The Attraction Halo

Mere physical attractiveness exerts a generally positive influence on the attitudes and behaviors of observers, an effect known as the attractiveness halo. An opposite, negative halo for especially unattractive faces also exists. Psychologists have a range of opinion about how strong the attractiveness halo is.

The general topic of attractiveness is important to members of virtually every culture, especially to the young who seek romantic partners and to those who seek to extend their influence in society through contact with others. Attractiveness is significant to each individual and to most people whom the person meets, and the effects of attractiveness could extend to virtually every other impression a person makes.

Attractiveness to a psychologist means how others perceive and rate the desireability of a person's features. Such ratings or opinions depend partly on inherent physical attractiveness of the facial features and partly on other factors, for example, how these features are "packaged" or presented. Given the importance of physical beauty to perceived attractiveness, purveyors of aids and accessories for enhancing physical attractiveness make every effort in consumer-oriented societies to emphasize this aspect of attractiveness.

The face is a focus of much attention when it comes to physical attractiveness, because this part of the body represents the person's identity and is most exposed to public view. Thus, whether a person is in general considered beautiful or not depends much on facial beauty. The remainder of this page addresses the factors that contribute to the attractiveness of the face, how one's attractiveness affects others and their behavior, and how someone might improve or maintain facial attractiveness.