that half the participants were shown the females first and the other half the males first. In addition to this I used a standardised procedure in order to try and control participant variables as well as choosing to use half males and half females, making it easier for me to generalise the results. Therefore 25% of the males would be shown females first and the other 25% males (this was the same for the females). By counterbalancing it means that all the males are not shown the males first as this could effect the females scores. However by choosing to show half the participants the males first and half the females first it means that it is more balanced because there will be the same bias for each gender. I have also made it more equal by using counterbalancing equally for each gender. I made sure that the pictures I obtained were not of couples from around the area, so that the participants did not know any of the people personally. An ethical issue in this study is that the people in the pictures did not give their consent, however their pictures were obtained from a website so it is possible to assume that they do not mind the pictures being looked at and observed.
Participants - All my participants were from Alsager School and in between the ages of 16 and 18. All of my participants gave their consent to take part in the study and were told that they could withdraw at any time. I used an opportunity sample to receive the participants needed.
Apparatus - In my study I used 10 pictures of newly married couples off a website and made them all the same size and black and white. I wanted the pictures to be the same size so that it was there was little difference between the pictures. If they had of been different sizes then the clarity may have differed more between photographs. I also used a results table to record my findings (both of these can be found in the appendix).I kept a copy of the original pictures, however cut the pictures so that the males and females were separate. I then coded all the male and female couples and put the males in one envelope and females in another. By doing this the participants could not make as many connections between the males and females as they are not shown at the same time also reducing demand characteristics. By doing it this way, the participants were able to line the females and males up in order of attractiveness, so that they could keep comparing and making sure that they rated them correctly. In addition, I did not choose to use pictures from local newspapers encase some of the participants knew the people. This would then lead to a biased decision on their physical attractiveness. Another reason I choose to use people who were all in wedding attire is because people in uniforms can be seen as more attractive which would decrease the validity of my results.
Procedure - First, I went on the internet and found 10 suitable pictures of newly married couples. I then changed the size of the pictures so that they were all approximately the same size. I then printed them out, and cut out the men and women so that they were no longer together. I then placed the 10 females in one envelope and the 10 males in another, this allowed participants to line them up in order of attractiveness. Unbeknown to the participants each female photo had a colour on the back. I choose not to use the same colour for the partner as this could increase demand characteristics. The participants then ranked the pictures in terms of attractiveness on a scale of 1-10. 10 in this case was the most attractive. By doing this is meant that the whole spread of numbers was used. Each colour was a code was a different letter (e.g. black was for the female in couple A and red was the colour for the male in couple A). If I had of used numbers e.g. labelled them 1-10 then the participants may have thought that this corresponded to their attractiveness. I used standardised instructions (see appendix), this is important as it reduced researcher bias. The results were then recorded in a table (see appendix). I then debriefed all the participants and made sure that they left in the same state as they entered.
Results
Table to show the mean value awarded to each male and female in the different couples:
(Values rounded to 1decimal place.)
Below is a bar chart demonstrating these results:
By observing both the table and graph showing each persons mean score, I can see that in some couples these values are very similar for example couple A. The male in this pair received a mean score of 9.3 and the female 9.03. Here is the most obvious demonstration of the matching hypothesis. There are however a few couples that this is not true for, for example couple J, the male was given a mean score of 7 and the female 3.56. The difference here is 3.43. The problem with using the mean is that it is affected by extreme values, so if a participant does not take the study seriously and gives a false rating it is still taken into consideration. Below is a table to show the differences in the mean scores between the couples.
Table to show the differences in the mean values from the males and females in a couple.
This table allows me to see the difference in ratings the males and females were given in each couple. The graph suggests that the average difference by using the mean is around 1.5. There are however 3 values which are quite high, this is couple G, I and J. It would be intresting to look at these couples in a separate study where participants could rate them out of 10 to see if these values corresponded to their partners.
Below is a table to show the median values the couples were given:
From looking at the graphs of the median value, there is less difference between the males and females in each couple. Using the median is probably a better indicator to use as it does not take into consideration the outliers, but uses the middle value, so it limits participant variables. Here the main difference is in couple G and J have a difference of 4. By using the median it also means that you work with whole numbers.
From looking at the differences, I can see that once again couple G, I and J have been given different ratings, suggesting that they are not of the same perceived attractiveness. However, couples A and E have both the same value of attractiveness matching them perfectly.
(scatter shows the wrong thing, there is not a positive correlation, how can I correct this?)
Treatment of Results
Due to my study being a correlational design and ordinal study, I chose to use the Spearmans rho test to see if my results were significant. When the calculated value is greater than the critical value, the Spearman roe test concludes the results to be of significance at a 5% significance level (therefore we can assume we are 95% correct) using a one tailed test. This was true of my results as my calculated value was 0.6 and my critical value was 0.564. Due to this, I can reject the null hypothesis and accept the alternative hypothesis – that there is a significant positive correlation between the perceived attractiveness of the married couple at the time of marriage.
Discussion
The aim of my investigation was to replicate Murstein’s (1972) study. I wanted to find out whether there is a significant positive correlation between the attractiveness of newly married couples by looking at pictures of newly married couples on their wedding day. From analysing my results I found that there was a significant positive correlation between the perceived attractiveness of the married couple at the time of marriage. I have therefore accepted my alternative hypothesis and rejected my null hypothesis (that there will be no significant correlation). My aim has been fulfilled because I have found that there is a positive correlation, giving me the same findings as Mursteins (however in slightly different conditions). (should I evaluate test results and use standard deviation to find any outliers)
Murstein (1972) received the same results. He looked at the physical attractiveness of engaged couples. He used their photographs and they were judged on their attractiveness. He found that there was a tendency for the two people in a couple to be of a similar physical attractiveness. Walster and walsters repeat (1969) of the original computer dance. Where instead of just judging their random partners in terms of physical attractiveness (where he found people preferred the more physically attractive people as opposed to people matching their own attractiveness) they had a chance to meet beforehand and to think about the qualities they were looking for in a partner. Here like with my results, they found people expressed the most liking for those of equitable standards. Both of these studies support the matching hypothesis, where it is assumed that people tend to seek those of a same standard due to both a fear of rejection (if the other person is ‘better looking’) and to achieve a balance between partners (relating back to the equity theory). The equity theory is similar to the social exchange theory (where relationships are based on costs and rewards) but encourages a balance between the two people, hence there physical attractiveness.
In my investigation I noticed some limitations; one of these being the clarity of pictures and the people’s attire. Although all the couples were in wedding clothes, the dresses and suits were all differed and could make the person look better or worse depending on the style of clothing. In addition, I had to resize some of the pictures (e.g. stretch and shrink them), this may have changed the persons width making them look more or less attractive. In addition I think that the age of participants could have had an effect on my results. Due to choosing participants within the age range of 16-18 to rate the pictures there is a considerable difference in age to those in the photographs. This means that the participants may not just have rated the participants on looks but also on age. In addition I feel that the judging may not have been 100% truthful, as males may have felt uneasy judging other males, so did not pay them as much attention. The main problem I feel is that it is an outsider viewing and observing the attractiveness of the couples. Therefore by using the range of numbers, it means that if all the females were better looking than the males, the female with a 1 may be a lot better looking than the corresponding male, however this is not taken into consideration. The males and females in the pictures may also have low self-esteem and view themselves differently to an outsider, so to them with ‘beauty being in the eye of the beholder’ their other half may be of equitable standards. In addition, one of the females was Chinese, making them culturally different from the rest. This could result in that person being viewed as better or worse because they are seen as ‘different’ (look at results?). Another problem that could make my results not viable is the validity of the pictures. Because I received the pictures off the internet, even though the couples were in wedding clothes, it does not mean that they were necessarily getting married. Another ongoing problem is that the people in the pictures will have aged differently. This means that at the time they first formed a relationship they could have been of the same attractiveness however over time, one may have become more or less attractive.
If I was to repeat the study I would firstly try to find people that were all of the same age so that age would not be a contributing factor and make sure that the pictures could remain at their original size whilst still being comparable to the other photographs. In addition I would use a range of ages to rate the pictures. The would allow me to see if the results differed by using people who are of the same age of the wedding couples, I feel that this would give more accurate results as they would have closer perceptions to the other person in the couple. I would also try to use a wider variety of people so that I could see if culture made a difference to the way people are perceived (cultural differences) and use more people to make my results more reliable. Another thing I could do with my results is to compare the ratings the females (and males) were given by both females and males to see if this is a contributing factor and if so change my study accordingly.
I feel that there are many potential useful follow up studies that I could do. One of these would be to see if it is only the more attractive people that find partners of the same standard. From looking at my graphs I have observed that the top rated male and female are together, however this correlation differs/decreases as you get to the less attractive people. This could be because those who are less attractive view attractiveness as less important or that all the attractive people view physical attractiveness as the best assets in a partner and therefore the more attractive people form relationships leaving the less attractive people single!
Another study I could do is to see if the results differ from looking at first and second marriages etc. It could be that as a person moves on ‘in terms of marriages’ attractiveness become less important to them.
I feel that my results could be useful for online dating agencies, as this study not only shows that people tend to choose partners of a similar attractiveness but all demonstrates (to a certain effect) the halo effect (see introduction). It would be therefore useful for the agencies to place a picture with their file as this is likely to increase the probability that the customers will form a relationship.
Conclusion
To conclude, I found my results to be of significance, as there was a strong positive correlation. When using the Spearman’s Roe test, I found my critical value was 0.564 and my calculated value 0.6. My study therefore supports the matching hypothesis (therefore finding the same thing as both Murstein (1972 ) and Walster and Walsters repeat of their original computer dance.
References
PRIMARY SOURCES –
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Bersceid A. and Walster E. (1974) ‘Physical Attractiveness’ Essential Social Psychology, 7,157-215
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Murstein (1972) ‘Physical Attractiveness and Marital Choice’ Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 22,1
SECONDARY SOURCES –
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Hayes Nand Orrell S. (1987) Psychology an Introduction Longman
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Cardwell M et al. (1996) Psychology for A Level Collins Education
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Gross R. D. (1987) Psychology the Science of Mind and Behaviour Hodder and Stoughton SNumerous
- www.
Appendix
