Impact of Gender, Physical Attractiveness, and Intelligence on the Perception of Peer Counselors

ABSTRACT

Gender differences in physical attractiveness and intelligence stereotypes were investigated by using an employment context as the judgment situation. Forty male and 40 female American undergraduates evaluated 10 bogus job applications in which the gender, physical attractiveness, and intelligence of a purported applicant for a peer counseling position were systematically varied. Ratings of the applicants included 10 semantic differential items; rankings involved relative preference. Significant effects were found for applicant gender, attractiveness, and intelligence for both rankings and ratings. Simple effects tests indicated that for less intelligent applicants, lower attractiveness was a relative liability for men and a relative asset for women. Moreover, women of lower intelligence and higher attractiveness suffered from a negative bias that men with the same characteristics did not. Finally, men were generally viewed less positively than women, and this effect was increased when men were of low attractiveness and intelligence.