According to researchers from the University of Kansas, “beauty is skin deep” is pretty much a fact. For those use Tinder, this ought to give them a bit of time to consider just what they’re doing when they swipe left. The study which was carried out is to be published in the Journal of Communication Studies and its associate professor, Jeffrey Hall, along with graduate student Benjamin Compton, discovered this: the attractiveness of a potential date heightens significantly after face-to-face interaction.

Evaluating the attractiveness of a person based on looks alone will also tell you little about what they’ll be like: whether as a partner, a fun ate or more.

The Tinder Trap: Research by Hall

He went on to state that there had already been several researchers who have critiqued that the usual method employed by Tinder researchers is not the best way to find one. The aim of Hall’s research was to look at the ratings of physical attractiveness and how they change – especially when evaluating whether this will help or hurt the interaction you’re planning on having.

Participants were divided into three groups by researches. Heterosexual undergraduate students were placed in the first group, where they had to view 10 photos of singles of the opposite sex and give them a 1-10 rating based on how physically attractive they were. Afterwards they were immediately brought into a lab where they met the people in the photos: a 10 minute conversation was then conducted.

“Afterward, they were asked questions like ‘Did you think this person was likeable, charismatic, responsive, smart and funny?’ Then we had them evaluate the same 10 photos again,” Hall said. “Several things happened. There was a significant difference in the attractiveness rating only for the person participants had just interacted with.”

Hall stated that these findings were consistent with what was known as the Interaction Appearance Theory.

Hall said that there were two characteristics which played an important role as to whether the role changed: Social attractiveness (based on the thought that you could possibly be friends with the person), that had nothing to do with romance or sexuality. The other was one that combined generally “being a fun person” and the likes of a person’s sense of humour: those who received high ratings in these areas would get higher appearance ratings.

Moreover, Hall added, “those who benefited the most were rated mid to low attractiveness to begin with.”

Room for Improvement and the Ceiling Effect

According to Hall, those who had a fantastic sense of humour and were friendly could stand to gain a lot when it comes to dating: in addition, it appears that physical attractiveness is something that is quite malleable. For those who were already considered quite attractive didn’t have the same kind of increase in their rating. This is what he referred to as a “ceiling effect” – not being able to get much higher than that. For individuals who hung somewhere near the middle, there was definitely plenty more space to improve.

Source: news.ku.edu