Graduation Date
Spring 2019
Document Type
Thesis
Program
Master of Arts degree with a major in Psychology, option Academic Research
Committee Chair Name
Kauyumari Sanchez
Committee Chair Affiliation
HSU Faculty or Staff
Second Committee Member Name
Amber M Gaffney
Second Committee Member Affiliation
HSU Faculty or Staff
Third Committee Member Name
Amanda Hahn
Third Committee Member Affiliation
HSU Faculty or Staff
Fourth Committee Member Name
Christopher Aberson
Fourth Committee Member Affiliation
HSU Faculty or Staff
Subject Categories
Psychology
Abstract
People may or may not realize that when they meet a physically attractive person, they are more likely to evaluate him or her as a smart and positive person compared to a less attractive person in the absence of other features besides physical attractiveness. This attractive halo effect has influenced multiple areas that include the job market, dating, and academic success. However, it is possible for other factors, such as one’s creativity and personality to affect one’s judged attractiveness level. The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of facial attractiveness, creativity, and warm-cold personality characteristics when judging female attractiveness. This research expands on Walkin’s (2017) where he found that with attractive females, their creative abilities didn’t affect the score of their overall attractiveness, but with less attractive females, their highly creative abilities were detrimental to their overall attractiveness from raters’ perspective.
In addition, warm-cold personality might affect the perception of people’s attractiveness. Past research suggested that people with warm personality characteristics might be rated higher on attractiveness than people with cold personality characteristics. This study employed a 2 (Attractiveness) x 2 (Creativity) x 2 (Personality characteristics) mixed factorial design. Facial attractiveness and creativity are within subjects, and warm-cold personality description is a between-subjects design. I hypothesize that females who are attractive and have warm personality characteristics will receive the highest attractiveness rating regardless of the creativity level, followed attractive and cold females. However, a 3-way interaction is expected for less attractive females. Less attractive females, with high creativity and cold personality characteristics will receive the lowest attractiveness scores overall, while those with low creativity and warm personality characteristics will receive higher attractiveness scores. The results showed there was no interaction between facial attractiveness, creativity, and personality characteristics, however, the interaction between facial attractiveness and creativity was discovered. The current study shows that creativity does not matter for attractive females on attractiveness score, whereas creativity increases attractiveness score on females who are low in facial attractiveness.
Citation Style
APA
Recommended Citation
Wu, Zhelin, "The relationship between personality characteristics and creativity on judgements of facial attractiveness" (2019). Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects. 296.
https://digitalcommons.humboldt.edu/etd/296
Included in
Cognitive Psychology Commons, Personality and Social Contexts Commons, Quantitative Psychology Commons, Social Psychology Commons