Sj. Mckelvie, STEREOTYPING IN PERCEPTION OF ATTRACTIVENESS, AGE, AND GENDER IN SCHEMATIC FACES, Social behavior and personality, 21(2), 1993, pp. 121-128
Thirty-one subjects classified 16 schematic faces on six subject varia
bles. Faces judged as pleasant-looking received higher positive trait
evaluations than those judged as unpleasant (effect size d = 0.91 or 1
.47), strongly confirming the dictum that ''what is beautiful is good'
'. Also, more faces perceived as young were judged to be pleasant than
unpleasant (d = 0.67) and more faces perceived as old were judged to
be unpleasant than pleasant (d = 0.64), replicating previous reports o
f a negative relationship between age and attractiveness. However, the
latter effect disappeared when women judged faces perceived to be fem
ale. It is suggested that future research should replicate this intera
ction, and investigate the effect of using various terms to characteri
ze attractiveness.