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  5. Determinant and Consequences of Female Attractiveness and Sexiness: Realistic Tests with Restaurant Waitresses

Determinant and Consequences of Female Attractiveness and Sexiness: Realistic Tests with Restaurant Waitresses

File(s)
Lynn16_Determinant_and_Consequences.pdf (205.77 KB)
Permanent Link(s)
https://hdl.handle.net/1813/72444
Collections
SHA Articles and Chapters
Author
Lynn, Michael
Abstract

Waitresses completed an on-line survey about their physical characteristics, self-perceived attractiveness and sexiness, and average tips. The waitresses’ self-rated physical attractiveness increased with their breast sizes and decreased with their ages, waist-to-hip ratios, and body sizes. Similar effects were observed on self-rated sexiness, with the exception of age, which varied with self-rated sexiness in a negative, quadratic relationship rather than a linear one. Moreover, the waitresses’ tips varied with age in a negative, quadratic relationship, increased with breast size, increased with having blond hair, and decreased with body size. These findings, which are discussed from an evolutionary perspective, make several contributions to the literature on female physical attractiveness. First, they replicate some previous findings regarding the determinants of female physical attractiveness using a larger, more diverse, and more ecologically valid set of stimuli than has been studied before. Second, they provide needed evidence that some of those determinants of female beauty affect interpersonal behaviors as well as attractiveness ratings. Finally, they indicate that some determinants of female physical attractiveness do not have the same effects on overt interpersonal behavior (such as tipping) that they have on attractiveness ratings. This latter contribution highlights the need for more ecologically valid tests of evolutionary theories about the determinants and consequences of female beauty.

Date Issued
2009-01-01
Keywords
attractiveness
•
sexiness
•
tipping
•
evolutionary theory
Related DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-008-9379-0
Rights
Required Publisher Statement: © Springer. Final version published as: Lynn, M. (2009). Determinants and consequences of female attractiveness and sexiness: Realistic tests with restaurant waitresses. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 38(5), 737-745. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.
Type
article

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