Effects Of Attractiveness On Social Decision Making - Article Example

Effects Of Attractiveness On Social Decision Making The Paper: The present paper aims to have a critical evaluation of the study conducted by Agthe et al. (2011) under the title Does Being Attractive Always Help? Positive and Negative Effects of Attractiveness on Social Decision Making. The main objective behind making an analysis of the study includes the exploration of various aspects of the research methodology adopted by Agthe et al. while conducting their study on the one side, and highlighting the important research findings on the other. It includes the elucidation of the universe/population, sample size, age-group and the criteria applied by the researchers above-mentioned for sampling and data collection as well. The present paper will also discuss the hypothesis selected for the above-described research along with evaluation of its validity as well. Hence, the paper will present a comprehensive analytical report with regards to the research conducted by Agthe et al (2011). In the giving research work, the researchers have provided the details of the three different studied they had conducted on the same topic in order to estimate whether or not physical appearance, attractive manifestation and striking charms of the individuals turn out to be supportive ones during the recruitment procedure on the one side, and while getting admission at reputed universities on the other (Agthe et al., 2011:1042). The given research work consists of three studies that had been carried out on young males and females in order to extract their behavior patterns towards the attractive and less attractive individuals belonging to their same and opposite sex groups. The first study was quantitative one in nature, where 385 participants belonging to both the genders were selected for conducting the research process, where female participants dominated in the sample size with the ratio of 58:42 approximately (Agthe et al., 2011:1043).The aim of the first study was to observe the significance of physical attraction of the candidates during the selection procedure for jobs against the resumes carrying photographs of the candidates (Agthe et al., 2011:1044). Conducted on the German students to select the young Caucasian candidates, the selectors demonstrated strong likelihood towards the attractive members belonging to their opposite gender group while choosing them to be the most suitable candidates for various jobs. Somehow, the research findings also exhibited that the participants did not select the attractive and good-looking same-sex members as the most appropriate and potential candidates for the job (Agthe et al., 2011:1045-46). It was, according to the researchers, strongly due to the feelings of rivalry, envy and jealousy the individuals maintained with regards to the members of same-sex in general due to the very fact that the members of same-sex were potentially taken to be their competitors that could put their affairs in jeopardy while working in the same environment (Agthe et al., 2011:1042). The researchers had focused on divergent aspects of attractiveness in their studies, along with determining differing ways of measuring the same phenomenon while associating its relation with getting recruited against various job vacancies, posts and positions. The researchers had selected the standardized photographs of the young professionals as (fake) job candidates during the research process for obtaining the results, about which the research participants were quite unaware of (Agthe et al., 2011:1046). Standardized photographs were employed in order to minimize the possibility of bias and prejudice during the research process, which supported the commitment of the researchers with the professional ethics. The second study mentioned in the given pages was conducted by the researchers while paying their concentration upon the response of the participants towards the attractive members belonging to both the gender groups while getting them admitted as university students in different education departments. The research sample size consisted of 265 university students as participants or the universe of study. Instead of seeking support from the black and white photographs as it was applied in the first study, the researcher provided the laboratory video to the participants for recruiting the candidates for granting them admission as university students. Thus, the latest technology was employed by the researchers during their study, which endorses their knowledge of the developments being observed in the research and IT sectors at large. In addition to this, here again, the participants were kept unaware regarding the purpose of the study as per the ethics of every type of research work (Agthe et al., 2011:1047). Hence, the researchers strictly emulated the ethical values has been determined for research conducting on all social and cultural issues. ANOVA table was applied as the statistical tool for analyzing the research findings for a comprehensive and comparative investigation into the responses made by male and female participants. The results again indicated the same negative response of the participants while recommending the attractive people belonging to the same-sex as the most suitable persons for getting admitted as university students. On the contrary, the attractive members of their opposite sex were warmly recommended by a sizeable majority of both male and female participants. In addition to this, the findings also demonstrated that the other talents of the good-looking members of same sex were also ignored by the participants during the second study (Agthe et al., 2011:1048). The last study conducted by the researchers afore-mentioned attempted to explore the moderating effects of self-esteem. The sample size of this study was very small one containing 127 respondents of comparatively younger age groups, where both the genders were given almost equal representation, which was contrary to both of the previous studies. The print material was used as the source for collection of data from the respondents, where the participants had to read the resume carrying photographs of the individuals in order to recommend or reject them as potential candidates. Again, the researcher witnessed that an imperative proportion of the participants desired to enroll the people of opposite sex at the university; similarly the majority of them also refuted the attractive members of opposite sex to be enrolled as students, which manifestly demonstrated the displeasure of the majority of respondents towards the attractive members of opposite sex. It partly endorsed the hypothesis developed by the researchers that attractiveness had both positive and negative impacts during recruitment and enrollment procedures. While summing up the study under investigation, it becomes evident that the researchers have applied the hypothesis on different populations by establishing divergent sample size and varying mean age-group as well in order to prove the validity of their research question. Somehow, all the three studies were carried out on the young people between the age from 20 and 24, the period of life where appearance and physical attraction certainly means a lot to the individuals; and intelligence, grades and other personality traits and characteristics appear to be of least significance actually. The research also demonstrates the preference and liking of the German youngsters towards the young Caucasians of opposite sex, though they viewed the same sex young individuals as their rivals and competitors at universities as well as in the professional life. Reference Agthe, M., Spörrle, M., & Maner, J. K. (January 01, 2011). Does being attractive always help? Positive and negative effects of attractiveness on social decision making. Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin, 37, 8, 1042-54. Read More