ABSTRACT
In 1977, a group of college men were induced to talk on the phone to either an attractive female or an unattractive female. Not surprisingly, men liked the attractive female more than the unattractive female. However, there’s a twist-all of the men were talking to the same female-only half were shown a picture of an attractive person and half were shown a picture of an unattractive person. Clearly, the halo effect surrounding attractive people was operating. The fact that these men’s beliefs were influenced by the picture is not surprising. What is more interesting is the fact that the woman behaved differently toward the men who thought she was attractive versus unattractive. When a set of judges who were blind to condition (i.e., did not know which picture the men saw) listened to the audiotaped phone calls, they rated the woman as warmer and friendlier when she was talking to a male who thought she was attractive than unattractive (Snyder, Tanke, & Berscheid, 1977).
