GLOBAL SOCIAL SKILL RATINGS - MEASURES OF SOCIAL-BEHAVIOR OR PHYSICALATTRACTIVENESS

Calvert reviewed the literature on social skills and physical attracti veness and concluded that many ratings of social skill may be confound ed by the physical attractiveness of the target individual, possibly d ue to a general perception that physical attractiveness and social com petence are positively correlated. In order to examine the influence o f physical attractiveness on social skill ratings, Ss made global rati ngs of social skill and attractiveness for a confederate whose appeara nce and behavior had been altered to appear attractive or unattractive and socially skilled or unskilled in an assertiveness and heterosocia l vignette. The results indicated that the same skilled behavior was v iewed as more competent when performed by an attractive person compare d to an unattractive person. Attractiveness had no influence on rating s of generally incompetent behavior. Thus, it appears that physical at tractiveness does not compensate for poor interpersonal skills, but a skilled, attractive individual may be judged to have particularly good skills. Implications for the assessment of social skills are discusse d.