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What is beautiful is good, even online:

Correlations between photo attractiveness and
text attractiveness in men's online dating
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Computers in Human Behavior

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What is beautiful is good, even online: Correlations between photo attractiveness

and text attractiveness in mens online dating proles
Rebecca J. Brand , Abigail Bonatsos, Rebecca DOrazio, Hilary DeShong
Villanova University, Department of Psychology, 800 Lancaster Ave., Villanova, PA 19085, United States

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Available online 25 September 2011
Keywords:
Internet dating
Physical attractiveness stereotype
Good genes
Self-fullling prophecy

a b s t r a c t
Attractive people are considered by others to have many positive qualities and in the case of social skills
and intelligence, these attributions are often true. In internet dating, individuals with attractive prole
photos are viewed more favorably overall, but no research has yet established whether they indeed have
more positive qualities. We addressed this issue by having 50 women independently rate 100 photos and
free-written texts taken from males proles on a popular dating website. Photos rated as physically
attractive had prole texts that were rated as more attractive, even though photos and texts were rated
by different judges. Perceived condence seemed to play a mediating role, suggesting that attractive men
write appealing texts because they are aware of their high mate value. Thus, contrary to popular belief,
the internet does not seem to level the playing eld.
2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
What is beautiful is often seen as good. In other words, attractive people are often perceived as having positive qualities (Dion,
Bersheid, & Walster, 1972). In fact, some research shows that what
is beautiful actually is good in certain ways (Feingold, 1992). In an
internet dating context, research shows that proles with attractive photos are judged as more attractive overall (Fiore, Shaw
Taylor, Mendelsohn, & Hearst, 2008b). However, no one has
demonstrated whether online daters with attractive photos also
have other attractive qualities, as conveyed in their prole texts.
In fact, one popular impression of the internet is that it levels
the playing eld by allowing individuals appealing personalities
to shine, even if they are not physically attractive. To address this
issue, we asked whether qualities apparent in prole photos are
correlated with qualities of the written text, when judged
independently.
The claim that what is beautiful is good, also known as the
physical attractiveness stereotype, originated from a study by Dion
et al. (1972). In this study, participants received photographic
stimuli of previously rated attractive, average, and unattractive target individuals. Participants then rated these targets on various
qualities such as sensitivity, warmth, sociability, and level of
adjustment. Results showed that participants rated the more
attractive targets as more likely to possess socially desirable personalities than the less attractive individuals. Also, participants
rated the more attractive people as more likely to be successful
Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 610 519 7940; fax: +1 610 519 4269.
E-mail address: rebecca.brand@villanova.edu (R.J. Brand).
0747-5632/$ - see front matter 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.chb.2011.08.023

in life, such as getting married and obtaining a high status job, than
the unattractive people.
Subsequent decades of research have supported and claried this
effect. Meta-analyses by Eagly, Ashmore, Makhijani, and Longo
(1991) and Feingold (1992) found that people tend to attribute positive qualities to attractive people, although the effect is limited to
certain domains. Specically, attractive people are typically perceived as being more competent, intelligent, socially-skilled, and
well-adjusted. An additional meta-analysis by Langlois et al.
(2000) showed that this effect is not limited to perception by strangers but extends to perception by well-known others. Finally, the
physical attractiveness stereotype has also been found to occur in reverse, such that people rate the same photograph as more physically
attractive if it is accompanied by a favorable description of the person than if it is accompanied by an average or unfavorable description (Gross & Crofton, 1977). In sum, people tend to think
physically attractive individuals have other attractive qualities.
A related line of research has indicated that the physical attractiveness stereotype does have some basis in reality, again in limited domains. Feingold (1992) found that good-looking people
were in fact more popular and socially skilled than unattractive
people. Langlois et al. (2000) also indicated that attractive people,
both children and adults, were more socially skilled and well-adjusted (mentally healthy), as well as more successful and somewhat more intelligent.
At least two kinds of explanations exist for the nding that
attractive people seem to possess more positive personal qualities
than unattractive people. First, social learning theory explains this
effect based on the self-fullling prophecy (Langlois et al., 2000;
Snyder, Tanke, & Berscheid, 1977). This particular stereotype is

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R.J. Brand et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 28 (2012) 166170

self-fullling because when we perceive attractive individuals to

have more socially desirable traits, we actually treat them better.
Attractive people may then internalize the belief that they have
superior traits, and may in fact behave in a way that conrms these
beliefs. Thus both the attractive person and the interaction partner
get conrmed in the prophecy that the attractive person is of
superior quality.
Snyder et al. (1977) performed an experiment which demonstrated the multi-stage process of this stereotypes self-fullling
nature. In this study, undergraduate men communicated with women over the telephone. Before communicating, the men viewed a
prole and photo, purportedly of the woman with whom they
were about to speak. In reality, the photo was someone else, prerated as attractive or unattractive. They then completed a questionnaire about their predictions about the womans personality.
The men adhered to the physical attractiveness stereotype: attractive women were predicted to be more sociable, poised, humorous,
and socially adept than unattractive women. In the subsequent
phone conversation, when men believed they were interacting
with an attractive woman, they tended to be more friendly and sociable than those men who believed they were interacting with an
unattractive woman. The womens behaviors then mirrored the
mens: the women in the attractive condition also behaved in a
friendlier and more sociable manner than those in the unattractive condition. Thus, men had assumptions that attractive women
would behave in a socially desirable manner and were therefore
friendlier to them, which led the women to respond positively,
reinforcing the stereotype.
Although the self-fullling prophecy has documented effects on
peoples behavior, it also begs an important question: Where does
the prophecy come from that a physically attractive person will
have positive traits? Perhaps there is a grain of truth from which this
stereotype arises. A second explanation for the nding that attractive people have some better-than-average traits comes from evolutionary theory, and may help answer this question. In particular,
good genes theory suggests that positive qualities will often cluster together, as they are all individually borne of having a good
genotype, relatively free from mutations (e.g., Howrigan & MacDonald, 2008; Scheib, Gangestad, & Thornhill, 1999). In other words, the
same high quality that makes you beautiful might make you smart
and socially skilled, as well. This argument is particularly proposed
for men, as women have been especially choosy in selecting for good
genes qualities over the generations (Trivers, 1972). Many physical
indicators of good genes in males, such as muscularity and body
symmetry, have been shown to cluster together (Folstad & Karter,
1992; Frederick & Haselton, 2007; Scheib et al., 1999; Thornhill &
Gangestad, 1999). More recently, several mental tness indicators,
including intelligence, creativity, and sense of humor, have been
proposed to indicate good genes (Haselton & Miller, 2006; Miller,
2000; Prokosch, Yeo, and Miller, 2005). In support of this possibility,
body symmetry has been shown to correlate with general intelligence (Furlow, Armijo-Prewitt, Gangestad, & Thornhill, 1997). One
goal of the present study was to investigate the degree to which potential mental tness indicators, such as intelligence and sense of
humor, actually correlate with physical attractiveness.
In the current culture, many people make their rst impressions
with potential romantic partners online. Most of the popular online
dating websites boast tens of millions of unique users, and one
study estimates that 13% of marriages in 2009 resulted from meeting on one of the many online dating websites (eHarmony, 2009).
The large majority of the studies on the physical attractiveness stereotype have used static photos of the face and/or body (Eagly
et al., 1991), similar to the type used for online proles. Thus, the
physical attractiveness stereotype presumably also occurs in online dating contexts. At the very least, the photograph associated
with an online prole is a major inuence on peoples opinions

167

of the proles. For instance, one study found that the attractiveness
of the prole photo was the strongest predictor of participants
judgments of the proles overall desirability (Fiore, Lindsay, Mendelsohn, & Hearst, 2008a). Lundy, Tan, and Cunningham (1998a)
argue that this bias happens especially more often in mens judgments of women than in womens judgments of men, but Fiore
et al. (2008) found a strong effect for both sexes. Because good
genes arguments apply more to men than to women (Miller,
2000), we opted in the current study to focus on womens judgments of mens proles.
The self-fullling prophecy has also been demonstrated in an
internet dating context. Gueguen, Lourel, Charron, Fischer-Lokou,
and Lamy (2009) replicated Snyder et al. (1977) study with college
males who were given a constructed web personal advertisement.
Men who viewed proles including attractive versus unattractive
photos tended to write longer introductory emails which contained fewer spelling and grammatical errors. Further, female
judges read the emails and were more likely to say they would respond to men in the attractive condition than the unattractive condition. These ndings indicate that men viewing an attractive
photo behaved in a way that indicates more interest in the woman,
and in a way that is likely to elicit a better response in return.
Contrary to these ndings, it is a popular claim that the internet
levels the playing eld for relatively unattractive individuals. For
example, on one website, this statement appears: The best thing
about the Internet is. . . [that] a persons personality can show
through, what you are inside gets a chance to shine without getting
overpowered by what you are outside (http://www.wiredsafety.org/internet101/aromance.html, retrieved 10/27/10). Similarly,
in an article on the development of relationships online, Levine
(2000, p. 525) claims, The online world gives those people who
do not t a stereotypical model of human beauty a chance to be
Don Juans and Carmen Mirandas and have an equal opportunity
to be found desirable. However, if what is beautiful really is good,
then attractive people are also likely to have prole texts that are
socially adept, and that display intelligence and perhaps a good
sense of humor. Thus, those with the most appealing texts (judged
independently of photos) are likely to be those with the most
appealing photos (judged independently of texts). To examine this
issue, we asked women to rate a number of photos and a number
of free-written texts taken from males proles on a popular dating
website. We hypothesized that physical appearance would correlate with positive characteristics of the written texts, despite being
judged independently.
2. Method
2.1. Participants
Participants were 50 female psychology students from a midsized University in the mid-Atlantic region, who ranged in age
from 18 to 24 years (M = 19.04). Participants identied as Caucasian/non-Hispanic (74%), Hispanic (10%), and African American
(4%). Additionally, 4% identied with more than one ethnicity,
and one person (2%) each identied as Asian, Indian, Pacic Islander, and other ethnic categories. For compensation, Introductory
psychology subjects had the choice of course credit or entry into a
drawing for a $25 gift card to Target department store; all others
were automatically entered into the drawing.
2.2. Materials
We used 100 proles and their corresponding photos, posted by
men on a popular online dating website. The proles were selected
from 22- to 25-year-old men in the New York City and Seattle areas.

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Local and college-aged men were specically avoided to reduce the

likelihood that subjects would recognize one of the targets. No subject reported recognizing any target. After searching by age and sorting by recency of activity, 20 proles were taken from the top of the
list (indicating recently active proles), and twenty were taken from
the middle of the list (indicating men who had not signed on for several weeks or longer). Because humor was of interest in the study, a
search was then performed with words that might indicate humor,
such as laugh, funny, and humor, and the experimenters chose
the rst ten proles from each location that were judged to contain
successful humor. Proles were only used if they had a primary
photo that was a clear, frontal shot of the targets head and/or body.
Proles in which the photo was blurry and those in which the face
was obscured were replaced with the next useable prole.
From these proles, the primary photo, the headline, and the
introductory, About Me text was selected. (Additional information in the proles, such as answers to specic questions about
hobbies, ethnicity, and income, was not included.) Headlines and
texts were copied and printed on a single white page. All wording
and punctuation was retained, including any spelling or grammatical mistakes. Photos were copied and printed on a white page.
They were displayed in the same color scheme (i.e., black and
white or full-color) as they were posted.
The 100 proles were divided into four sets of 25. Each participant rated one subset of 25 photos and a different subset of 25 prole texts. In other words, if a woman rated a targets photo, she was
assured not to rate his text. This procedure made it impossible for a
target mans photo to inuence his text ratings, and vice versa. For
the photos, participants were asked how physically attractive they
found the man (overall), and how attractive they found him for a
date, for a short-term sexual encounter, and for a long-term committed relationship. Next they were asked to rate how kind, condent, masculine, and symmetrical the man seemed from his
photo. For the prole texts, participants were asked how attractive
the man seemed for a date, for sex, and for a long-term committed
relationship. Next they were asked how kind, condent, intelligent,
and funny or humorous the man seemed from his prole. Because
multiple theories exist regarding the functions of humor and their
possible relationship to attractiveness (e.g., Li et al., 2009; Lundy
et al., 1998; Miller, 2000), participants were instructed to rate various types of humor the prole might have used. Options included
self-deprecating, other-deprecating, self-enhancing, afliative,
obnoxious, silly, aggressive, witty or clever, and other. All questions
were rated on a 04 scale, with 0 anchored as not, and 4 anchored
as very, with an option for cannot judge.
The order of responding was counterbalanced, such that half the
participants rated texts rst, while the other half rated photos rst.
Within each set of 25 proles, a random order was generated. Half
of the women who rated a given set viewed it in this random order; the other half viewed it in the reverse order. Each set of 25
was rated by 12 or 13 separate participants. Targets average ratings were then used in the analyses.
2.3. Procedure
Participants completed the questionnaires in study rooms in
groups of up to 4. Adequate space was provided so that their answers remained shielded from other participants. Prior to beginning, they were reminded that their answers would be kept
condential, and asked to answer as if they were single and available, even if they were in a relationship. After explaining the procedure, the researcher then went over an example photo and
example text, and showed the participant how to complete the response sheet. Participants were given as much time to complete
the questions as needed. When they were nished, they were offered their compensation and dismissed.

3. Results
Preliminary analyses showed that the questions asking about
the physical attractiveness of the photos (overall, for a date, for
sex, and for a long-term relationship) were highly intercorrelated,
Cronbachs alpha = .986; thus, the mean of these four variables was
computed as a photo attractiveness composite (on a scale of 04,
M = 1.33, SD = .86).1 This will henceforth be referred to as photo
attractiveness. This composite was also correlated with the other
photo features (kindness, condence, masculinity, and symmetry),
rs(100) = .58 .80, ps < .01. Despite these strong correlations, these
variables were retained in their original form because in theory they
tap different constructs than mere attractiveness.
The three text attractiveness variables (for a date, for sex, and
for a long-term relationship) were also highly intercorrelated,
Cronbachs alpha = .929, and were also averaged to create a composite, referred to as text attractiveness (M = 1.79, SD = .56). As
with the photos, the text composite correlated strongly with the
other text variables (kindness, condence, intelligence, and humor), rs(100) = .40 .77, ps < .01.
Of central interest was whether the physical attractiveness of the
photos would correlate with any features of the texts, which were
rated by different subjects. We found that photo attractiveness
and the text attractiveness were correlated, r(1 0 0) = .24, p = .017.
Additionally, the photo attractiveness was correlated with the perceived condence of the text, r(1 0 0) = .25, p = .012. Text condence
was also correlated with photo condence, r(1 0 0) = .22, p = .028,
photo masculinity, r(1 0 0) = .21, p = .037, and photo symmetry,
r(1 0 0) = .22, p = .025, and was marginally related to photo kindness,
r(1 0 0) = .19, p = .054. No other text variables correlated with photo
attractiveness.
Because the condence of the text was so strongly related to
photo variables, we asked whether the condence of the text might
be mediating the relationship between photo attractiveness and
general text attractiveness. In other words, perhaps attractive
men write condent texts, and it is this condence that makes
the texts appealing. Baron and Kenny (1986) describe three criteria
that must be satised in order to say that mediation is occurring.
First, the independent variable (in this case, photo attractiveness)
must predict the dependent variable (text attractiveness); this is
suggested by the correlation described above and conrmed with
regression analysis: b = .15, p < .017. Second, the independent variable must predict the proposed mediator (text condence); and
third, the mediator must predict the dependent variable when controlling for the independent variable. These latter two criteria are
also supported: when the condence of the text and photo attractiveness were entered into a regression predicting text attractiveness, text condence was still a signicant predictor, b = .56,
p < .0005, while photo attractiveness was not, b = .10, p > .05. In order to formally test whether mediation occurred, a Sobels z-test
was conducted (Preacher & Hayes, 2004; Sobel, 1982). This test
indicated that indeed, condence of the text was a signicant
mediator of the relationship between the attractiveness of the
photo and the attractiveness of the text, z = 2.36, p = .038.
In order to fully explore connections between mens physical
appearance and their personality as conveyed in their prole texts,
we computed correlations among all textphoto pairs. Several other
signicant correlations emerged. Text attractiveness correlated
with photo symmetry, r(1 0 0) = .22, p = .031, and photo kindness,
r(1 0 0) = .26, p = .010. However, neither of these added unique
prediction of text attractiveness when entered into a regression with
1
One possible reason for high intercorrelation among variables rated by the same
raters is a systematic bias in some raters. To account for this, all analyses were
performed after ipsitizing (standardizing) judges ratings. The results were unchanged
by this analysis; thus, the unstandardized values are reported here.

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R.J. Brand et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 28 (2012) 166170

the composite photo attractiveness, b < .13, p > .05. Further, the
kindness of the photo also correlated with the intelligence of the text
r(1 0 0) = .28, p = .005, but a regression analysis showed that text
intelligence did not show a unique relationship with photo kindness
over and above the relationship with text attractiveness, b = .23,
p > .05, again suggesting shared variance. Finally, the masculinity
of the photo correlated with the use of aggressive humor (but not
humor overall), r(1 0 0) = .28, p = .005. A regression analysis indicated that this relationship was signicant over and above any relationship between overall attractiveness and aggressive humor.
Specically, when predicting aggressive humor from the masculinity of the photo and the composite photo attractiveness, the photo
attractiveness is not a signicant predictor, b = .04, p > .05, but
the masculinity of the photo is, b = .12, p = .040.
In selecting stimuli, no attempt was made to control for the facial expression of the target men because we wanted stimuli to
represent the population of online dating individuals as naturally
as possible. However, to assess any potential relationship with facial expression, we conducted a post-hoc analysis in which three
judges nave to the research questions coded whether targets were
smiling. They assigned a score of 0 for not smiling, 1 for not
sure, and 2 for smiling. Their agreement was good (Cronbachs
alpha = .91). If two or more judges identied the target as smiling
(a 2) and none said he was denitely not smiling (a 0), he was
considered to be smiling. By this denition, 61% of targets were
smiling. Comparing those who were denitely smiling versus those
who were unclear or not smiling, smiling individuals were rated
higher on photo attractiveness (Msmiling = 1.51, SD = .81) than
non-smiling individuals (Mnon = 1.06, SD = .88), t(98) = 2.59,
p = .011. They were also seen as more condent (Msmiling = 2.71,
SD = .58) than non-smiling individuals (Mnon = 2.08, SD = .90). This
comparison remained signicant after adjusting for unequal variances, t(58.68) = 3.84, p < .0005. In addition, smiling individuals
scored higher on text attractiveness (Msmiling = 1.88, SD = .50)
than non-smiling individuals (Mnon = 1.62, SD = .60), t(98) = 2.32,
p = .022. In order to determine whether smiling predicted the
attractiveness of the text over the general attractiveness and condence of the photo, a regression analysis was conducted. As a
group, these variables signicantly predicted the attractiveness of
the text, R2 = .09, p = .028. However, none of the independent variables remained signicant, ps > .05, suggesting they are all sharing
variance. These ndings are addressed in the following section.

4. Discussion
We attempted to determine whether the maxim, what is beautiful is good, was true for mens online dating proles. To examine
this, we asked women to rate the qualities of mens photos and
prole texts independently of one another. Our data indicate that
the overall attractiveness of the photo was positively correlated
with the overall attractiveness of the text. In other words, those
who are physically attractive also write more appealing proles.
In this sense, online dating does not seem to level the playing eld
for unattractive individuals.
The attractiveness of the texts seemed to be driven primarily by
the level of condence they displayed: the condence of the text
predicted photo attractiveness and nearly all other photo measures, including photo masculinity and photo condence. Further,
the attractiveness of the text was uniquely predicted by the condence of the text, over and above the prediction from the attractiveness of the photo. Such condence may arise from attractive
peoples general sense of their high mate-value, from a lifetime
of experiencing preferential treatment, or via other mechanisms.
One possible implication of this nding is that men who are
pursuing online dating should aim for condent-sounding texts.

169

Perhaps the internet could level the playing eld for less-attractive
individuals if only their proles display condence (real or manufactured). However, one can also imagine an over-abundance of
condence to be unattractive. It is possible that, when the photos
were not available, condence predicted attraction because women (implicitly) assumed that the condence was merited by high
mate quality. When a photo is available and unattractive, however,
a condent text paired with this photo may be viewed as cocky or
obnoxious. Thus, simply writing a condent text may not be the direct route to romantic bliss for a relatively unattractive individual.
Although the social learning theory and evolutionary theory
explanations of the physical attractiveness stereotype are not
mutually exclusive, the current ndings are in line with social
learning theory and are mixed with regard to evolutionary theory.
Specically, the fact that condence mediated the relationship between physical attractiveness and positive personal qualities is in
line with the self-fullling prophecy. Attractive men may have
been treated well for their entire lives because people assume they
possess other positive qualities. In turn, they might respond positively, and eventually internalize these qualities while conrming
others views of them. This would lead to a condence in their
own quality and desirability. This condence would then enable
attractive men to write convincingly about themselves in a way
that women nd sexually attractive.
Mens condence in their own value is also consistent with
evolutionary theory. Over time, attractive men with physical
indicators of good genes tend to have more dating success (Rhodes,
Simmons, & Peters, 2005) and would therefore internalize a sense
of their high mate value. According to evolutionary theory,
however, we also predicted that physical attractiveness would
correlate with other characteristics of the text that may indicate
genetic tness, such as intelligence (Prokosh, Yeo, & Miller, 2005)
and humor (Bressler, Martin, & Balshine, 2006; Miller, 2000) and
we did not nd this to be the case. Text intelligence correlated with
photo kindness, but this appeared not to be a unique relationship
over and above general text attractiveness. According to this
research, then, physically attractive men do not appear any more
humorous or intelligent than non-attractive men. It is possible that
this is an artifact of the written medium (humor being especially
different in written form than in a face-to-face interaction), but
is also consistent with relatively small correlations between
intelligence and attractiveness in other domains (Langlois et al.,
2000).
Interestingly, however, aggressive humor correlated with photo
masculinity. Both masculinity and aggression are correlated with
testosterone (e.g., Book, Starzyk, & Quinsey, 2001; Pound, Penton-Voak, & Surridge, 2009), which is implicated in good genes theories. Perhaps aggressive humor is used as a display of masculinity,
which may be particularly attractive only to some women for instance, women during the fertile phase of their menstrual cycle
(Penton-Voak & Perrett, 2000). Additional research is needed to
determine the possible role(s) of humor and intelligence in good
genes theories of attraction.
Future research would benet from examining mens ratings of
womens proles in addition to womens ratings of mens. On the
one hand, good genes theory is typically applied only to men. Female selection for good genes over generations might explain
why mens looks are correlated with other aspects of their mate value, but according to this theory we would not necessarily expect
to nd the same correlation for women. On the other hand, the
self-fullling nature of the physical attractiveness stereotype presumably applies equally to men and women. Thus, attractive
men and women might write condent, competent texts as a result
of being treated well due to their looks. Research directly comparing men and women on these variables may further inform the viability of these two theories.

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In the current study, we found very high intercorrelations

among photo variables and among text variables, making it impossible to discriminate among these variables. One might predict, for
instance, that a kind photo would be more likely to attract women
for long-term than a short-term relationship, while a masculine
photo might show the opposite effect (Gangestad, Garver-Apgar,
Simpson, & Cousins, 2007). These kinds of questions may be better
addressed with the use of measures that would be more sensitive
to such differences, such as forced-choice measures or strategies in
which subjects are required to rank or trade off between different qualities (e.g., Haselton & Miller, 2006; Li & Kenrick, 2006).
We did not attempt to control targets facial expressions and indeed, post-hoc analyses showed that those individuals who smiled
more were judged as more attractive and also wrote more attractive
texts. Therefore, an argument could be made that men who smiled
may have been perceived as more attractive, and perhaps happy
individuals write more attractive texts. However, it is unlikely for
several reasons that the presence of a smile was the primary causal
factor in womens judgments of physical attractiveness. For one, at
least one recent study found that women judged smiling men as less
attractive than non-smiling men (Tracy & Beall, in press); however,
it should be noted that in their study, smiling faces were chosen
that were specically devoid of signs of pride and condence. In real
life, and in our data, these signals co-vary. Second, using a smiling
photo was the modal choice, and certainly not all of the smiling
individuals were viewed as attractive. Third, while smiling was correlated with attractiveness and condence, it was not a unique predictor of text attractiveness. We think a likely explanation is that
condent, socially savvy men choose photos that make them appear both happy and high in status, and these same men are equally
savvy and skilled in writing their proles.
In summary, we asked women to rate the photos and texts of
male proles on a popular dating website. We found that men
whose photos were rated as attractive also wrote proles that were
rated as attractive. Our data suggest that attractive individuals
wrote texts that conveyed condence, and that it was perhaps this
condence which primarily signaled quality to the women. Because separate groups of women rated each photo and text, the
correlations between them cannot result from the physical attractiveness stereotype. Rather, the correlations conrm the truth behind the stereotype: what is beautiful is good, even on-line.
Acknowledgment
The authors thank Patrick Markey and John Kurtz for helpful advice on research design and analysis.
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