Perceived Physical Attractiveness Gender and Socio-Communicative Orientation of Young Adults

Perceived Physical Attractiveness, Gender and Socio-Communicative Orientation of Young Adults
PERCEIVED PHYSICAL ATTRACTIVENESS, GENDER AND SOCIOCOMMUNICATIVE ORIENTATION OF YOUNG ADULTS
A Degree Paper Presented to the

Faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences
Trinity University of Asia
In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Bachelor of Science in Psychology
by
Accion, Gavrielle Eleez M.
Mateo, Maisie V.
Sarmiento, Nikki Angeli B.
Tismo, Dem Gualvert M.
March 2012
Accion, G. E., Mateo, M., Sarmiento, N. A., & Tismo, D. G. (March 2012)
Abstract
Physical attractiveness is a common denominator in our everyday social interactions.

The halo effect is a cognitive bias and social stereotype which dictates that physically
attractive people are treated better by others because beauty is perceived to be synonymous to
goodness. In modern society, it has proven to be more than that beauty has also become
tantamount to other characteristics such as sociability, intelligence, competence and even
assertiveness and responsiveness, which correspond to socio-communicative orientation, the
dependent variable of the study.
The experimental study employed a 2 x 2 factorial research design to determine the

effect of perceived physical attractiveness and gender on the socio-communicative
orientation of 40 third year heterosexual BS Psychology and BS Tourism students in terms of
assertiveness and responsiveness. They were randomly assigned to the four treatment
conditions: attractive-female, attractive-male, unattractive-female and unattractive male.
The findings upon statistical analysis of F-test under .05 level of significance with 1
and 36 degrees of freedom suggest that perceived physical attractiveness and gender had an
interaction effect on the socio-communicative orientation of young adults in terms of both
assertiveness and responsiveness dimensions. This implies that perceived physically
attractive female young adults are more independent, assertive, warm and responsive in their
phone conversations with their male partners than perceived physically unattractive females.
The male young adults on the other hand behave in the same fashion regardless of whether
they were perceived as physically attractive or unattractive by their female conversational
partners. Perceived physical attractiveness and gender had main effects only on the
assertiveness dimension, indicating that perceived physically attractive young adults are
more active and expressive than physically unattractive young adults; and that female young
adults who interacted with male partners are more assertive than male young adults who
conversed with female partners.
Young adults, particularly the students, are recommended to be cautious and less
subjective in making judgments to reduce the presence of the physical-attractiveness
stereotype in their social interactions. Parents are encouraged to inculcate in their children the
significance of modesty and humility and de-emphasize the tendency to hastily judge a
person based on physical appearance. School administrators are advised to implement an
Anti-Bias campaign that serves as the students voice for biased, prejudiced and
discriminatory incidents. Teachers are encouraged to engage their students in school
activities that promote interpersonal communication competence. Counselors are encouraged
to conduct group dynamics based on the proposed group dynamics modules of the
researchers. Future researchers may find the study particularly useful in motivating them to
replicate using a modified population or other independent variables and in serving as a basis
for other kinds of research method.
Acknowledgements
The researchers express their sincerest gratitude to their thesis adviser, Mrs. Helen C.
Baguno, for her unconditional understanding and support to the study and for her patience,
one of a kind motivation, enthusiasm, and immense knowledge.
The researchers also thank Mrs. Elenita W. Ramos, Mr. Pedrito A. Aton, Ms. Reinalyn P.
Lim, Dr. Cesar D. Orsal, and Dr. Gloria B. Wong-Siy for their guidance in accomplishing the
study.
Moreover, the researchers extend their gratitude to the participants who had been cooperative
throughout the experiment.
Lastly, the researchers give their deepest appreciation to their families for the encouragement
and inspiration.
To God and to our families.
Table of Contents
Title Page
...........................................................
Approval Sheet
Abstract
.......................................................
ii
.............................................................
iii
Acknowledgements
Dedication
....................................................
...........................................................
vi
Table of Contents
.....................................................
List of Tables and Figures
...............................................
vii
xii
CHAPTER
I. PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND
Introduction
..............................................
Theoretical Framework
.....................................
Statement of Problems
.....................................
Objectives
...............................................
10
Hypotheses
..............................................
12
Significance of the Study
...................................
Scope, Delimitation and Limitations

Definition of Terms
..........................
........................................
12
14
15
II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

Related Literature
.........................................
18
...........................................
18
.............................................
24
Related Studies
...........................................
27
Foreign
...........................................
27
.............................................
43
Foreign
Local
Local
Synthesis of Related Literature and Studies
.....................
47
III. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY

Research Design
..........................................
49
Research Locale
..........................................
50
Population, Sample and Sampling Technique

Research Instruments
...................
51
......................................
52
Data-Gathering Procedure
Statistical Treatment of Data
...................................
55
.................................
57
IV. PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA

Mean Scores of Socio-Communicative Orientation of Young Adults
under Perceived Physical Attractiveness in Terms of
Assertiveness
.......................................
59

Responsiveness
.....................................
60

under Gender in Terms of Assertiveness
.................
61

under Gender in Terms of Responsiveness
................
62

under the Interaction of Perceived Physical Attractiveness and
Gender in Terms of Assertiveness
......................
63

under the Interaction of Perceived Physical Attractiveness and
Gender in Terms of Responsiveness
.....................
64
Difference in the Socio-Communicative Orientation of Young Adults

Assertiveness
.......................................
65

Responsiveness
.....................................
66

under Gender in Terms of Assertiveness
.................
67

under Gender in Terms of Responsiveness
................
68
Interaction between Perceived Physical Attractiveness and Gender on

Socio-Communicative Orientation of Young Adults in Terms of
Assertiveness
.......................................
69
Interaction between Perceived Physical Attractiveness and Gender on

Socio-Communicative Orientation of Young Adults in Terms of
Responsiveness
.....................................
71
Proposed Group Dynamics Module on Perceived Physical

Attractiveness and Gender
............................
73
Proposed Group Dynamics Module on Socio-Communicative

Orientation
........................................
78
V. SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Summary of Findings
Conclusions
......................................
84
..............................................
89
Recommendations
BIBLIOGRAPHY
APPENDICES
.........................................
91
..............................................
94
.................................................
101
A Socio-Communicative Orientation Scale

B Interpersonal Attraction Scale
.....................
102
..............................
103
C Standardized Instructions for Participants

D Letters
.....................
104
................................................
106
E Debriefing Form
.........................................
F Interview Questionnaire for Group Dynamics Module

G Curriculum Vitae
119
...........
122
........................................
124
10
LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES
TABLE
1.A Mean Scores of Socio-Communicative Orientation of Young Adults under
Perceived Physical Attractiveness in Terms of Assertiveness
........
59
1.B Mean Scores of Socio-Communicative Orientation of Young Adults under

Perceived Physical Attractiveness in Terms of Responsiveness
. . . . . . . 60

.............................
61

............................
62

Interaction of Perceived Physical Attractiveness and Gender in Terms of
Assertiveness
..............................................
63

Responsiveness
............................................
64
4.A Difference in the Socio-Communicative Orientation of Young Adults under

Perceived Physical Attractiveness in Terms of Assertiveness
........
65
4.B Difference in the Socio-Communicative Orientation of Young Adults under

Perceived Physical Attractiveness in Terms of Responsiveness
. . . . . . . 66
11
12
5.A Difference in the Socio-Communicative Orientation of Young Adults under

.............................
67
5.B Difference in the Socio-Communicative Orientation of Young Adults under

............................
68
6.A Interaction between Perceived Physical Attractiveness and Gender on SocioCommunicative Orientation of Young Adults in Terms of Assertiveness
69
6.B Interaction between Perceived Physical Attractiveness and Gender on SocioCommunicative Orientation of Young Adults in Terms of
Responsiveness
............................................
71
7.A Proposed Group Dynamics Module on Perceived Physical Attractiveness

and Gender
...............................................
7.B Proposed Group Dynamics Module on Socio-Communicative Orientation
73
78
FIGURE
1 Research Paradigm
..............................................
2 Map of Trinity University of Asia
..................................
7
51
CHAPTER I
PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND
Introduction
It is not important whether or not the interpretation is correct -- if men define situations as
real, they are real in their consequences.
~William Isaac Thomas, sociologist and proponent of Thomas theorem
Physical appearance is a topic universal and relevant to all people, regardless of their
skin tone. It cannot be denied that the outward appearance of others plays a role in our
everyday encounter. Whether we like it or not, we pass on stereotypical judgments of a
person based on what is immediately available to us what else but the level of that persons
attractiveness. Through history we can trace societys preoccupation with this psychological
variable. 30,000 years ago, Africans decorated their faces as a symbol for beauty. Venetians
in the 1460 constructed the first true mirrors. From then, people enjoyed seeing their
reflections out of vanity that this immediately turned into a large business. In Elizabethan era,
a skin-whitening paste made of harmful lead was used by people of the higher class. Seventhcentury Italy had a similar product made of arsenic for the same purpose. Brazilian and
African tribes saw lip piercing as beautiful, for the Chinese it was foot binding and for the
Thais, neck lengthening. The list goes on but the main point is that every place, every group
of people and every time period had their own representation of physical attractiveness. This
13
notion may be explained by the study of Dion that people seem to believe that physical
beauty symbolizes goodness.
Indeed, a rich source of literature suggests that to judge a person based from his or
her outward appearance, whether consciously or unconsciously, is widely accepted. In fact,
this had been the center of plenty researches in the field of clinical psychology, social
psychology and even health psychology. Berscheid would go as far to claim that physical
attractiveness is an extraordinarily important psychological variable. (Rumsey and
Harcourt, 2005).
Like physical attractiveness, self-fulfilling prophecy had become a widely accepted

concept since its introduction by Robert K. Merton. The manifestation of this phenomenon
can be seen in all areas, most notably in the educational, clinical and industrial setting. This
concept was derived from the Thomas theorem which can be summarized in the statement If
men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences. Merton argued that
negative beliefs predict negative consequences; think negative thoughts and it surely will
happen.
A self-fulfilling prophecy in psychology can be described as the fulfilment of a

persons belief, not necessarily because it is true but because that person acts subconsciously
and consciously in ways that generate the event to happen. Bearing that in mind, it is
interesting to demonstrate this phenomenon by using what Dion describes as the What is
14
beautiful is good stereotype (similar to the halo effect) wherein a person is more likely to
attribute more favorable personality traits and adjectives to people they perceived as
physically attractive. Apparently, some of the personality traits and adjectives included in
Dions lengthy list are genuine, sensitive, sincere, warm, sociable, kind, selfassertive, interesting and outgoing. These certain characteristics are found to be
measures of interpersonal communication competence such as assertiveness and
responsiveness. Communication competence refers to peoples ability to choose among
available communication behaviors in order that they may successfully accomplish their
interpersonal goals during an encounter (Singhal and Nagao, 1993). Socio-communicative
orientation is a specific construct that aims to measure interpersonal communication
effectiveness and which has two primary dimensions of behavior: assertiveness and
responsiveness. It gauges how a person initiates, reacts, adapts and ends the
communication in social interactions (Dilbeck and McCroskey, 2009).
Without a doubt, physical attractiveness is linked to favorable innate characteristics.

However, the generalizability of the results calls for a reasonable argument. The
sociobiological perspective argues that physical attractiveness is a more crucial factor in the
mate preferences of males because it suggests fertility. Females on the other hand pay more
attention to a mans wealth or material resources because it can guarantee them and their
offsprings a higher chance of survival. Characteristics that likely enhance the acquisition of
material resources are intelligence, speed and strength, indicating that women prefer men
who are smart and athletic. It may be concluded that attractive females and wealthy males are
15
favored because physical attractiveness and wealth are reliable indicators of the reproductive
potential of each gender. Unfortunately, majority of the research on physical attractiveness
has used female targets and male evaluators (or perceivers), making gender differences in
this relationship difficult to evaluate (Jackson, 1992).
In the present study, the researchers intend to uncover the implications of the
interplay of social stereotypes and perceptions on human behavior. To be able to do this, it is
important to discuss that in a given social interaction between two people there is a perceiver
and a target. The perceiver is the one who passes judgment onto the target and bases his
subsequent actions on this. The target, on the other hand, is the receiver of the perceivers
judgment and behavior and adjusts accordingly to them. Behavioral confirmation, which is a
more specific kind of self-fulfilling prophecy, operates through perceiver-target interaction.
Once the perceiver has formed a belief about the target, he tends to act in ways that elicit
evidence of that belief from the target (Myers, 2010).
The researchers resolved to determine whether physically attractive people makes

more competent, or assertive and responsive to be more specific, communicators than
physically unattractive people and to confirm whether physical attractiveness is an important
factor for female evaluators just as a plethora of studies suggest it is for male evaluators.
Self-fulfilling prophecy is said to be real and believed to exist all around us. It is present in
virtually all fields that require social interaction. Human perception may be distorted and
16
easily flawed but the most important thing is to derive at more positive ways to harness this
social power and that is the ultimate aim of this study.
Theoretical Framework
There are several theories which were used as framework for the study. Sociologist
Robert K. Merton came up with various social theories and in the process coined the concept
of self-fulfilling prophecy. According to him, The self-fulfilling prophecy is, in the
beginning, a false definition of the situation evoking a new behavior which makes the
original false conception come true (Scott, 2005). It stems from William Thomas principle
that states If men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences. Merton
concluded further that the public definition of a prediction is an essential aspect of that
prediction and thus affects the ensuing development.
Bruner and Taguiris implicit personality theory is also used as a framework in the
study. It states that people possess a network of perceived relationships among traits and
other person information, such as roles, behaviors and values. This refers to the tendency of
people to perceive two traits as strongly associated, such as physically attractive people are
sociable or physically unattractive people are boring. On a deeper inspection, implicit
personality theory pertains to constructed social stereotypes such as the physicalattractiveness stereotype, which states that physically attractive people possess more
desirable traits than physically unattractive people (Schneider, 2004).
17
McCroskeys theory on socio-communicative orientation states that interpersonal

communicative effectiveness can be measured by two primary dimensions: assertiveness and
responsiveness. Assertiveness refers to the ability of the communicator to disagree actively,
express positive or negative personal rights and feelings, initiate, maintain and disengage
from conversations, maintain self-respect, satisfy personal needs, pursue personal happiness,
declare opinions with conviction, defend personal rights and stand up for ones self without
attacking others. On the other hand, responsiveness refers to the communicators
willingness and capacity to be sensitive to the communication of others, by recognizing
their needs and desires. According to the theory, effective interpersonal communicators are
flexible and appropriately balance both the needs of oneself and others to meet the demands
of situations (Dilbeck and McCroskey, 2009).
The sociobiological theory posits that males consider physical attractiveness as an

important factor in their mate preferences while females prefer material resources. Traits that
enable a person to acquire material resources are intelligence, speed and strength, implying
that these are also characteristics that females consider in selecting a potential romantic
partner (Jackson, 1992).
18
Research Paradigm
Figure 1
3rd Year Heterosexual BS
Psychology and BS
Tourism students of Trinity
University of Asia
Attractive --
Attractive --
Unattractive --
Unattractive --
Female
Male
Female
Male
Socio-Communicative
Orientation
Assertiveness
Responsiveness
19
Figure 1 shows the paradigm of the study. The participants consisted of 3rd year
heterosexual BS Psychology and BS Tourism students of Trinity University of Asia who
were assigned randomly to the four treatment conditions, namely attractive-female,
attractive-male, unattractive-female and unattractive-male, to determine the effect of
perceived physical attractiveness and gender on their socio-communicative orientation in
terms of assertiveness and responsiveness.
Statement of Problems
This study endeavored to determine the effect of perceived physical attractiveness

and gender on socio-communicative orientation of third year heterosexual BS Psychology
and BS Tourism students of Trinity University of Asia.
Specifically, it aimed to answer the following questions:

1. What is the level of socio-communicative orientation of young adults under perceived
physical attractiveness in terms of:
a. Assertiveness
b. Responsiveness
2. What is the level of socio-communicative orientation of young adults under gender in

terms of:
a.
Assertiveness
20
b. Responsiveness
3. What is the level of socio-communicative orientation of young adults under the

interaction of perceived physical attractiveness and gender in terms of:
a. Assertiveness
b. Responsiveness
4. Is there a significant difference in the socio-communicative orientation of young

adults under perceived physical attractiveness in terms of:
a. Assertiveness
b. Responsiveness
5. Is there a significant difference in the socio-communicative orientation of young

adults under gender in terms of:
a. Assertiveness
b. Responsiveness
6. Does interaction exist between perceived physical attractiveness and gender on the
socio-communicative orientation of young adults in terms of:
a. Assertiveness
b. Responsiveness
21
7. Based on the results of the study, what activities or measures can be proposed to
enhance the weaknesses found?
Objectives
The study aimed to achieve the following:

1. To identify the level of socio-communicative orientation of young adults under
perceived physical attractiveness in terms of:
a. Assertiveness
b. Responsiveness

gender in terms of:
a. Assertiveness
b. Responsiveness

the interaction of perceived physical attractiveness and gender in terms of:
a. Assertiveness
b. Responsiveness
22
4. To determine the significant difference in the socio-communicative orientation of

young adults under perceived physical attractiveness in terms of:
a. Assertiveness
b. Responsiveness
5. To determine the significant difference in the socio-communicative orientation of

young adults under gender in terms of:
a. Assertiveness
b. Responsiveness
6. To determine if interaction exists between perceived physical attractiveness and

gender in the socio-communicative orientation of young adults in terms of:
a. Assertiveness
b. Responsiveness
7. To propose an activity or measure that can enhance the weaknesses based on the
results of the study.
23
Hypotheses
1. There is no significant difference in the socio-communicative orientation of

young adults under perceived physical attractiveness in terms of:
a. Assertiveness
b. Responsiveness
2. There is no significant difference in the socio-communicative orientation of

young adults under gender in terms of:
a. Assertiveness
b. Responsiveness
3. Interaction does not exist between perceived physical attractiveness and gender on
the socio-communicative orientation of young adults in terms of:
a. Assertiveness
b. Responsiveness
Significance of the Study
Students. This study is significant to students as it may enlighten them by knowing

that they are able to influence their social relationships with biased judgment. Hopefully, this
24
makes them more aware of their thoughts and more controlling of the actions they make out
of stereotypical beliefs.
Educators. School administrators, teachers and guidance counselors may understand

the implications of physical-attractiveness stereotype, and other social stereotypes for that
matter, on the social interactions of the students. This will enable them to devise plans and
interventions that can prevent problems resulting from bias, prejudice and discrimination.
Parents. As important role models, parents may grasp the negative effects of the
physical-attractiveness stereotype and recognize the need to help their children grow into
unprejudiced adults. Children and young adults need role models; teachers and parents that
understand the above issues and who are comfortable with their own body and project and
healthy self-concept (Nanko, 2009).
Future Researchers. This study may be used as a reference to other researchers

interested in identifying the role of a persons perception of physical attractiveness in the
level of assertiveness and responsiveness of the person whom judgment is passed on to, with
sensitivity on gender differences. Not only can this study demonstrate the reality of selffulfilling prophecy, it can also prove the suggestion that the quality of social interaction
between two people, or in this case the brief social encounter of a perceiver and target, may
depend on the outward appearance especially if the connection is newly formed. This study
does not intend to present the notion that human beings are faulty or shallow creatures whose
25
social relationships depend on what is revealing on their outer shells rather it implies that
physical attractiveness plays a significant role in a persons decision to act cordially or
indifferently in a social interaction.
Scope and Delimitations of the Study
The scope of the study was focused on investigating the effect of perceived physical
attractiveness and gender on the socio-communicative orientation of heterosexual young
adults. This was done by employing four treatment conditions that enabled the researchers to
identify the main effects of perceived physical attractiveness and gender, as well as their
interaction effect, on socio-communication orientation of young adults in terms of
assertiveness and responsiveness.
The study was limited on the responses made by the sample of 40 target participants
from the population of 3rd year heterosexual BS Psychology and BS Tourism students based
on their phone conversations with 40 perceiver participants. The responses were obtained
through the utilization of the Socio-Communicative Orientation Scale (SCO) which
measured the participants assertiveness and responsiveness.
26
Definition of Terms
The following terms were defined operationally to present the readers a

comprehensible understanding of the study.
Attractive-Female Condition. It refers to the treatment condition where the female target
interacts with a male perceiver who perceives her as physically attractive.
Attractive-Male Condition. It refers to the treatment condition where the male target
interacts with a female perceiver who perceives him as physically attractive.
Debriefing. It occurs when honest information pertaining to the experiment is disclosed to

the participant to reveal any deception that may have been an essential component of the
study.
Gender. It pertains to whether the male participant (target) converses with a female
participant (perceiver) or whether the female participant (target) interacts with a male
participant (perceiver).
Heterosexual. It refers to the participant whose sexual orientation is towards people of the
opposite gender.
27
Perceived Physical Attractiveness. It refers to the treatment in the study which is applied by
providing the perceiver a presumed attractive photograph of the target before the former
engages in a phone conversation with the latter in one male and one female treatment
condition and by presenting the perceiver a presumed unattractive photograph of the target
before the former enters into a phone conversation with the latter in one male and one female
treatment condition.
Perceiver. It refers to the participant in the experiment who is presented with a presumed
attractive or unattractive photograph of the target before engaging in a phone conversation.
Socio-Communicative Orientation. It refers to the scores of the participant on the SocioCommunicative Orientation scale, which measures the following dimensions:
a. Assertiveness. It refers to the targets perception of how independent, forceful,
assertive, dominant, aggressive and competitive he or she is and whether he or she is
able to defend own beliefs, is willing to take a stand, has strong personality and acts
as a leader in the phone conversation with the perceiver.
b. Responsiveness. It refers to the targets perception of how helpful, responsive,
sympathetic, compassionate, sensitive, sincere, gentle, warm, tender and friendly he
or she is in the phone conversation with the perceiver.
Target. It refers to the heterosexual male or female participant in the experiment who is
being perceived as physically attractive or physically unattractive by the perceiver. He or she
28
is the main participant being studied and whose responses on the Socio-Communicative
Orientation scale are analyzed to answer the research problems.
Unattractive-Female Condition. It refers to the treatment condition where the female target
interacts with a male perceiver who perceives her as physically unattractive.
Unattractive-Male Condition. It refers to the treatment condition where the male target
interacts with a female perceiver who perceives him as physically unattractive.
29
CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES
This chapter presents multifarious foreign and local literature and studies
considerably relevant to the present study. The references cited are used by the researchers to
acquire a better grasp on the concept of self-fulfilling prophecy, especially its role in social
interactions of heterosexual young adults, with particular interest on their perceived physical
attractiveness, gender and socio-communicative orientation.
Related Literature
Foreign
Self-fulfilling prophecy, as defined by the Penguin Dictionary of Psychology, is a
term used to refer to the fact that frequently things turn out just as one expected (or
prophesied) that they would not necessarily because of ones prescience but because one
behaved in a manner that optimized these very outcomes. A teacher who predicts that a
student will ultimately fail tends to treat the student in ways that increase the likelihood of
failure, thus fulfilling the original prophecy (Reber, Allen and Reber, 2009). The term is
commonly associated with two sociologists, William Thomas and Robert Merton. The
former was the proponent of the Thomas theorem which states that if men define these
situations as real, they are real in their consequences. Although it was Merton who
popularized the concept, the idea was not new. Shakespeare, Pirandello, Freud and a lot of
famous personalities in the past made a reference to the premise of self-fulfilling prophecy.
30
Today, this phenomenon may occur within an individual, group or organizational level.
Prejudices toward minority groups worldwide can also be demonstrated through the use of
the concept. Numerous fields, such as sociology, psychology, education, child development,
military, business, industry and health practices, have encountered the refinement,
modification, extension, testing and incorporation of self-fulfilling prophecy. Varying themes
for the concept are self-defeating prophecy, self-destroying prophecy, self-frustrating
prediction and self-confirming prediction. In the educational setting, it is referred to as the
Pygmalion effect. In the industrial field, it is the Galatea effect or Golem effect. In
experimental situations, it is referred to as expectancy effect and demand characteristics. In
medical areas, it is represented as the placebo effect. It is important to note however that
many prophecies are neither self-fulfilling nor inevitable and that all prophecies are
subject to change, failure or defeat. Merton, for instance, emphasized that the initial
conceptualization of the situation needs to be ignored before the prophecy can be
demolished. Research therefore should concentrate on the process, power and limitations of
the self-fulfilling prophecy phenomenon (Craighead and Nemeroff, 2004).
Social psychology teaches us that our beliefs and judgments about other people
influence the way we feel and act, and in the process may aid in making them real. The
concept of self-fulfilling prophecy was termed in 1948 by sociologist Robert Merton and
from then on several related ideas such as experimenter bias and behavioral confirmation
sprouted. The latter is a specific kind of self-fulfilling prophecy which describes the behavior
of people whose social expectations cause them to behave in ways that may prompt others to
31
confirm these expectations. For example, if you interact with a person you perceived to be
aloof, you may find yourself isolating him in group activities and as a result, that person may
tend to confirm your belief by behaving less sociably towards you (Myers, 2010).
Ambrose Bierce once defined prejudice as a vagrant opinion without visible means
of support. The thin line separating prejudice from stereotype lies on the severity of their
implications. Prejudice is usually more extreme, since it is a display of attitude against a
group of people on the basis of preconceived negative judgments. Stereotypes are merely
generalized beliefs or evaluations, usually negative in nature, that exemplify prejudice.
Simply put, one has to possess a stereotype of a group of people before he can harbor
prejudice against them. Teacher may form stereotypes about their students from different
gender, ethnicity and social economic backgrounds which may affect the achievement of the
students. A prejudiced teacher may act cordially towards their students who are more
attractive and whose actions are more favorable while the teacher may act coldly towards
students who display the opposite traits. A discriminating teacher, on the other hand, may
perform biased behaviors such as giving higher grades to favorite students or embarrassing
unfavored students by making a fuss over issues that are naturally treated with small concern
when dealt with favored students (Myers, 2010).
A self-fulfilling prophecy dictates that the possession of negative beliefs has the
ability to elicit corresponding negative behaviors. Apparently, these beliefs come true
because the perceiver, or the person who hold such beliefs, tends to act subconsciously and
32
unconsciously in ways that materialize the beliefs into actual events. According to modern
research from American Psychological Society, group expectations are the strongest
predictor of the future. A self-fulfilling prophecy explains how negative thoughts create
reality. It is also commonly referred to as the synergistic accumulative effect, which implies
that two or more expectations from people are more potent than one. Take for example, if a
certain community believes that fast food is healthy, such powerful belief may have serious
implications on the health of not just one individual, but of the society. The same notion
holds true when a group of people perceive another group as inferior and worthless. In that
case, stereotypes commonly occur. The most interesting question so far is this: does selffulfilling prophecy work in the same way for positive beliefs such as it does for negative
ones? The controversial book The Secret profits from the same premise and although the
material is not empirically validated, there is no denying that traditional psychological selffulfilling prophecies are the subject of countless scientific researches that proved their
existence. The emphasis is just on the effect of negative thoughts and behaviors on future life
adversaries of people, and in a sense, knowledge obtained from negative implications
produce positive lessons (Pawlik-Kienlen, 2007).
On the other hand, physical appearance is considered as a major component in the

personality development of an individual. People construct their own beliefs according to
what is immediately available to the naked eye, the physical appearance. Once opinions are
formed about other people, the perceiver tends to respond to the target, or the person whom
the opinions are formed upon, accordingly. The latter, in turn, fulfills the perceivers
33
expectations in accordance to the behavioral confirmation phenomenon, which is basically a

type of self-fulfilling prophecy.
It was found that body shape and movement were significant indicators of a persons
physical attractiveness. More specifically, the waist-to-hip ratio was associated with
perceived attractiveness. An elaborate study involving 700 respondents showed that
attractiveness rating for perceived women increased by about 50 percent when they walked
with hip sway, and attractiveness ratings for perceived men more than doubled when they
walked with a swagger in their shoulders. Findings of other various researches confirm the
fact that female attractiveness is linked to a smaller waist-to-hip ratio. It suggested that
women with slimmer figures are perceived as more physically attractive. However, another
study asserted that judgments of physical attractiveness vary by culture. Although the
previous notion is true for Western society, it was found that non-Western culture preferred
females with a larger waist-to-hip ratio or the so-called tubular figure (ScienceDaily,
2007).
Alas, most people live in an industrialized world where mass media dictates the
standards for beauty. Humans are fed with the idea that to look beautiful, one must resort to
risky cosmetic surgeries and misleading products. Society itself also tells us the several
implications of being physically attractive. Stereotypical beliefs emerged such as physically
attractive people are more rewarded with material things, including higher salaries.
Attractive students are more favored by their teachers and are seen as more competent.
34
Attractive criminals receive more lenient sentences and verdicts. Attractive individuals are
more emotionally adjusted and have better mental health. Attractive adults have more
potential dates and marry attractive partners. Attractive people are more favorable, competent
and easily accepted into jobs. The halo effect, or the What is beautiful is good stereotype, is
mostly responsible for this. The concept, which was coined by Dion, Berscheid and Walster
in 1972, states that physical attractiveness is linked to a great number of positive personality
qualities, such as popularity, competence, credibility and a whole lot more. The sad reality is
that the same women who claimed beauty is health, intelligence, personality and fitness
were the same women who succumbed to excessive use of cosmetics, fashionable clothing,
hairstyling and the likes, signifying that they were more obsessed with physical attractiveness
as the indicator of beauty. This information tells us that social pressures for the standards of
attractiveness may cause serious physical and psychological implications for the younger
generations (Nanko, 2009).
Evidently, social stereotypes are developed and construed through social interactions.
Social interactions are defined as acts, actions, or practices of two or more people mutually
oriented towards each others selves, that is, any behavior that tries to affect or take account
of each others subjective experiences or intentions. Simply put, two people involved in a
social interaction should both be aware of each others presence. Take note however that
presence does not necessarily have to be physical, as long as there is mutual subjective
orientation between the parties involved. Two people communicating through letters,
telephone or online chat are engaged in social interactions (Rummel, 1976).
35
Dr. James McCroskey, a distinguished communications researcher, studied social

interaction for decades by observing the ways humans communicate. He devised numerous
reliable and valid measures of communication which are remarkably valuable to researchers
who study social behavior. One of particular interest is the Socio-Communicative Orientation
scale which measures the assertiveness and responsiveness of a person while interacting with
others. The assertiveness component represents the characteristics of independence,
dominance and forcefulness and refers to an individuals ability to stand up for ones self
and ones ideas. The responsiveness component on the other hand represents the
characteristics of being warm, helpful, friendly, and other-oriented and refers to the
individuals sensitivity to the communication and feelings of others (Cole and McCroskey,
2000). Additionally, the Socio-Communicative Orientation refers to how an individual
initiates, reacts, adapts, and ends the communication with others, through Assertiveness and
Responsiveness. A person with high assertiveness tends to be more active and expressive in
social interactions. On the other hand, a person with high responsiveness tends to possess
strong listening skills in social interactions and is more emphatic, friendly, helpful,
sympathetic, warm and understanding. Although both components oppose each other, they
are not bipolar. (Dilbeck and McCroskey, 2009).
Local
Physical attractiveness can be summed up as ones perception of the physical traits
of an individual human person as aesthetically pleasing or beautiful. Three factors, namely
universal perceptions, socio-cultural aspects and individual subjective preferences, may
36
dictate whether something is physically attractive. With regard to gender differences, men are
more likely to place a greater regard on the physical appearance of a potential partner than
women. Physical attractiveness can affect the judgment of people in terms of employment
and social opportunities, friendship, sexual behavior and marriage. It implies that physically
attractive people are more able to secure better jobs and promotions, receive more favorable
treatment from authorities and the legal system, possess more choices in romantic partners,
have more power in relationships and have a greater chance to marry into richer families.
Moreover, people may be unaware of the fact that they tend to attribute positive
characteristics such as honesty and intelligence to others they perceived to be physically
attractive. In Asian countries such as the Philippines, a fairer complexion is still preferred as
it is commonly associated with beauty and youth. This explains the popularity of skin
whitening products in the country (Villavicencio, 2010).
Even dentists believe that a persons confidence and career success are influenced by
his perceived physical attractiveness. Various psychological studies posit that upon first
social contact with another person, the mouth is one of the major focus points that determine
the initial impression. Dr. Marilou Pacubas is a highly respected cosmetic dentist and known
for her contributions to the field of aesthetic dentistry, such as tooth whitening, cosmetic
veneers, halitosis treatment and introduction of the field itself in general practice. She argued
that we live in a world which is becoming increasingly competitive and enamored with
physical beauty and appearance however superficial or inconsequential they are in defining
the real person within. Fortunately, we are blessed with the technology and expertise to
37
modify our physical appearance towards an end of achieving a more confident and successful
outlook in life. However, she remarked that Filipinos have the tendency to get overwhelmed
by technology that they do not anymore pay attention to the basics. It does not matter how
attractive a persons teeth are if his oral health is not good. In this case, hygiene comes first
before beauty (Bautista, 2004).
Just as Darwins beliefs about natural selection where species with the most
favourable characteristics and traits survive, the career world operates by such notion.
Survival of the fittest means ensuring that youre one of the most qualified and experienced
potential employees in the field. In an ideal setting, a person should be hired or promoted
based on his competence, attitude, education and skills. Alas, evolution is no longer confined
to the jungles. In todays evolving workplace, physically attractive people possess a greater
chance to get hired, acquire high-level positions and receive fat pay checks than less
attractive people bearing equal qualifications. Studies conducted in countries with large
employment opportunities, such as Canada, United States and China, suggest that physically
attractive workers earn salary 7.5 to 15 per cent greater than their average looking colleagues.
A study published in the reputable Journal of Applied Psychology found that attractive
people attain almost everything since birth. These include medical attention, favouritism
from teachers and recognition from peers at school, to name a few (Majul, 2009).
38
Related Studies
Foreign
Mark Snyder is one of the most prominent social psychologists usually associated
with the concept of self-fulfilling prophecy. In one of his academic papers, he attempted to
explain the role of behavioral confirmation in the construction of social perceptions among
perceivers, targets and observers. He believed that perceivers, or people who form
perceptions about others around them, hold expectations about targets, or people whom such
perceptions are formed upon, that have the ability to draw out behaviors from the targets
which may prove to be consistent with their expectations even if the latter are not congruent
with the targets true disposition. One of the most classic and popular examples depicting the
self-fulfilling prophecy phenomenon was also described in the paper. A soldier who serves in
the American army and is currently in Iraq may be prejudiced in his beliefs about Iraqi
people as being aggressive and incapacitated to make the same moral decisions as
Americans. As such, the American soldier may behave towards the Iraqis offensively by
means of making threats, hurling insults or putting in degrading positions. The Iraqis in
return may feel disrespected and discriminated, which provokes them to act in aggressive
ways towards Americans and eventually confirms the previous expectations of the soldier in
the example. The process of this phenomenon begins with the development of a perceivers
subjective belief and a series of behaviors which lead to the targets induced behaviors
representative of the perceivers initial subjective belief, thereby making it objective.
Quoting Snyders own words, behavioral confirmation occurs when the targets behavior
reflects the expectations induced in the perceiver while perceptual confirmation takes place
39
when the perceivers evaluation of the target is similarly affected, such that the perceiver
regards the events of the interaction as confirmation of the initial expectations. Both kinds
of confirmation are both proved if the ratings of the perceiver and observer are parallel to the
expectations of the perceiver. The processes of behavioral confirmation can be observed and
studied in laboratory and naturalistic settings. Evidence suggests that the more certain people
are in their expectations; the more likely they are to produce behavioral confirmation in
others. Another point discussed in the study is that observers hold a key to understanding
social interactions between perceivers and targets. Simply put, the perceptions of observers
may also be influenced by expectations of perceivers. One of the greatest implications of
behavioral confirmation processes is that they enable people to utilize various cognitive tools
which play part in making the minds of people in their social interactions, whether as
perceivers, targets or observers. The valuable study further concluded that the behavioral
confirmation scenario serves as a potent reminder that the reality of how people behave is not
only a reflection of who they are, but also of who others believe them to be. Studies about
behavioral confirmation in social interactions are relevant because they demonstrate the
powerful consequences of peoples perceptions in constructing their own reality (Snyder and
Klein, 2005).
Various demonstrations were made to prove the cognitive and behavioral mechanisms
of self-fulfilling prophecy. A web replication of Snyder, Decker and Berscheds classic
experiment on the self-fulfilling nature of social stereotypes was conducted to present a
contemporary version of the phenomenon. The experiment consisted of using a womans
40
attractive photo and personal advertisement on an online dating website that was presented
on a computer screen to 44 male business and management undergraduate students at
University of Bretagne-Sud in France. The participants were aged between 19 to 21 years
old. The woman was advertised as a sociology student, tennis player and interested to meet
a young man of her age who was kind, attractive and with a great sense of humor. There
were two conditions assigned to the participants namely, the attractive condition and
unattractive condition wherein the main difference lays on the attractiveness of the woman in
the accompanying photograph of the advertisement. In both conditions, the participant was
instructed to read the advertisement on the computer screen and initiate an interaction with
the woman by composing an e-mail message. First, the message was evaluated based on the
length and form of communication which were distinguished by the total number of words
and number of spelling and grammatical errors. Second, it was judged based on the
effectiveness of communication by having two female observers decide the probability of
interaction with the sender of the e-mail message. Results showed that the number of words
in the attractive condition was more immense than the number of words in the unattractive
conditions. This suggests that male perceivers had a greater desire to provide more
information to the attractive female target rather than to the unattractive female target. The
frequency of spelling and grammatical errors was also moderately lower in the attractive
condition than in the unattractive condition. Lastly, the two female observers revealed that
they are more likely to return correspondence to the male perceiver in the attractive condition
than to the male perceiver in the unattractive condition. To sum it all up, the study concluded
that an accompanied attractive photo in a womans personal advertisement on an online
41
dating site would receive greater involvement from men and increase the probability of
mutual correspondence (Guguen, Lourel, Charron, Fischer-Lokou and Lamy, 2009).
Another demonstration of the self-fulfilling prophecy took place in an interactive

classroom activity where the concept was first presented followed by gathering of volunteers
for the actual exercise. The class was an introductory psychology course consisting of 81
students of which five volunteered to take part in the activity and twenty agreed to be in the
control group. The five volunteers proceeded to the front of the class where the instructor
placed a labelled baseball hat on each of their heads. The students were not aware of the
labels written on the hats, such as good leader, very attractive, funny, annoying, and
lazy. They were instructed to treat each other according to the information included in their
hats during the group tasks that ensued. The tasks were to give a name for a new university
school mascot, to come up with three best reasons for being a psychology student, to
distinguish the measurement of the distance between two major constructions inside their
campus, and to fall in line according to their presumed level of likeability based on their
experience from the previous interactions. After the tasks were completed, they were also
instructed to take a guess whether the labels on their hats were positive or negative, what
exactly the information was and how they were able to come up with such conclusions. The
little interactive experiment showed consistent results with the emergence of self-fulfilling
prophecy. When the students were asked to choose a new mascot for their university, the
student with the good leader hat proposed himself to be the new mascot. The good leader
student was also the one who reported the three best reasons for being a psychology major. It
42
was noted that as the third task began, the funny student threw jokes at the lazy student.
In the final task, the five students lined up with the attractive student on the front, followed
by the good leader, the funny student, and the lazy student, which makes the
annoying student at the last of the queue. The 20 students in the control group were asked
to rate the activity. Results showed that the tasks were effective in eliciting self-fulfilling
prophecy, the participants behaved accordingly to their labels in general, with the good
leader being the most effective role and the attractive student being the least effective one.
The interactive activity proved to be successful in its objectives as the students found it
interesting, educational and enjoyable. It has also influenced them to be critical about the
way they think in social interactions (Hebl and King, 2004).
A study attempted to distinguish the effect of attractiveness on the popularity of

college students by observing their social interaction. A brief experiment ensued to determine
the participants of the study. It was composed of 50 female sorority members in the junior
and senior level who had their two-inch by two-inch colored photographs placed on white,
blank index cards. The attractiveness of each female sorority member was determined by
handing out the cards to 20 men and 20 women from another university. They were
instructed afterwards to rate the attractiveness of each woman in the photograph by putting
the index cards inside the three designated boxes labelled as low attractiveness, average
attractiveness, and high attractiveness, wherein each category was tantamount to a
numerical value of 2, 1, and 0 respectively. The ten female sorority members who garnered
the highest combined scores were assigned to the High Attractiveness group while the ten
43
female sorority members with the lowest combined scores were placed in the Lower
Attractiveness group, thus 20 female sorority members were chosen as participants for the
study. In the actual focal observation, each participant was observed for two time intervals
with duration of ten minutes. The number of times the female sorority member initiated
contact with another person and the number of times that same female was approached by
another individual were recorded during the observation periods. The gender of the person
whom the subject interacted and the person who interacted with the subject was also noted.
Several social interaction methods were found in the observation, such as verbal
communication, hugging, kissing, touching, nodding and waving. Based on the results of the
study, it was suggested that female sorority members belonging to the high attractiveness
group showed greater popularity based on the number of social interactions they had. Women
of such group were found to have a higher total number of approaches than women in the
lower attractiveness group. Between the two sexes, males displayed a stronger influence on
identifying the more popular female participant (Prestia, Silverston, Wood and Zigarmi,
2002).
A study focused on the effects of prejudice on social interactions of female

undergraduate psychology students. Various literature on the topic discussed that prejudiced
people may adopt different interaction techniques compared to when they are not threatened
by prejudice. There were 134 women involved in the social experiment who were asked to
answer a test that would predict the level of success in their future careers. The participants
were assigned in two conditions of the first independent variable, namely the compensation
44
possible condition and compensation not possible condition. Women in the former condition
were advised that among the eight male judges commissioned to grade their exams, either all,
half or none of them has the tendency to evaluate women harder than men. This also
suggested that there were three levels of the second independent variable employed in the
treatment condition: certain prejudice, possible prejudice and no prejudice. For the second
treatment condition of the first independent variable, the instructions were similar except that
manipulation was administered after the participants finished the test. As soon as the test
booklets were collected, the participants were manipulated into thinking that their tests would
be delivered to another room where the eight male judges would begin to evaluate them.
During the ten-minute time period, the participants were asked to complete a filler task which
served as valuable information for the next version of the Future Career Success Test. A little
while later, the test booklets were returned to the participants and every one of them received
a D rating. The participants were instructed again to answer a self-report scale that
measured causal attributions for the very low grade, expectations about the level of future
success, expectations about future discrimination, performance and perceived social control
as well as measures of performance and social self-esteem. Results of the complex
experiment suggested that women in the compensation possible condition were evaluated by
the judges as less family focused, less feminine, and less nice than women in the
compensation not possible condition. The women who have been informed in advanced
regarding the prejudiced judges may have attempted to avoid typical feminine stereotypes to
gain a more favorable evaluation. The study concluded that women may compensate for
prejudice by distancing themselves from traditional stereotypes but may incur some costs in
45
doing this. They believe that discrimination may act as a barrier personally and in general.
The self-presentation of women to make a good impression on others was highly
demonstrated in the study. If women preconceived that a feminine attitude will bring
favorable rewards and results, then behavioral confirmation of conventionally feminine
behaviors tend to appear. However, if the same feminine behaviors are undesirable,
behavioral confirmation ceases to happen (Kaiser and Miller, 2001).
History also tells us a great deal of information regarding the implications of physical
attractiveness in social interactions. A unique study, however, attempted to unearth how
physical attractiveness affects the everyday social participation of people. It suggested that in
males, a positive relationship existed between physical attractiveness of the opposite sex and
quantity of social interaction but a negative relationship was found between appearance of
the same sex and quantity of social participation. Another finding was that attractiveness
correlated positively with the affective quality of social experience with respect to both
genders. Physically attractive men were found to be more assertive and less fearful of
rejection by the opposite sex while physically attractive women were found to be less
assertive and less trusting of the opposite sex. For both men and women, it was implied that
the higher the level of assertiveness is, the greater the quantity and quality of social
participation. Men who were less assertive or more fearful of rejection caused them to
interact less with the opposite sex and more with the same sex, resulting in a lower quality of
overall social interaction. Finally, it was found that social competence played a part on the
influence of beauty or physical appearance on the social interaction patterns of males. It was
46
noteworthy that the same finding was the opposite for the females as the social participation
of the latter were not entirely dependent on physical attractiveness alone, but of other
independent influences (Reis, Wheeler, Spiegel and Kernis, 1982).
A persons weight, which may be considered as one component of his or her physical
attractiveness, may serve as an important feature of his or her sexuality and a significant
agent of interpersonal sexual experiences. Unfortunately, there is a scarce amount of
literature and studies that explores peoples beliefs on the subject of weight and sexuality.
This does not mean though that such information is not relevant. In an experiment, students
were oriented with the gender of a person and whether he or she was obese or of normal
weight. They were then asked to evaluate the person using various dimensions associated
with sexuality. Results showed that an obese males sexual experiences would be highly
comparable to those of a normal-weight male. However, it was a different story for an obese
female. The latter was perceived as less sexually attractive, less skilled, less warm,
less responsive, and less likely to experience desire and various sexual behaviors as
compared to a normal-weight female and even to an obese male (Regan, 1996).
Indeed, the self-fulfilling prophecy phenomenon remains to be a topic of great

interest to researchers around the globe. A study was conducted in Japan to determine the
effect of popular psychological tests along with the much studied phenomenon on humans
social behavior. Sixty-four female students participated in the study by taking either a
popular psychological test or standardized academic test and engaging in a social interaction
47
with a stranger. Prior to the interaction, the subjects were provided with manipulated
feedback suggesting that they have an extraverted or introverted personality, regardless of the
type of test they have taken. The findings of the study showed that participants who were
given the extraverted personality feedback were more sociable in their interaction with a
stranger than those who were given the introverted personality feedback. Note that the
manipulated feedback was provided randomly to each participant, which suggests that truly
extraverted people who received an introverted feedback may have exhibited an introverted
personality in the experiment and vice-versa. Once again, peoples perceptions helped them
shaped their reality in social interactions (Sakamoto, Miura, Sakamoto and Mori, 2002).
Relevant psychological variables namely race, physical attractiveness and gender

were studied among undergraduate education students to determine their influence on the
perceptions of teachers regarding the students competence. Apparently, social interactions
exist within student-teacher relationships and it comes by no surprise that physical
attractiveness operates as one major factor. Fifty-one teachers participated in the study by
evaluating photographs of 21 undergraduate education students of diverse background. They
were asked to evaluate the latter in terms of social and academic competence. Findings
suggested that unattractive males of Black origin scored the lowest competence. The study
emphasized the significance of such information on the development of proper training for
teachers (Parks and Kennedy, 2007).
48
Physical attractiveness and gender were the two variables involved in a study that
attempted to distinguish their influence on achievement-related variables such as academic
success. Pictures of attractive and unattractive males and females were evaluated by 144
undergraduate students on various dimensions related to achievement. Positive impressions
of achievement-related traits were gathered from attractive males while negative impressions
were obtained from females. The findings implied that a gender difference existed in the
effect of physical attractiveness on perception of achievement-related variables (Chia, Allred,
Grossnickle and Lee, 1998).
Physical attractiveness remains a significant variable in investigating social behavior.

By observing the social interactions of 35 male and 36 female college students, noteworthy
results were obtained. For one, it was found that physical attractiveness was positively
correlated to the quantity of social interaction with the opposite gender and negatively
correlated with the same gender. This means that the more physically attractive a partner is,
the greater the time is spent on social interaction with the opposite sex while the lesser the
time is spent with the same sex (Reis, Nezlek and Wheeler, 1980).
Another research aimed to uncover the processes of behavioral confirmation, only

this time it questioned its generality to existing gender role stereotypes and in the process
found contradicting results. More importantly, it attempted to determine whether the social
status of a person caused self-verification. The latter term was used to refer to the degree to
which people may resist behaving in ways which are inconsistent with their self-concepts.
49
Seventy-two college students with a mean age of 26 years participated in the replicated
experiment, wherein 36 males were solely perceivers, 18 males and 18 females acted out as
targets. In the beginning of the experiment, the participants were given a division of labor
task, which instructed two participants to collaborate on several tasks. They were then
assigned to one of the four conditions, wherein each participant perceived his partner as (1) a
man when it was in fact a man, (2) a man when it was in fact a woman, (3) a woman when it
was in fact a man and (4) a woman when it was in fact a woman. When it was time to
perform the tasks, both the perceiver and the target were assigned in adjacent rooms to
prevent them from seeing each other personally. Afterwards, they completed task-pair sheets
by selecting which tasks they are willing to perform. The results of the experiment found that
male targets who were wrongly perceived as female still selected masculine tasks as well as
male targets who were correctly perceived as male. The same finding also held true for the
females. Female targets who were wrongly perceived as male still selected feminine tasks as
well female targets who were correctly perceived as female. This interesting information
implied that social status played a very important role in the participants decision of not
producing behavioral confirmation while selecting the tasks they prefer to perform. The
results of the study disconfirmed the findings of the original study by Skrypnek and Snyder
in 1982 and the attempt for its explanation was clearly the next step if it wants to advance
(McDonald and Toussaint, 2003).
Even in the industrial field, the what-is-beautiful-is-good adage is widely adapted

through the use of physically attractive endorsers for product advertisements. A series of
50
experiment operated based on five hypotheses: that the picture of a physically attractive
model exerts a positive effect on its endorsed product, that the picture of a physically
attractive model contributes to perception formation of the models personality, that the
respondents gender has an effect on the perception formation of the models personality, that
these perceptions influence the respondents attitude towards the endorsed product and that
respondents gender controls the influence of personality judgment on his or her feelings
towards the endorsed product. The respondents, who consisted of 90 male and 88 female
undergraduate students, were provided with twenty pictures of models and they were asked
to evaluate the model based on the clothing, physical attractiveness and personality.
Afterwards, they completed a couple of questionnaires that measured their level of body
dissatisfaction. Results confirmed all five hypotheses which implied that physical
attractiveness of an advertisement endorser remains an important measure of the
effectiveness of the advertisement. It is no surprise that the trend of companies employing
attractive models for their product is successful. Consumers seem more likely to purchase a
product advertised by attractive models (Brumbaugh, 1993). Perhaps a more interesting
question to solve is whether consumers are more likely to buy products on the sole basis of
the models physical attractiveness than their actual need for these products.
Another study examined the effect of models physical attractiveness on advertising

success. It was under the assumption that the psychological variable was significantly linked
to womens global self-esteem which suggested that highly attractive women had stronger
self-esteem. Contradicting evidence was found regarding the influence of the models
51
appearance on advertisement effectiveness. Some study showed that employing attractive

models increase product sales as a result of effective advertisement. Another study implied
that attractive endorsers could decrease the effectiveness of advertisement because they
diminished the self-esteem of consumers when they measured themselves to the attractive
models. The experiment involved 120 female and 120 male college students in Taiwan. The
findings suggested that for both genders, normally attractive models produce more effective
advertisements. It may be derived from the study that females and males of non-Western
culture may experience a deflated self-image when they compare themselves to highly
attractive models (Tsai and Chang, 2007).
Dions popular judgmental bias finding (what is beautiful is good) is also commonly
known as the halo effect. This concept was studied among old adults to determine whether
people in this late developmental stage are also capable of attributing more positive traits
such as responsible and sociable to physically beautiful people. Fifty-two elderly women
aged 65 and above were presented with photographs of people with varying levels of
physical attractiveness. They were instructed to match the photographs with descriptive
paragraphs that are either positive or negative. The results of the experiment suggested that
the elderly are just as likely as individuals in other developmental stages to assign positive
characteristics to physically attractive people. The study noted that the halo effect, or to
evaluate a person based on his physical attractiveness, appeared shallow and oppressive.
Through the study, it seemed that older adults, who are commonly thought to possess greater
52
wisdom, are not exempted from judgmental bias after all. Age evidently does not bring
wisdom, at least in this regard (Larose and Standing, 1998).
An interesting experiment attempted to demonstrate the psychology of physical

attractiveness. Sixty-four male undergraduate students with a mean age of 26 took part in the
cleverly designed double-blind experiment. An experimental session comprised of two dyads
or four students. The participants were told that they would be participating in either a
Bargaining Game task or Social Perception task, which was unknowingly determined by
the instructional booklets. In the Photo condition, the booklet contained photographs of
moderately physically attractive and highly physically attractive people. In the Written
condition, the booklets contained a profile of a person and instructed the participants to
visualize the person according to the information. Afterwards, participants in both conditions
were asked to evaluate the imaginary person on a 7-point bipolar scale based on several
dimensions: liking, popularity, grade point average and career success. Participants in the
Bargaining Game task were instructed to work with their partners of choice to bargain with
another couple whom they cannot see but will be able to communicate with through
intercom. Success in the game was measured by the competence of their partners and both
participants bargaining skills with the other couple. Meanwhile, participants in the Social
Perception task were told that they and their partners of choice will engage on a coffee date
and have a social interaction. Success of the date relied on the participants communication
skills and responsiveness of their partners. After the participants performed their assigned
tasks, they completed a series of tests that measured their self-rating of physical
53
attractiveness. The results of the experiment showed that in the tasks, moderately physically
attractive people were preferred as partners in the Written condition while highly physically
attractive people were preferred in the Photo condition. Highly physically attractive people
were perceived by the participants in the Photo condition as more desirable, more popular
and more physically attractive than moderately physically attractive people but the latter was
perceived as having a higher grade point average. Highly physically attractive people were
again evaluated by the participants in the Written condition as more desirable, more popular
and more physically attractive than moderately physically attractive people. As predicted, the
latter were perceived as more academically competent. The information implied that
regardless of the condition, the highly physically attractive person was considered as more
social desirable than the moderately physically attractive person. However, it was the
moderately physically attractive person who was perceived as the brighter student. While
physical attractiveness may be associated to a lengthy list of positive qualities, academic
competence seems to be not one of them (Nanko, 2009).
Measures of extroversion, cheerfulness and attractiveness in initial social encounters

were determined in the first part of a series of experiments. Such variables were considered
as significant predictors of first impressions. For instance, a study suggested that the
attractiveness of a person positively correlates with another persons first impressions. In
fact, it was found that men considered physical attractiveness as the best predictor for higher
quality interactions with women while women identified extroversion as the most salient
factor for men. The second experiment operated under the idea that physical attraction can
54
be measured through galvanic skin response, blood pressure and heart rate, wherein increased
levels of the three indicate physical arousal. Results in the first experiment showed that there
was no significant relationship between the measures of attractiveness and measures of
cheerfulness and extroversion. Meanwhile, in the second experiment, the galvanic skin
response activity of both genders correlated throughout their social encounter. Both
experiments suggested that the initial social encounter is a complex process in which the
participants integrated several different sources of information while forming a first
impression. Although the findings implied that extroverted and cheerful people were not
perceived as attractive, it was not confirmed whether the reverse was true (Silver and
Parente, 2004).
Local
A study investigated the first impressions of female college students on perceived
physical attractiveness of males based on photographs. The study included eighty (80)
Miriam College students aged 16 to 21 years old who were selected through randomization.
The first part of the study attempted to measure the perceived physical attractiveness of
males in the photographs to determine who are considered attractive and who are not. The
second part purported to identify the personality traits of males based on the formed initial
impressions of the female students. Results showed that positive impressions were formed
from physically attractive males while negative impressions were formed from physically
unattractive males (Costales, Manansala, Palma and Tandug, 2003).
55
Another study determined the relationship of perceived physical attractiveness and

assertiveness of young female adults. The objectives of the study were first, to determine
how attractive and assertive the females perceived themselves and second, to distinguish
whether the females perceive themselves as more attractive than assertive. The respondents
comprised ninety (90) females aged 20 to 25 years chosen from selected areas of Metro
Manila. The researchers utilize a rating scale to measure their perceived attractiveness and
assertiveness. The findings suggested that females perceived themselves as attractive to
moderately attractive and believed that they were assertive 40 to 60 per cent of the time. The
study did not reach to a clear conclusion as to whether females perceived themselves as more
attractive than assertive since the scores fell under average levels (Gaa, Merida and Sapang,
1998).
A large study attempted to examine the preferences of Filipinos in terms of romantic

relationships, with greater emphasis on the physical appearance of their potential partners.
The data was gathered online from 1,509 Filipino respondents all over the globe. The
demographic data showed that 62.3% of the respondents were female. With regard to sexual
orientation, 91% were heterosexuals. 47% of them belong to the early adulthood stage or
those aged 21 to 30 years old and 77% were single. Results showed that 49.3% of men were
attracted to fellow Filipinos of the opposite sex as well as 44% of women. 27.6% of men
were attracted to chinitas or those of Chinese, Japanese and Korean descent, while 20.3%
of women were also attracted to chinitos. The majority of men preferred the traditional long
straight black hair on women while majority of women preferred a short clean cut on men.
56
From the female perspective, 29.7% were in favor of the simple look, 26.7% would rather go
for the smart or intelligent look and 13.9% preferred the professional or businessman look.
On the other hand, a whopping 47.9% of men were attracted to women with a simple look
while only 9.5% opted for the sexually daring look. Interestingly, 61.3% of Filipino men and
women believed in love at first sight and 56.4% of them admitted they have experienced it.
In general, Filipino men and women were more attracted to the face of a potential romantic
partner than the body. For both sexes, the eyes were the most attractive facial feature. For
men, the next most attractive facial features were the shape of face and lips. For women, the
next top features were the teeth and nose. 23.8% of men claimed that the chest is the most
important body feature when looking at the opposite sex. 15.1% answered for legs, 11.1% for
waist and 9.9% for butt. 21.4% of women also preferred the chest as the most important body
feature when looking at the opposite sex. 19% opted for abdomen, 15.1% for hands and
10.5% for shoulders. 50.7% of men and 36.6% of women confessed that they have never
been attracted to someone they considered as somewhat ugly. This suggests that women are
more likely than men to get attracted to someone they consider as somewhat ugly. Other data
regarding dating preferences showed that 40.6% of men have continuously dated someone of
the opposite sex solely because she was physically attractive even if they did not share the
same interests, while only 26.8% of women did the same. This implies that men are more
inclined than women to give greater priority to the physical attractiveness of his romantic
partner rather than their shared interests (Philippine Cut Flower Corporation, 2011).
57
An exploratory research aimed to uncover the formation of interpersonal attraction

and intimate relationships between the two sexes over the World Wide Web, particularly on
the Internet Relay Chat (IRC). Survey method and in-depth interview were utilized to reveal
information regarding the impact of computer-mediated communication on the progression
of intimate relationships. Results showed that attraction cues were relevant online as well as
in-person, although such cues vary in terms of salience and quality. Since the lack of physical
cues in online communication made a person feel ambivalent in dealing with others, the
perception of ones attractiveness was based on desired personality traits such as nurturing
and caring for male perceivers, and intelligent and confident for female perceivers. The study
also suggested that absence of the physical aspect of relationship impedes the complete
development of online relationships. Online couples felt the need to actually meet in the
flesh, turning their online relationship to in-person. In general, perceived physical
attractiveness is the strongest predictor of interpersonal attraction in in-person interaction,
although it was found that it mattered less between people who met online prior to in-person
meeting. Online romantic partners who met personally became more interested in
nonphysical characteristics, which is why physical attractiveness did not appear to play an
important part in the continuation or termination of the relationship. It can also be attributed
to the fact that online relationships require both partners to know each other from the inside
out (Billedo, 2009).
Another study investigated the effects of apparel brand endorsers on purchase

intentions of Filipino consumers. Other studies claimed that brand endorsers who are
58
perceived to be attractive exert more favorable influences over the claims of their
advertisement and brand image. As such, they are able to persuade consumers and
communicate their message effectively. However in the actual study, the respondents tend to
purchase a product based on the perceived experience, knowledge, trustworthiness and
qualification of the brand endorser rather than their perceived physical attractiveness
(Rodriguez, 2008).
Synthesis of Related Literature and Studies
The relevant literature and studies regarding the variables of interest and the
phenomenon of self-fulfilling prophecy tells us three things. First, self-fulfilling prophecy is
real and exists in social interactions. The phenomenon may be referred to as different names
but with similar mechanisms. For instance, it is referred to as the Pygmalion effect in the
educational field, where teachers are found to perceive physically attractive students as more
competent than their unattractive peers. Meanwhile, in the industrial setting, the concept may
be referred to as the Golem effect, where the low expectations of employers to their
employees may cause actual weak performance. It has its counterpart, the Galatea effect,
which states that high employee expectations contribute to high performance. In the clinical
setting, it is referred to as the placebo effect. In social interactions, self-fulfilling prophecy
may be represented by behavioral confirmation. As long as social stereotypes, prejudices and
other types of biased judgment exist, self-fulfilling prophecy continues to exert powerful
consequences on peoples perceptions and social interactions. Second, physical attractiveness
59
remains to be an extraordinarily important psychological variable. (Rumsey, 2005).

Society dictates that physically attractive people receive more benefits. It is interesting to
note that studies found several characteristics of attractive people. They have higher salaries,
seen as more academically competent, receive more lenient punishments, perceived as more
emotionally adjusted and marry attractive partners. This may be so because most people
operate under the What is beautiful is good stereotype which states that a host of desirable
personality qualities are associated with physical attractiveness. Finally, gender differences
prove to be important indicators of the nature and quality of social interactions (Jackson,
1992).
The present study addressed the limitations of earlier studies. For one, it placed great
emphasis on gender differences. For this reason, a 2 x 2 factorial design was utilized.
Compared to past studies, it was determined in the present study whether the influence of
perceived physical attractiveness on socio-communicative orientation in social interaction
varied in males and females.
60
CHAPTER III
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
This chapter discusses the method that was used in the study. It presents the research
design that was utilized, the characteristics of the participants, the sampling technique that
was employed, the data-gathering procedure that was implemented and the statistical
treatment of data that was applied.
Research Design
This is an experimental study which made use of a 2 x 2 factorial design wherein

participants were randomly assigned to one of the four conditions, namely attractive-female,
attractive-male, unattractive-female and attractive male. The design involved such conditions
so that each participant is assigned to a treatment combination of perceived physical
attractiveness, which has two levels namely attractive and unattractive, and gender, which
also has two levels namely female and male. The research design that was utilized in the
study is illustrated below.
X11
X12
X21
X22
61
Where:
R
random assignment of participants to each condition
X11
first treatment combination (attractive-female)
X12
second treatment combination (attractive-male)
X21
third treatment combination (unattractive-female)
X22
fourth treatment combination (unattractive-male)
scores of the participants on the Socio-Communicative Orientation scale
Research Locale
The study was conducted at Trinity University of Asia located at Cathedral Heights,
275 E. Rodriguez Senior Avenue, Quezon City. See Figure 2 for the location map.
The school envisions itself to be a premier Christian university in Asia and the
Pacific transforming a community of learners as leaders towards a human society. The core
values of the school are integrity, excellence, innovation, teamwork and social responsibility.
62
Map of Trinity University of Asia

Figure 2
Figure 2 presents a map of Trinity University of Asia showing the route from Cubao, Quezon
City (Google, 2011).
Population, Sample and Sampling Technique
The population of the study are third year heterosexual BS Psychology and BS
Tourism students of Trinity University of Asia. A sample of 40 females and 40 males were
randomly selected from the population. Afterwards, they were randomly arranged into 40
cross-sex dyads. Finally, they were randomly assigned to the four treatment conditions or
groups, such as attractive-female, attractive-male, unattractive-female and unattractive-male.
63
The participants are composed of students who are currently in the young adulthood
developmental stage. Such life stage is particularly important because it is the period when
an individual is faced with Eriksons developmental crisis of intimacy versus isolation. That
being said, one of the most common phenomena that happens within the stage is the
development of social interactions with the opposite sex, where physical attraction often
comes into play.
Research Instruments
The main instrument utilized in the study was the Socio-Communicative Orientation
Scale (SCO), which was developed by Dr. James McCroskey. The scale aims to measure an
individuals perception of how assertive and responsive he or she is, especially in a social
interaction. For reference, assertiveness and responsiveness are orientations that are either
completely uncorrelated or only inconsiderably correlated. The alpha reliability estimates of
the instrument are practically greater than .80 which suggests that it is a highly reliable tool.
Its predictive validity has been proved over time through demonstrations in various studies
that employed the instrument. The scale consists of a list of 20 items pertaining to personality
characteristics that correspond to the assertiveness and responsiveness orientations. The test
taker should identify, on a Likert scale, whether he or she strongly agrees that the trait applies
to him or her, agrees that it applies, is undecided, disagrees that it applies or strongly
disagrees that it applies (see Appendix A for the full scale). In the study, the scale was
administered to the target to determine his or her self-perceived assertiveness and
64
responsiveness based on his or her phone conversation with the perceiver. The instrument
was necessary to determine the main problem, which was the effect of perceived physical
attractiveness and gender on the socio-communicative orientation of the target.
Twelve photographs, which consisted of three attractive males, three unattractive

males, three attractive females and three unattractive females, served as valuable stimulus
materials for the study, particularly in manipulating the perceived physical attractiveness
variable. To obtain the materials, a preliminary study was conducted. The researchers
gathered twenty male and twenty female volunteers from another university, particularly De
La Salle-College of Saint Benilde, to have their pictures taken and used in the study. Forty
colored photographs which measured 4 inches by 6 inches were reproduced. Afterwards, the
level of physical attractiveness of the male in each photograph was assessed by 26 female
first year BS Psychology students of Trinity University of Asia while the male students of the
same year level, course and school measured the physical attractiveness of the female in each
photograph. The physical attraction component of the Interpersonal Attraction Scale was
utilized for this purpose. The instrument was also constructed by Dr. McCroskey and aims to
measure the attractiveness of a person. The alpha reliability estimates of the measure reach to
above .80. It contained a list of six statements to which the respondent indicated, on a Likert
scale, whether he or she strongly disagrees, disagrees, is neutral, agrees or strongly agrees to
the statement pertaining to the person in the photograph (see Appendix B for the full scale).
The total scores of the physical attractiveness of each person in the photographs were
obtained. Afterwards, the top three most attractive males and females and the top three least
65
attractive males and females were selected. The chosen photographs served as the stimulus
materials for the study.
Out of the 12 original copies, 40 photographs were reproduced and individually

placed inside brown half-sized folders. They were randomly stored inside two medium-sized
resealable plastic bags according to the gender condition. This allowed the implementation of
a double-blind experiment in which the participants and the experimenters were unaware of
the treatment condition.
A separate set of self-made standardized instructions for the perceivers and targets
were implemented by the experimenters to enhance the validity of the study (see Appendix C
for the complete set of instructions).
Letters were distributed to obtain the informed consent of concerned school

authorities and participants. They contained the purpose of the research, duration of
participation, procedures to be followed, risks and benefits of the research, confidentiality
guidelines and participant compensation (see Appendix D for copies of the documents).
Debriefing forms were disseminated to the participants so that they are fully informed
about the purpose and nature of the data gathering procedure. A post-research survey was
also administered to determine whether the deception used in the study was successful. It
66
also aimed to assess the anxiety level of the participants during the experiment and after
debriefing (see Appendix E).
Other apparatus and materials used in the study were a digital single-lens
reflex camera (Canon EOS 550D) to capture the photographs, two cellular phones to serve as
the communication medium of the participants, and answer sheets and pencils to administer
the scales.
Data-Gathering Procedure
The following procedure were undertaken to gather valuable information that led to a
greater understanding of the research problem.
1.
A sample of 40 female and 40 male students were randomly selected from the
population.
2. Informed consent of concerned school authorities and participants were obtained.
3. The 40 perceiver-target dyads were randomly assigned to the four treatment

conditions: attractive-female, attractive-male, unattractive-female and unattractivemale.
67
4. In both the female and male conditions, each perceiver was instructed to look at a
presumed photograph of the target. Under the attractive condition, the perceivers
were presented with photographs of physically attractive targets while those in the
unattractive condition received photographs of physically unattractive targets. The
targets were not given any.
5. A double-blind experiment was implemented, wherein the perceivers were not made
aware that the photographs were manipulated, the targets were not informed that such
manipulation existed, and the experimenters were unaware of the treatment condition.
6. Each perceiver-target dyad engaged in a five-minute social interaction by means of a

phone conversation.
7. Afterwards, each participant (target) accomplished the Socio-Communication

Orientation scale.
8. The participants were debriefed as soon as possible regarding the true nature of the
study.
9. The collected data were analyzed using statistical treatment of data.
68
Statistical Treatment of Data
After the data were gathered, they were subjected to various statistical treatments that
distinguished the degrees of difference. As such, the following formulas were used:
1. Mean
The mean score was used to measure the socio-communicative orientation of the
participants in terms of assertiveness and responsiveness using the formula:
Where:
= sample mean
x
= sum of the sample observation
= sample size
2. F-Test or Two Way Analysis of Variance with Interaction Effect

The F-Test or Two Way Analysis of Variance with Interaction Effect was used to
compare the means of the four treatment groups under two independent variables, namely
perceived physical attractiveness and gender, using the formula:
69
70
CHAPTER IV
PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA
This chapter presents the findings, analysis and interpretation of the gathered data.
These are introduced in tabular and textual form based on the research problems.
1. What is the level of socio-communicative orientation of young adults under perceived

physical attractiveness in terms of:
a. Assertiveness
b. Responsiveness
Table 1.A
Mean Scores of Socio-Communicative Orientation of Young Adults under Perceived
Physical Attractiveness in Terms of Assertiveness
Socio-Communicative
Mean Score
Description
Attractive
35.95
High
Unattractive
33.05
High
Orientation
Scale:
24.4 and below
24.5 29.9
30 and above
=
=
=
low
average
high
71
Table 1.A shows the mean scores of socio-communicative orientation of young adults
under the two different degrees of perceived physical attractiveness in terms of assertiveness.
It shows that they got a mean score of 35.95 under the attractive condition and 33.05 under
the unattractive condition. The figures imply that both perceived physically attractive and
unattractive young adults have high levels of assertiveness.
Table 1.B
Mean Scores of Socio-Communicative Orientation of Young Adults under Perceived
Physical Attractiveness in Terms of Responsiveness
Socio-Communicative
Mean Score
Description
Attractive
39.75
High
Unattractive
38.05
High
Orientation
Scale:
21.4 and below
21.5 32.9
33 and above
=
=
=
low
average
high
Table 1.B shows the mean scores of socio-communicative orientation of young adults
under the two different degrees of perceived physical attractiveness in terms of
responsiveness. It shows that they got a mean score of 39.75 under the attractive condition
and 38.05 under the unattractive condition. The figures imply that both perceived physically
attractive and physically unattractive young adults have high levels of responsiveness.
72
2. What is the level of socio-communicative orientation of young adults under gender in

terms of:
a. Assertiveness
b. Responsiveness
Table 2.A
Mean Scores of Socio-Communicative Orientation of Young Adults under Gender in
Terms of Assertiveness
Socio-Communicative
Mean Score
Description
Female
35.95
High
Male
33.05
High
Orientation
Scale:
24.4 and below
24.5 29.9
30 and above
=
=
=
low
average
high
under the two types of gender in terms of assertiveness. It shows that they got a mean score
of 35.95 under the female condition and 33.05 under the male condition. The figures imply
that both female young adults who interacted with their male partners and male young adults
who conversed with their female partners have high levels of assertiveness.
73
Table 2.B
Mean Scores of Socio-Communicative Orientation of Young Adults under Gender in
Terms of Responsiveness
Socio-Communicative
Mean Score
Description
Female
39.35
High
Male
38.45
High
Orientation
Scale:
21.4 and below
21.5 32.9
33 and above
=
=
=
low
average
high
Table 2.B shows the mean scores of socio-communicative orientation of young adults under
the two types of gender in terms of responsiveness. It shows that they got a mean score of
39.35 under the female condition and 38.45 under the male condition. The figures imply that
both female young adults who interacted with their male partners and male young adults who
conversed with their female partners have high levels of assertiveness.
3. What is the level of socio-communicative orientation of young adults under the

interaction of perceived physical attractiveness and gender in terms of:
a. Assertiveness
b. Responsiveness
74
Table 3.A
Mean Scores of Socio-Communicative Orientation of Young Adults under the
Interaction of Perceived Physical Attractiveness and Gender in Terms of Assertiveness
Perceived Physical
Attractive
Unattractive
Attractiveness
Gender
Female
Male
Female
Male
Mean Score
38.9
33
33
33.1
Description
High
High
High
High
Scale:
24.4 and below
24.5 29.9
30 and above
=
=
=
low
average
high
under the interaction of perceived physical attractiveness and gender in terms of
assertiveness. It shows that they got a mean score of 38.9 under the attractive-female
condition, 33 under the attractive-male condition, 33 under the unattractive-female condition
and 33.1 under the unattractive-male condition. The figures imply that both female and male
young adults who were perceived as physically attractive and physically unattractive have
high levels of assertiveness.
75
Table 3.B
Mean Scores of Socio-Communicative Orientation of Young Adults under the
Responsiveness
Perceived Physical
Attractive
Unattractive
Attractiveness
Gender
Female
Male
Female
Male
Mean Score
41.8
37.7
36.9
39.2
Description
High
High
High
High
Scale:
21.4 and below
21.5 32.9
33 and above
=
=
=
low
average
high
Table 3.B shows the mean scores of socio-communicative orientation of young adults
under the interaction of perceived physical attractiveness and gender in terms of
responsiveness. It shows that they got a mean score of 41.8 under the attractive-female
condition, 37.7 under the attractive-male condition, 36.9 under the unattractive-female
condition and 39.2 under the unattractive-male condition. The figures imply that both female
and male young adults who were perceived as physically attractive and physically
unattractive have high levels of responsiveness.
76
4. Is there a significant difference in the socio-communicative orientation of young adults

under perceived physical attractiveness in terms of:
a. Assertiveness
b. Responsiveness
Table 4.A
Difference in the Socio-Communicative Orientation of Young Adults under Perceived
Physical Attractiveness in Terms of Assertiveness
Computed
Critical Value
F-Value
4.17
4.11
Level of
Degrees of
Significance
Freedom
.05
1, 36
Decision
Reject Ho
Table 4.A shows the difference in the socio-communicative orientation of young

adults under the two different degrees of perceived physical attractiveness in terms of
assertiveness upon statistical analysis using the F-test. With the computed F-value of 4.17
compared to the critical value of 4.11 at .05 level of significance with 1 and 36 degrees of
freedom, the null hypothesis is rejected which means there is a significant difference in the
socio-communicative orientation of young adults under perceived physical attractiveness in
terms of assertiveness.
Perceived physical attractiveness had an effect on young adults assertiveness

orientation which suggests that perceived physically attractive young adults are found to be
77
more active and expressive in social interactions than physically unattractive young adults.
This finding supports Dion, Berscheid and Walsters study (1972) which concludes that
physically attractive individuals are assumed to be more socially desirable than persons of
lower attractiveness and that they are seen as more self-assertive, exciting, interesting,
outgoing, competitive and bold (Nanko, 2009).
Table 4.B
Difference in the Socio-Communicative Orientation of Young Adults under Perceived
Physical Attractiveness in Terms of Responsiveness
Computed
Critical Value
F-Value
1.30
4.11
Level of
Degrees of
Significance
Freedom
.05
1, 36
Decision
Accept Ho
Table 4.B shows the difference in the socio-communicative orientation of young

adults under the two different degrees of perceived physical attractiveness in terms of
responsiveness upon statistical analysis using the F-test. With the computed F-value of 1.30
compared to the critical value of 4.11 at .05 level of significance with 1 and 36 degrees of
freedom, the null hypothesis is accepted which means there is no significant difference in the
socio-communicative orientation of young adults under perceived physical attractiveness in
terms of responsiveness.
78
Perceived physical attractiveness had no effect on young adults responsiveness

orientation which suggests that perceived physically attractive young adults are not found to
be more emphatic, friendly, helpful, sympathetic, warm and understanding than physically
unattractive young adults and vice-versa. The mean scores of responsiveness of perceived
physically attractive young adults are higher than the scores of perceived physically
unattractive young adults but do not show a statistically significant difference.
5. Is there a significant difference in the socio-communicative orientation of young adults

under gender in terms of:
a. Assertiveness
b. Responsiveness
Table 5.A
Difference in the Socio-Communicative Orientation of Young Adults under Gender in
Terms of Assertiveness
Computed
Critical Value
F-Value
4.17
4.11
Level of
Degrees of
Significance
Freedom
.05
1, 36
Decision
Reject Ho
Table 5.A shows the difference in the socio-communicative orientation of young

adults under the two types of gender in terms of assertiveness upon statistical analysis using
the F-test. With the computed F-value of 4.17 compared to the critical value of 4.11 at .05
79
level of significance with 1 and 36 degrees of freedom, the null hypothesis is rejected which
means there is a significant difference in the socio-communicative orientation of young
adults under gender in terms of assertiveness.
Gender had an effect on young adults assertiveness orientation which suggests that
female young adults are found to be more forceful, assertive, dominant and willing to take a
stand in their social interactions than male young adults. It disproves the gender stereotype
that assertiveness is generally viewed as a masculine characteristic. Assertiveness may be
influenced by a number of factors, aside from gender, such as situational context. A study for
example found that females were more assertive in social conversations with strangers to
affirm their connection (Leaper and Ayres, 2007).
Table 5.B
Difference in the Socio-Communicative Orientation of Young Adults under
Computed F-
Critical Value
Value
0.37
4.11
Level of
Degrees of
Significance
Freedom
.05
1, 36
Decision
Accept Ho
Table 5.B shows the difference in the socio-communicative orientation of young

adults under the two types of gender in terms of responsiveness upon statistical analysis
using the F-test. With the computed F-value of 0.37 compared to the critical value of 4.11 at
80
.05 level of significance with 1 and 36 degrees of freedom, the null hypothesis is accepted
which means there is no significant difference in the socio-communicative orientation of
young adults under gender in terms of responsiveness.
Gender has no effect on young adults responsiveness orientation which suggests that
female young adults are not found to be any more helpful, responsive, sincere, warm and
friendly than male young adults and vice-versa.
6. Does interaction exist between perceived physical attractiveness and gender on the sociocommunicative orientation of young adults in terms of:
a. Assertiveness
b. Responsiveness
Table 6.A
Interaction between Perceived Physical Attractiveness and Gender on SocioCommunicative Orientation of Young Adults in Terms of Assertiveness
Computed F-
Critical Value
Value
4.46
4.11
Level of
Degrees of
Significance
Freedom
.05
1, 36
Decision
Reject Ho
Table 6.A shows the interaction between perceived physical attractiveness and gender
on socio-communicative orientation of young adults in terms of assertiveness upon statistical
81
analysis using the F-test. With the computed F-value of 4.46 compared to the critical value of
4.11 at .05 level of significance with 1 and 36 degrees of freedom, the null hypothesis is
rejected which means there is a significant difference in the socio-communicative orientation
of young adults under the interaction of perceived physical attractiveness and gender in terms
of assertiveness.
Perceived physical attractiveness and gender had an interaction effect on young

adults assertiveness orientation which suggests that perceived physically attractive female
young adults are more independent, forceful, assertive and dominant communicators to their
male partners than perceived physically unattractive females. The results are consistent with
the behavioral confirmation paradigm of Snyder, Tanke and Berscheid (1977), wherein
women who were thought to be physically attractive spoke more sociably than the presumed
physically unattractive women although they did not know how they were seen by their male
partners.
The male young adults, on the other hand, maintain active and expressive social
interactions regardless of whether perceived as physically attractive or unattractive by their
female partners. It is related with the findings of an extensive local research which concluded
that men are more inclined than women to give greater priority to the physical attractiveness
of his romantic partner rather than their shared interests (Philippine Cut Flower Corporation,
2011). Moreover, this may be linked to a sociobiological perspective which states that facial
attractiveness is more important in the mate preferences of males than of females. Material
82
resources are more important in the mate preferences of females than of males (Jackson,
1992). Hence, males are found to be more susceptible to the physical attractiveness
stereotype in terms of social interactions.
Table 6.B
Interaction between Perceived Physical Attractiveness and Gender on SocioCommunicative Orientation of Young Adults in Terms of Responsiveness
Computed F-
Critical Value
Value
4.62
4.11
Level of
Degrees of
Significance
Freedom
.05
1, 36
Decision
Reject Ho
Table 6.B shows the interaction between perceived physical attractiveness and gender
on socio-communicative orientation of young adults in terms of responsiveness upon
statistical analysis using the F-test. With the computed F-value of 4.62 compared to the
critical value of 4.11 at .05 level of significance with 1 and 36 degrees of freedom, the null
hypothesis is rejected which means there is a significant difference in the sociocommunicative orientation of young adults under the interaction of perceived physical
attractiveness and gender in terms of responsiveness.
Perceived physical attractiveness and gender had an interaction effect on young

adults responsiveness orientation which suggests that perceived physically attractive female
young adults are more responsive, sympathetic, sensitive, warm and friendly communicators
83
to their male partners than perceived physically unattractive females. This finding is found to
be related with the conclusion that physically attractive females receive greater involvement
from men and increase mutual correspondence (Guguen, Lourel, Charron, Fischer-Lokou
and Lamy, 2009).
The physical attractiveness stereotype is found to be disconfirmed in the case of the

male young adults who exhibited stronger listening skills and were more emphatic, friendly,
helpful, warm and understanding when perceived as physically unattractive. This may be
linked with the results of a local study wherein Filipino men were found to give a greater
importance on the physical attractiveness of women as a basis of continued romantic
encounters while Filipino women were found to give greater priority to similar interests
(Philippine Cut Flower Corporation, 2011).
7. Based on the results of the study, what activities or measures can be proposed to enhance
the weaknesses found?
84
Table 7.A
Proposed Group Dynamics Module on Perceived Physical Attractiveness and Gender
TITLE: A SELF-LEARNING EXERCISE SERIES ON THE REALITY OF THE HALO
EFFECT
Objectives
By the end of the module, the participants will:
Be introduced to the concept of physical-attractiveness

stereotype
Become more self-aware of their preconceived beliefs and

judgments about other people
Replace
these
preconceived,
subjective
judgments
with
objective, unbiased ones
Understand the implications of the physical-attractiveness

stereotype on social interactions
Activity 1: First Impressions
Materials
Pen, paper
Time Allotment
5 minutes
Participants
10 and up (suitably a group that is not well-acquainted)
Mechanics
Assign the participants into dyads.
Ask them to avoid talking with their partners for the initial activity.
Under the allotted time, instruct them to write down statements,

traits, characteristics or adjectives that they can think of upon seeing
85
their partners for the first time. Emphasize the importance of

honesty. There are no right or wrong answers.
Ask them to fold their paper and keep it away for a while for the
next activity.
Activity 2: Making Contact
Materials
Pen, paper, interview questionnaire
Time Allotment
30 minutes
Mechanics
Instruct the participants to engage in a conversation with their

partners under the allotted time.
An interview questionnaire may be used (refer to Appendix F) to

serve as a guide for the flow of conversation.
Encourage them to relax and stay true to themselves throughout

their conversation. Tell them to avoid asking too much personal
questions.
Afterwards, instruct them again to write down statements, traits,

characteristics or adjectives that can describe their partners based on
the conversation.
Activity 3: Judging the Judgments
Materials
Papers from Activities 1 and 2, balance scale, small rocks (or marbles),
cotton balls
Time Allotment
10 minutes
86
Mechanics
Instruct the participants to retrieve the papers they completed from

Activities 1 and 2. Ask them to identify whether each item on the
list is positive or negative and have them tally the scores (1 point
each) on the list from Activity 1 and the other from Activity 2. It is
the participants prerogative to consider a statement, trait,
characteristic or adjective as positive or negative.
Have them place the small rocks and cotton balls on both sides of
the balance scale depending on the scores they got from the two
lists. The small rocks signify the negative statements, traits,
characteristics or adjectives while cotton balls symbolize the
positive ones. (1 small rock = 1 negative point; 1 cotton ball = 1
positive point) The left side of the balance scale corresponds to the
scores on Activity 1 while the right side corresponds to the scores on
Activity 2 (e.g. 15 small rocks on the left side means there are 15
negative items on the list from Activity 1).
Processing Activity
Time Allotment
30 minutes (depending on the size of the group)
Questions
1. Describe your balance scale. (Determine whether the left side is

heavier than the right side or vice-versa. The heavier a side is, the
more negative traits there are.)
2. What happened during the exercises? (Direct attention to major
points during the exercises and have participant describe how they
87
responded.)
3. How did you feel during the exercises? (Focus on several key parts
of the exercises to activate participants feelings.)
4. What did you learn? (Explore the meanings and insights they made
of different aspects of the exercises.)
5. How do these exercises relate to other parts of your life? (Identify
any other puzzling situations that the participants can think of that
might stimulate similar responses.)
6. What if? (Have participants suggest other possible perspectives or
changes that might have led to different outcomes and see if they
can explain their reasoning for how things would turn out
differently.)
7. What next? (Ask participants to speculate how they might react the
next time these happen, or in other similar situations in the future.)
Discussion of Theories/Concepts
Time Allotment
15 minutes
Theories/Concepts Discuss the following theories/concepts in layman terms so that the

participants can easily grasp the context.
Physical-Attractiveness Stereotype
States that physically attractive people possess more socially
desirable traits than physically unattractive people; also known
as the halo effect.
88
Behavioral Confirmation
Describes the behavior of people whose social expectations
cause them to behave in ways that may prompt others to confirm
these expectations. For example, if you interact with a person
you perceived to be aloof, you may find yourself isolating him in
group activities and as a result, that person may tend to confirm
your belief by behaving less sociably towards you.
Table 7.A shows the proposed group dynamics module on perceived physical
attractiveness and gender that was constructed by the researchers to reduce the physicalattractiveness stereotype among young adults. Such module seeks to make young adults more
aware of their preconceived perceptions of physically attractive and unattractive people as
well as to make them realize their influences in social interactions. The end goal of the
module is to motivate young adults to avoid the social stereotype by converting subjective
thinking into an objective one.
89
Table 7.B
Proposed Group Dynamics Module on Socio-Communicative Orientation
TITLE: A SELF-LEARNING EXERCISE ON THE ENHANCEMENT OF

INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION COMPETENCE
Objectives
By the end of the module, the participants will:
Become self-aware of their dominant socio-communicative

orientation
Develop skills to enhance their weaker socio-communicative

orientation
Improve interpersonal communication competence

Activity 1: Casual Convos
Materials
Interview questionnaire
Time Allotment
35 minutes
Mechanics
Assign the participants into dyads.
Instruct the participants to engage in a conversation with their

partners under the allotted time of 10 minutes.
An interview questionnaire may be used (refer to Appendix F) to

serve as a guide for the flow of conversation.
Encourage them to relax and stay true to themselves throughout

their conversation. Tell them to avoid asking too much personal
90
questions.
After the time is up, assign the participants again to a different

conversational partner and have them engage in a conversation for
10 minutes using the same instructions as earlier.
After the time is up, assign the participants to a different partner for
the last time and have them engage in a conversation for 10 minutes
using the same instructions as earlier.
Activity 2: The Test
Materials
Socio-Communicative Orientation scale, pencil
Time Allotment
15 minutes
Mechanics
Administer the Socio-Communicative Orientation scale to the

participants. Use the standardized instructions and ask them to
work within a five-minute time frame. (This scale measures the
participants perception of how assertive and responsive he or
she is on the series of conversations he or she just had.)
Emphasize the importance of honesty in answering the test.
Afterwards, instruct the participants to score and interpret their

responses.
Engage in a brief discussion about the characteristics of assertive

and
responsive
communicators.
(Essentially,
assertive
communicators are more active in their conversations and tend
91
to act as speakers while responsive communicators are more

passive and more likely to act as listeners. A competent
communicator has both skills.)
Activity 3: Bridging the Gap
Materials
Interview questionnaire, Socio-Communicative Orientation scale, pencil
Time Allotment
40 minutes
Mechanics
Using the same first set of pairings in Activity 1, instruct the

participants to engage in a second conversation with their
partners.
For the first five minutes of their 10-minute conversation, ask

them to decide who goes first as the interviewer. The interviewer
should focus on asking the questions to his or her partner and
listening to his or her responses.
For the second five minutes, ask the participants to switch roles
so that the other one gets to be the interviewer this time. The
purpose of this is to ensure that the participants become active
and passive communicators for an equal amount of time.
Do the same for the second and third sets of pairings in Activity
1.
Administer the Socio-Communicative orientation scale for the

second time to assess the participants perceptions of their
92
assertiveness and responsiveness.

Processing Activity
Time Allotment
30 minutes (depending on the size of the group)
Questions
1. Describe the results of your responses on the first and second

administration of the Socio-Communication Orientation scale. Is
there a difference?
2. What happened during the exercises? (Direct attention to major
points during the exercises and have participant describe how they
responded.)
3. How did you feel during the exercises? (Focus on several key parts
of the exercises to activate participants feelings.)
4. What did you learn? (Explore the meanings and insights they made
of different aspects of the exercises.)
5. How do these exercises relate to other parts of your life? (Identify
any other situations that the participants can think of that might
stimulate similar responses.)
6. What if? (Have participants suggest other possible perspectives or
changes that might have led to different outcomes and see if they
can explain their reasoning for how things would turn out
differently.)
7. What next? (Ask participants to speculate how they might react the
next time these happen, or in other similar situations in the future.)
93
Discussion of Theories/Concepts
Time Allotment
15 minutes
Theories/Concepts Discuss the following theories/concepts in layman terms so that the

participants can easily grasp the context.
Socio-Communicative Orientation
States that people tend to communicate with each other in terms
of two primary dimensions: assertiveness and responsiveness.
Assertiveness
Refers to the socio-communicative orientation of a person who
tends to be independent, forceful, assertive, dominant,
aggressive, competitive, defends own beliefs and willing to take
a stand in communicating with others.
Responsiveness
Refers to the socio-communicative orientation of a person who
tends to be helpful, responsive, sympathetic, compassionate,
sensitive, sincere, gentle, warm, tender and friendly in
communicating with others.
Table 7.B shows the proposed group dynamics module on socio-communicative

orientation that was constructed by the researchers to improve the interpersonal
communication competence of young adults. This particular module intends to help young
adults gain insight of their level of socio-communicative orientation and enable them to
94
acquire the skills necessary to become effective communicators by striking a balance

between their assertive and responsive behaviors.
95
CHAPTER V
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Summary of Findings
Based on the analysis and interpretation of data, the following findings were
obtained:
1. The socio-communicative orientation of young adults under perceived physical

attractiveness in terms of:
a. Assertiveness
Perceived physically attractive young adults got a mean score of 35.95
while those who are perceived as physically unattractive got 33.05. Both mean
scores got a verbal description of high.
b. Responsiveness
Perceived physically attractive young adults got a mean score of 39.75
while those who are perceived as physically unattractive got 38.05. Both mean
scores got a verbal description of high.
96
2. The socio-communicative orientation of young adults under gender in terms of:

a. Assertiveness
Female young adults who talked with male partners got a mean score
of 35.95 while male young adults who talked with female partners got 33.05.
Both mean scores got a verbal description of high.
b. Responsiveness
Female young adults who talked with male partners got a mean score
of 39.35 while male young adults who talked with female partners got 38.45.
Both mean scores got a verbal description of high.
3. The socio-communicative orientation of young adults under the interaction of

perceived physical attractiveness and gender in terms of:
a. Assertiveness
Perceived physically attractive female young adults got a mean score
of 38.9 while those who are perceived as physically unattractive got 33.05. On
the other hand, perceived physically attractive male young adults got a mean
score of 33 while those who are perceived as physically unattractive got 33.1.
All mean scores got a verbal description of high.
97
b. Responsiveness
Perceived physically attractive female young adults got a mean score
of 41.8 while those who are perceived as physically unattractive got 36.9. On
the other hand, perceived physically attractive male young adults got a mean
score of 37.7 while those who are perceived as physically unattractive got
39.2. All mean scores got a verbal description of high.
4. Difference in the socio-communicative orientation of young adults under perceived

physical attractiveness based on:
a. Assertiveness
The computed F-value of 4.17 is greater than the tabled value of 4.11
which suggests that there is a significant difference in the sociocommunicative orientation of young adults under perceived physical
attractiveness in terms of assertiveness. Young adults who were perceived as
physically attractive are found to be more active and expressive in their social
interactions than those who were perceived as physically unattractive.
b. Responsiveness
The computed F-value of 1.30 is lesser than the tabled value of 4.11
which suggests that there is no significant difference in the sociocommunicative orientation of young adults under perceived physical
attractiveness in terms of responsiveness. Young adults who were perceived
98
as physically attractive are not found to be more emphatic, friendly, helpful,

sympathetic, warm and understanding than those who were perceived as
physically unattractive and vice-versa.
5. Difference in the socio-communicative orientation of young adults under gender in

terms of:
a. Assertiveness
which suggests that there is a significant difference in the sociocommunicative orientation of young adults under gender in terms of
assertiveness. Female young adults are found to be more forceful, assertive,
dominant and willing to take a stand in their cross-sex social interactions than
male young adults.
b. Responsiveness
The computed F-value of 0.37 is lesser than the tabled value of 4.11
which suggests that there is no significant difference in the sociocommunicative orientation of young adults under gender in terms of
responsiveness. Female young adults are not found to be any more helpful,
responsive, sincere, warm and friendly than male young adults and vice-versa.
99
6. Interaction between perceived physical attractiveness and gender on the sociocommunicative orientation of young adults in terms of:
a. Assertiveness
which
suggests
that
interaction
exists
between
perceived
physical
attractiveness and gender on socio-communicative orientation of young adults

in terms of assertiveness. Perceived physically attractive female young adults
are found to be more independent, forceful, assertive and dominant
communicators to their male partners than perceived physically unattractive
females. Male young adults, on the other hand, are found to maintain active
and expressive social interactions regardless of whether perceived as
physically attractive or unattractive by their female partners.
b. Responsiveness
which
suggests
that
interaction
exists
between
perceived
physical
attractiveness and gender on the socio-communicative orientation of young

adults in terms of responsiveness. Perceived physically attractive female
young adults are found to be more responsive, sympathetic, sensitive, warm
and friendly communicators to their male partners than perceived physically
unattractive females. The physical attractiveness stereotype is found to be
disconfirmed in the case of the male young adults who exhibited stronger
100
listening skills and were more emphatic, friendly, helpful, warm and
understanding when perceived as physically unattractive.
7. Based on the results of the study, the following activities or measures are proposed to
enhance the weaknesses found:
a. A group dynamics module on perceived physical attractiveness and gender
aims to enable young adults to be introduced to the concept of physicalattractiveness stereotype; become more self-aware of their preconceived
beliefs and judgments about other people; replace these preconceived,
subjective judgments with objective, unbiased ones; and understand the
implications of the physical-attractiveness stereotype on social interactions.
b. A group dynamics module on socio-communicative orientation aims to enable

young adults to become self-aware of their dominant socio-communicative
orientation; develop skills to enhance their weaker socio-communicative
orientation; and improve interpersonal communication competence.
Conclusions
Based on the summary of findings, the following conclusions were drawn:
1. The levels of assertiveness and responsiveness of both perceived physically attractive
and unattractive young adults are high.
101
2. The levels of assertiveness and responsiveness of both female young adults who
engaged in a conversation with male partners and male young adults who engaged in
a conversation with female partners are high.
3. The levels of assertiveness and responsiveness of both female and male young adults
who were perceived as physically attractive and unattractive are high.
4. There is a significant difference in the socio-communicative orientation of young

adults under perceived physical attractiveness in terms of assertiveness. However,
there is no significant difference in terms of responsiveness. Young adults are found
to be more active and expressive in conversations when they are perceived as
physically attractive by their partners rather than when they are perceived as
physically unattractive while they are found to be emphatic and warm in
conversations regardless of whether they are perceived as physically attractive or
unattractive by their partners.
5. There is a significant difference in the socio-communicative orientation of young

adults under gender in terms of assertiveness. However, there is no significant
difference in terms of responsiveness. Female young adults are found to be more
forceful and assertive in conversations with their male partners than male young
adults who conversed with their female partners while young adults in both gender
conditions are both found to be responsive and friendly in conversations.
102
6. Interaction exists between perceived physical attractiveness and gender in the sociocommunicative orientation of young adults in terms of assertiveness and
responsiveness. Female young adults who are perceived as physically attractive by
their male partners are found to be more independent, assertive, warm and responsive
in conversations than perceived physically unattractive females. Male young adults
behave the same way in conversations regardless of their female partners perceptions
about their physical attractiveness.
7. Group dynamics modules are proposed to address the prevailing physicalattractiveness stereotype among young adults and to enhance their interpersonal
communication competence.
Recommendations
In line with the conclusions, the following recommendations are offered:
1. Young adults are encouraged to continue being assertive and responsive in social
interactions regardless of others physical appearance.
2. Teachers are encouraged to expose the students to activities such as oral

presentations, Socratic teaching and group dynamics that promote their active and
expressive communication competence as well as to expose them to tasks such as
103
reading assignments, group dynamics and counselling sessions that require a high
level of responsiveness.
3. Future researchers are encouraged to pursue a study to determine whether physically

attractive students are more assertive and responsive in class than physically
unattractive students. They may also use other independent variables that may
influence socio-communicative orientation (e.g. perceived socio-economic status,
communication medium, communication style) or pursue a correlational study to
determine the relationship between physical attractiveness and other variables (e.g.
intelligence, popularity and success).
4. School administrators are advised to launch an Anti-Bias campaign among its

students and encourage them to report any incident suggesting the presence of bias,
prejudice and discrimination. They may even designate an office that specifically
handles this kind of campaign. On the other hand, future researchers are encouraged
to replicate the study using a larger sample, a younger or older population or a noncollege population.
5. Teachers are encouraged to integrate more subjects in the curriculum and more
challenging school works in each course syllabus that aim to enhance the
communication competence of students. On the other hand, future researchers are
encouraged to replicate the study using a population with a different sexual
orientation (e.g. homosexual) or using same-sex interactions.
104
6. Young adults are encouraged to avoid negative social stereotyping based on physical
appearance by setting aside unreasonable criticisms until they have gotten to know
more about a person. Parents are also encouraged to teach their children the values of
modesty and humility as well as to instill in their young minds that physical
appearance is not the basis for determining a persons goodness.
7. School counselors are encouraged to implement the proposed group dynamics

modules so that their students may avoid from falling in the physical-attractiveness
stereotype and so that they may become competent interpersonal communicators.
105
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APPENDICES
113
Appendix A
Socio-Communicative Orientation Scale
114
Appendix B
Interpersonal Attraction Scale
115
Appendix C
Standardized Instructions for Participants
Standardized Instructions for Perceivers
Good day!
We are going to perform a brief social interaction exercise where you will engage in a fiveminute telephone conversation with another person of the opposite gender. Keep the
conversation casual. You may talk in the language you are comfortable with (e.g. Filipino or
Taglish) but please limit your conversation topic to your interests and hobbies. You may
introduce your name at the start of the conversation but do not ask for or give out personal
information (e.g. course, section, address, mobile number, etc.) and other details that stray
away from the allowed conversation topic. Remember, you are given five (5) minutes to
interact and you are going to initiate the conversation. When the conversation has begun, I
will leave you alone in this room. Once you hear three (3) knocks on the door, it means you
only have ten (10) seconds left to talk and once I enter the room again, you have to end the
conversation.
Do you have any questions?
Heres a photograph of the person you are going to talk to over the phone in a while. Let me
know once you are ready.
Your five (5) minutes start now.
(after five minutes)
Your five (5) minutes is over. You may end the call now.
Thank you for your participation in this exercise. Please do not talk to anyone about the
details of the exercise especially to any of your classmates. We will be conducting this
activity for at least a couple of times and sometimes if people know what the activity is about
it can bias their responses even when they dont mean for it to. You will hear from us again
as soon as all participants are finished.
116
Standardized Instructions for Targets
Good day!
We are going to perform a brief social interaction exercise where you will engage in a fiveminute telephone conversation with another person of the opposite gender. Keep the
conversation casual. You may talk in the language you are comfortable with (e.g. Filipino or
Taglish) but please limit your conversation topic to your interests and hobbies. You may
introduce your name at the start of the conversation but do not ask for or give out personal
information (e.g. course, section, address, mobile number, etc.) and other details that stray
away from the allowed conversation topic. Remember, you are given five (5) minutes to
interact. When the conversation has begun, I will leave you alone in this room and be back
when your time is over.
Do you have any questions?
Are you ready to begin your conservation with another person?
Your five (5) minutes start now.
(after five minutes)
Your five (5) minutes is over. You may end the call now.
Now I will be giving you a quick questionnaire based on the conversation you just had with
your conversational partner. Please read the instructions carefully. Work quickly; record your
first impression. Let me know if you have any question or if you are done.
(after test is finished)
Thank you for your participation in this activity. Please do not talk to anyone about the
details of the activity especially to any of your classmates. We will be conducting this
activity for at least a couple of times and sometimes if people know what the activity is about
it can bias their responses even when they dont mean for it to. You will hear from us again
and receive your souvenir as soon as all participants are finished.
117
Appendix D
Letters
College of Arts and Sciences
Behavioral and Social Sciences Department
Cathedral Heights, Quezon City
November 14, 2011
Dr. Iluminada F. Castigador
University Registrar
Dear Maam,
We are currently senior BS Psychology students and we would like to ask for your assistance
in our research Effect of Perceived Physical Attractiveness and Gender on SocioCommunicative Orientation of Heterosexual Young Adults. The population of our study
comprises third year BS Psychology and BS Tourism college students of the College of Arts
and Sciences (CAS) and College of Hospitality and Tourism Management (CHTM)
respectively. As such, we wish to request the following:
a. List of names of 3rd year BS Psychology students SY 2011-2012
b. List of names of 3rd year BS Tourism students SY 2011-2012
c. Total number of enrolled students in:
a. Trinity University of Asia SY 2011-2012
b. College of Arts and Sciences SY 2011-2012
c. College of Hospitality and Tourism Management SY 2011-2012
d. BS Psychology SY 2011-2012
e. BS Tourism SY 2011-2012
We shall use the above information to gather our participants for the study.
Sincerely Yours,
Accion, Gavrielle Elleez
Sarmiento, Nikki Angeli
Mateo, Maisie
Tismo, Demgualvert
Noted by:
Prof. Pete Aton

Course Adviser
Prof. Reinalyn P. Lim

Head, Behavioral and Social Sciences Department
118

November 22, 2011
Dr. Cesar D. Orsal
Dean, College of Arts and Sciences
Dear Sir,
We are fourth year BS Psychology students of Trinity University of Asia and we are
currently pursuing an experimental research entitled Effect of Perceived Physical
Attractiveness and Gender on Socio-Communicative Orientation of Heterosexual Young
Adults. Our research sample will involve forty (40) junior BS Psychology students of the
College of Arts and Sciences who will be determined through randomization.
It would definitely be helpful if you allow us to conduct the research on your students and
utilize a room of the college for our experimental research. Before you give your
authorization, please read the attached Informed Consent Agreement and feel free to ask any
question. Included are the purpose of research, duration of participation, procedures to be
followed, risks and benefits of the research, confidentiality guidelines and participant
compensation.
Sincerely Yours,
Mateo, Maisie
Tismo, Dem Gualvert
Noted by:
Ms. Helen C. Baguno

Thesis Adviser
Ms. Reinalyn P. Lim

119

INFORMED CONSENT AGREEMENT
You are being asked to allow your students to participate in an experimental research entitled
Effect of Perceived Physical Attractiveness and Gender on Responsiveness of Heterosexual
Young Adults. Before you give your consent to allow your students to volunteer, please read
the following information and feel free to ask any question.
RESEARCHERS
Nikki Angeli Sarmiento
Maisie Mateo
Gavrielle Eleez
Dem Gualvert Tismo
Senior BS Psychology students at Trinity University of Asia
PURPOSE OF THE RESEARCH
The research aims to identify the effect of two psychological variables, namely perceived
physical attractiveness and gender, on the socio-communicative orientation of heterosexual
young adults. Once a link is established, this will lead to a greater understanding of human
behavior and help advocate the need to reduce faulty cognitive and social biases, such as the
halo effect.
PARTICIPANTS
Third year BS Psychology students of the College of Arts and Sciences will be chosen at
random to participate in the study on a voluntary basis.
DURATION OF PARTICIPATION
Each student will be asked to participate in a short activity that consists of a five-minute
telephone conversation with a member of the opposite gender and a five-minute test.
PROCEDURES TO BE FOLLOWED
Each student will be assigned to a room and given a few instructions before the 5-minute
casual telephone conversation with a member of the opposite gender ensues. Afterwards, he
or she will be asked to complete a 5-minute test based on the social interaction he or she just
had.
RISKS
The students risk of harm is minimal and involves the stress experienced during an ordinary
day or during routine psychological testing.
120
BENEFITS OF THE RESEARCH

The students contribution to the study of human behavior will be deeply appreciated. It will
allow the researchers to gain understanding about the nature of social interactions between
men and women as well as the existing cognitive biases and social prejudices that ought to be
minimized.
CONFIDENTIALITY
All information identifying the student will remain confidential. The results of this study may
be published and presented on the condition that the student is not identified.
PARTICIPANT COMPENSATION
Testing materials will be provided during the activity and souvenirs will be given afterwards
as a token of gratitude.
If you have any question, please do not hesitate to contact us at +639162766555. It is
important for you to understand that the students participation in the study is voluntary and
that he or she has the right to withdraw from the exercise anytime.
121

November 22, 2011
Dr. Gloria Baken Wong-Siy
Dean, College of Hospitality and Tourism Management
Dear Maam,
Adults. Our research sample will involve forty (40) junior BS Tourism students of the
College of Hospitality and Tourism Management who will be determined through
randomization.
It would definitely be helpful if you allow us to conduct the research on your students and
utilize a room of your college for our experimental research. Before you give your
authorization, please read the attached Informed Consent Agreement and feel free to ask any
question. Included are the purpose of research, duration of participation, procedures to be
followed, risks and benefits of the research, confidentiality guidelines and participant
compensation.
Sincerely Yours,
Mateo, Maisie
Tismo, Dem Gualvert
Noted by:
Ms. Helen C. Baguno

Thesis Adviser
Ms. Reinalyn P. Lim

122

You are being asked to allow your students to participate in an experimental research entitled
Effect of Perceived Physical Attractiveness and Gender on Responsiveness of Heterosexual
Young Adults. Before you give your consent to allow your students to volunteer, please read
the following information and feel free to ask any question.
RESEARCHERS
Maisie Mateo
Gavrielle Eleez
Dem Gualvert Tismo
The research aims to identify the effect of two psychological variables, namely perceived
physical attractiveness and gender, on the socio-communicative orientation of heterosexual
young adults. Once a link is established, this will lead to a greater understanding of human
behavior and help advocate the need to reduce faulty cognitive and social biases, such as the
halo effect.
PARTICIPANTS
Third year BS Tourism students of the College of Hospitality and Tourism Management will
be chosen at random to participate in the study on a voluntary basis.
Each student will be asked to participate in a short activity that consists of a five-minute
telephone conversation with a member of the opposite gender and a five-minute test.
Each student will be assigned to a room and given a few instructions before the 5-minute
casual telephone conversation with a member of the opposite gender ensues. Afterwards, he
or she will be asked to complete a 5-minute test based on the social interaction he or she just
had.
RISKS
The students risk of harm is minimal and involves the stress experienced during an ordinary
day or during routine psychological testing.
123

The students contribution to the study of human behavior will be deeply appreciated. It will
allow the researchers to gain understanding about the nature of social interactions between
men and women as well as the existing cognitive biases and social prejudices that ought to be
minimized.
CONFIDENTIALITY
All information identifying the student will remain confidential. The results of this study may
be published and presented on the condition that the student is not identified.
Testing materials will be provided during the activity and souvenirs will be given afterwards
as a token of gratitude.
If you have any question, please do not hesitate to contact us at +639162766555. It is
important for you to understand that the students participation in the study is voluntary and
that he or she has the right to withdraw from the exercise anytime.
124

January 6, 2012
Dear Sir/Maam,
Adults.
We kindly ask for your assistance in conducting this research by allowing selected students
to participate in our 10-minute experiment during your class period. We wish to call
discreetly one student at a time to avoid disruption of your class. The participant will be
guided to our experiment room where he or she will be asked to engage in a five-minute
conversation with another student of the opposite gender on the other line. Afterwards, he or
she will be administered a brief test that can be finished within five minutes or less. When the
trial is over, the participant will be accompanied back to the classroom and the next selected
participant will be called.
We ensure that the ethical guidelines in conducting a research are observed the whole time.
These include obtaining the informed consent of the participants and providing
confidentiality.
Attached to this letter are copies of our approved request from the deans of the College of
Arts and Sciences and College of Hospitality and Tourism Management to conduct this
research on the students. We fervently hope that you can accommodate our request and help
us make this study possible.
Respectfully Yours,
Mateo, Maisie
Tismo, Dem Gualvert
Noted by:
Prof. Helen Cervantes Baguno

Thesis Adviser
125

November 14, 2011
Dear Fellow Student,
Greetings!
currently pursuing a research entitled Effect of Perceived Physical Attractiveness and
Gender on Socio-Communicative Orientation of Heterosexual Young Adults. We are in the
process of conducting a preliminary study to gather one of our important research
instruments.
It would definitely be helpful if you allow us to take a close-up photograph of you and use it
as one of our stimulus materials. After we have gathered forty (40) photographs, we will ask
a group of students from our university to evaluate them in terms of physical attractiveness
using a rating scale.
We humbly ask you to participate in our study and contribute to the further understanding of
human behavior. If you fully consent to our request, given the previous information, kindly
affix your name and signature on the List of Participants sheet. We guarantee that your
name will remain confidential and that the results of the study may be published and
presented on the condition that your name is withheld.
Thank you so much for your time.
Respectfully Yours,
Mateo, Maisie
Tismo, Dem Gualvert
Noted by:
Prof. Pete Aton

Course Adviser
126

You are being asked to participate in a preliminary study to an on-going thesis entitled
Effect of Perceived Physical Attractiveness and Gender on Socio-Communicative
Orientation of Heterosexual Young Adults. Before you give your consent, please read the
following information and feel free to ask any questions.
RESEARCHERS
Maisie Mateo
Gavrielle Eleez Accion
Dem Gualvert Tismo
The research aims to determine the interpersonal attraction of selected heterosexual young
adults based on their photographs.
You will be asked to participate in a short activity that may be completed in less than an
hour.
The short activity consists of looking through various photographs of young adults of the
opposite gender. You will be prompted to answer a 15-item test that measures the
interpersonal attraction of each person in the photograph.
RISKS
The risk of harm is minimal and involves the stress experienced during an ordinary day or
during routine psychological testing.
Your contribution to the study of human behavior will be deeply appreciated. It will allow us
to gain insight about physical attractiveness as an important psychological variable.
CONFIDENTIALITY
All information identifying you will remain confidential. The results of this study may be
published and presented on the condition that you are not identified.
127
Snacks and testing materials will be provided during the activity. The knowledge of being
able to contribute to an insightful social experiment may also be acquired.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at +639162766555.
SIGNATURE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
My signature below affirms that I have read and understood the information provided
regarding my involvement in the study.
Date: _____________________
Name of Participant
Signature
128

You are being asked to participate in a research study that seeks to investigate gender
differences in social interactions. Before you give your consent, please read the following
information and feel free to ask any questions.
RESEARCHERS
Maisie Mateo
Gavrielle Eleez Accion
Demgualvert Tismo
The research aims to examine the quality of social interactions between men and women.
You will be asked to participate in a short activity that consists of a 5-minute telephone
conversation with a member of the opposite gender and a 5-minute questionnaire.
You will be assigned to a room and given a few instructions before your 5-minute casual
telephone conversation with a member of the opposite gender starts. Afterwards, you will be
asked to complete a 5-minute questionnaire based on the social interaction you just had.
RISKS
The risk of harm is minimal and involves the stress experienced during an ordinary day or
during routine psychological testing.
Your contribution to the study of human behavior will be deeply appreciated. It will allow us
to gain understanding about the nature of social interactions between men and women.
CONFIDENTIALITY
All information identifying you will remain confidential. The results of this study may be
published and presented on the condition that you are not identified.
129
All materials will be provided during the activity and souvenirs will be given afterwards as a
token of gratitude.
If you have any question, please do not hesitate to contact us at +639162766555.
SIGNATURE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
My signature below affirms that I have read and understood the information provided
regarding my involvement in the study.
______________________________________
Signature over Printed Name of Participant
______________________
Date
CONTACT INFORMATION
Please let us know how we can keep in touch with you easily, especially in confirming your
availability to participate in our activity. We will never share your information with third
parties.
Contact Number/s:
E-Mail Address:
Facebook Name/URL:
Other Contact Info:
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
130
Appendix E
Debriefing Form
Effect of Perceived Physical Attractiveness and Gender on SocioCommunicative Orientation of Heterosexual Young Adults
The experiment that we conducted is not only for us to gather data but also for you
to learn what psychological research is like. It provides you the opportunity to see
how psychological experiments really work and how we investigate our research
problems.
I only provided you limited information at the start of the experiment regarding its
purpose. Sometimes when we are studying about how people behave to social
stereotypes (more specifically the physical-attractiveness stereotype) we dont
disclose to participants a full description of what we are studying so that we may
obtain natural responses. Take note that not every psychological research does this.
We would like to explain why we felt the need to hold some information from you.
In a social interaction between two people, there is a perceiver and a target. The
perceiver is the one who passes judgment onto the target and bases his future
actions towards him or her. The target is the receiver of the perceivers judgment
and behavior and therefore adjusts accordingly to them. There is a concept in social
psychology called behavioral confirmation, which is a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy.
It states that once a perceiver has formed a belief about the target, he or she tends
to act in ways that elicit evidence of that belief from the target. We would like to test
out this concept by using the physical-attractiveness stereotype, which states that
physically attractive people are favored because they are assumed to possess more
desirable personality traits (such as intelligent, kind, warm, sociable, etc.) compared
to physically unattractive people. Therefore, our research objective consists of
identifying how assertive and responsive a person is in a conversation if he or she is
perceived as physically attractive or physically unattractive; and whether the results
are different between males and females.
If you were assigned to be the perceiver in the phone conversation, you may
remember that we have showed you either an attractive or unattractive photograph
of your conversational partner before your interaction. Unknown to you and your
partner, the photograph was manipulated and was not really how your partner
looked like. Afterwards, we analyzed the scores of your partner on the Socio-
131
Communicative Orientation scale for us to determine how assertive and responsive

he or she was after talking to you.
If you were assigned to be the target in the phone conversation, you may remember
that we have asked you to converse with a person of the opposite gender for five
minutes on the phone. Unknown to you, we showed either an attractive or
unattractive photograph to your partner before the conversation. We did not disclose
this detail to you because we believe it will not elicit a genuine response from you if
we did so. Afterwards, we analyzed your scores on the Socio-Communicative
Orientation scale for us to determine how assertive and responsive you were after
talking to your partner. Rest assured that all information identifying you in the study
remains confidential.
There really is no right or wrong analysis of the case. We were just interested in
finding out if the physical appearance of a person has an effect on his or her
communication competence. We hope that you understand our reasons for using
such deception in the study and that it doesnt hinder you from participating in other
psychological researches in the future.
If you have any concerns or inquiries about our research, feel free to contact the
researchers at +63916-276-6555.
If you would like to learn more about our research topic, you might want to refer to
the following book available at the university library:
Myers, D. (2010). Social Psychology (10th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
You might want to consult on the following subjects using the glossary of the book:
Behavioral confirmation
Physical-attractiveness stereotype
Self-fulfilling prophecy
Thank you so much for your participation in the study. Your contribution is deeply
valued.
132
POST-RESEARCH SURVEY
Name (Optional): ____________________________
Age: _____ Gender: _____
Please place a check () mark on either of the columns if the question requires a yes or no
response, otherwise write down your answer on the space provided.
QUESTIONS
1. Did you have any ideas beforehand about the topic we are
studying (e.g. attractiveness stereotype, self-fulfilling prophecy)?
2. Did you understand and follow the instructions given to you by the
experimenter?
3. Did you have a strong suspicion that the conditions in the exercise
might be manipulated or that you might be being misled?
3.1 If Yes, was it strong enough to have caused you to behave
differently compared to if you did not have that suspicion?
4. If you have known all the details regarding the study, would this
have changed your response or behavior?
5. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest, describe your
anxiety level during the exercise.
6. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest, describe your
anxiety level after you were debriefed.
7. Are you glad to have participated in the exercise?
8. Are you likely to participate in other psychological exercises in the

future?
9. Would you like to know more about the topic we are studying?
10. Would you like to receive a copy of the detailed findings of the
study?
10.1 If Yes, kindly provide your e-mail address.
YES
NO
133
Appendix F
Interview Questionnaire for Group Dynamics Module
Adapted from Conversation Questions: Getting to Know Each Other of The
Internet TESL Journal (http://iteslj.org/questions/getting.html)
Do you have any pets?

What was the last book you read?
Do you like to cook?
What's your favorite food?
Are you good at cooking/swimming/etc?
Are you married or single?
Do you have brothers and sisters?
o Are they older or younger than you?
Do you live alone?
Do you live in a house or an apartment?
Have you ever lived in another country?
Have you ever met a famous person?
How do you spend your free time?
How long have you been studying English?
How old are you?
How tall are you?
Tell me about a favorite event of your adulthood.
Tell me about a favorite event of your childhood.
What are your hobbies?
What two things could you not do when you were...?
What countries have you visited?
What country are you from?
What do you do on Sundays?
What do you do? What's your job?
What do you like to do in your free time?
What hobbies do you have?
What is your motto?
What is your religion? (Perhaps not a good question in some situations.)
What kind of food do you like?
What kind of people do you like?
What kind of people do you not like?
What languages do you speak?
What two things could you not do when you were a child, but you can do
now?
What's something you do well?
134
What's your father like?

What's your mother like?
Where are you from?
Where do you live?
Where do you live? How long have you lived there?
Where were you born?
Which sports do you like?
Who do you live with?
Who do you respect the most?
Who has had the most influence in your life?
Why did you decide to take this course?
Would you like to be famous?
What do you think you will be doing five years from now?
o Where do you think you'll be living five years from now?
What is your goal in life?
Are you a 'morning' or 'night' person?
When do you feel best? In the morning, afternoon, or evening?
How many cities have you lived in?
What jobs have you done?
Which do you prefer, sunrises or sunsets?
What could you do as a child that you can't do now?
Who is your next door neighbor in your home country?
o What is he or she like?
o Did you get along with each other?
What is the best memory of our country?
What is the worst memory of our country?
How many times did you move as a child?
Are you a task oriented person or a people oriented person?
What is the profile of the wife/husband you would meet?
o What kind of woman/man would you like to marry?
135

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