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Strong but flexible: How fundamental social motives support but sometimes also thwart favorable attractiveness biases

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 March 2017

Maria Agthe  and
Jon K. Maner
Maria Agthe
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU Munich), 80802 Munich, GermanyMariaAgthe@lmu.dehttp://www.psy.lmu.de/soz/personen/mitarbeiter/agthe/index.html
Jon K. Maner
Affiliation:
Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208jon.maner@kellogg.northwestern.eduhttp://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/faculty/directory/maner_jon.aspx
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Abstract

Research corroborates the notion that fundamental social motives play an important role in biases that favor attractive people. Although an adaptationist framework expects favorable social effects of good looks in most situations and contexts, it simultaneously allows for potential negative social reactions and outcomes that may be elicited by physical attractiveness in other contexts. These effects of attractiveness reflect the reproductive opportunities and threats posed by potential mates and rivals.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 40 , 2017 , e20
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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