Physical Attractiveness Research

From a dialectic-interactional perspective, a review of the physical attractiveness research is completed in an attempt to examine a proposed relation between outer appearance and inner psychological characteristics. Four central assumptions about the potential effects of attractiveness relevant to individual development are specified and augmented by supporting social psychological research. The relationship between attractiveness and (a) social stereotyping, (b) social exchange, (c) internalized personality patterns, and (d) social behavior are reviewed. Arguments are advanced for future research on the interdependence of outer and inner developmental progressions under the rubric of a developmental social psychology of beauty.