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Perceptualand Motor Skills, 1989, 68, 199-202.

O Perceptual and Motor Skills 1989

PERCEPTION O F ATTRACTIVENESS BY OBESITY


AND HAIR COLOR '

DENNIS E. CLAYSON AND MICHAEL L. KLASSEN

Univeriity of Northern Iowa

Summary.-In a study of 318 Caucasian college srudents, obese persons and red-
headed men were seen as unattractive compared to the nonobese and other hair col-
ors. The obesity stereotype and the hal-color stereotype appear to be evaluated
separately with little interaction. The results imply that a stereotypic characteristic
like obesity, which is perceived as being under a person's control, may be evaluated
differently than a stereotypic characteristic independent of personal choice such as
hair color.

There is considerable evidence to suggest that obese persons are per-


ceived negatively by others (DeJong, 1980; Young & Powell, 1985). This
negative perception seems to be heightened because, unlike many other ste-
reotyped persons, obese persons are seen as personally responsible for their
condition (Weiss, 1980). Klassen (1987) found that obese persons were char-
acterized as being lazy, unkempt, lacking self-discipline and self-care,
unhealthy, and insecure. Paradoxically, they are also seen as jolly. There
have been historical changes in culturally accepted body size standards
(Chernin, 1981). An obese person may be seen as purposely violating a cur-
rent cultural value.
An interesting contrast to obesity is hair color. Differing hair colors,
especially blond and red hair, periodically come in and out of fashion.
Unless dyed, hair color is not a matter of personal choice. There is good evi-
dence that persons with red hair, especially men, are currently considered
more unattractive than other hair colors, while blondes are generally per-
ceived as more attractive (Clayson & Maughan, 1986; Feinman & Gill,
1978; Lawson, 1971). Unless wishing to project the image of a comedian or
of an antisocial person, a male in our society will not dye his hair red. The
negative stereotype in his case could be considered as something beyond his
purposeful choice.
- -

This paper investigates how two stereotypes interact. If the two stereo-
types compound each other, it would be expected that an obese redheaded
man would be seen as very unattractive while a nonobese blonde woman
would be perceived as very attractive. There should be a strong interaction
of obese-nonobese by hair color by sex. If the presence or absence of per-
sonal responsibility is a major factor in the negative stereotypes, then hair

'Requests and correspondence should be addressed to Dennis E. Clayson, Ph.D., Department


of Marketing, University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, Iowa 50614.
200 D. E. CLAYSON & M. L. KLASSEN

color and obesity would be expected to be significant factors, but the inter-
action would be nonsignificant.
METHOD
Three hundred eighteen undergraduate junior and senior business ma-
jors from a midwestern state university participated in class without credit.
There were 180 men (57% of sample) and 138 women students. All were
Caucasians. Each student was given a resumi of a worker that described the
worker's position, personal characteristics, and medical history. The resumis
were identical except that sex, obese-nonobese, and hair color were manipu-
lated in a 2 x 2 x 4 factorial design. Hair colors included red, blond,
brown, and black. Consistent with other studies and the hair colors, all the
resumCs described Caucasians.
Each student was asked to evaluate the worker whose resumi he read
on several scales including an attractiveness scale which asked, "How attrac-
tive do you think this person is?" The students responded using a seven-
point scale anchored by "Not attractive" to "Very attractive."
RESULTS
The results for attractiveness are summarized in Table 1. There was a
marginal difference in attractiveness by sex. Women, in general, were de-

TABLE 1
OF VARIANCE
ANALYSIS OF A ~ A C T I V E N ERATINGS
SS
Source Over-all Analysis Red Hair Removed
df MS F df MS F
Sex Student 6,) 1 3.55 2.54 1 3.61 2.61
Sex Worker 6,) 1 5.34 3.82* 1 0.36 0.26
Obesity ( 0 ) 1 383.41 274.357 1 300.81 217.96t
Hair Color (H) 3 6.52 4.67t 2 0.29 0.21
Ss Sw 1 0.22 0.16 1 0.11 0.08
S, x 0 1 0.66 0.47 1 1.80 1.30
S, x H 3 1.33 0.95 2 1.82 1.32
S, x 0 1 12.42 8.897 1 2.01 1.46
S, x H 3 2.99 2.14 2 0.76 0.55
O x H 3 1.95 1.40 2 2.36 1.71
S, x S, x 0 1 0.50 0.36 1 1.24 0.90
S, x S, x H 3 0.06 0.05 2 0.04 0.03
S , x O x H 3 1.57 1.12 2 1.92 1.39
S , x O x H 3 4.22 3.02' 2 1.31 0.95
S,xS,xOxH 3 1.21 0.87 2 1.33 0.96
Residual 286 1.40 213 1.38
*p . 0 5 . t p < .01.

scribed as more attractive than men (women: 3.85, SE: 0.14; men: 3.58, SE:
0.12). Obese workers were seen as much less attractive than nonobese work-
ATTRACTIVENESS: OBESITY, HAIR COLOR 201

ers (obese: 2.61, SE: 0.10; nonobese: 4.81, SE: 0.10). There was a signifi-
cant difference in attractiveness by hair color. Redheads were given the
lowest scores and blondes the highest (red: 3.31, SE: 0.18; blonde: 3.96, SE:
0.20; brown: 3.83, SE: 0.18; black: 3.82, SE: 0.18). Hair color by obese-
nonobese was not significant. Sex by obese-nonobese was significant as well
as the three-way interaction of sex by obese-nonobese by hair color. Both
significant interactions are a result of the low evaluation of redhaired men
as can be seen in Table 2 and by the fact that, if red hair is removed from
the analysis, d significant effects disappear except obese-nonobese.

TABLE 2
MEANA ~ A C T I V E N ERATINGS
SS AND STANDARDERRORS(SE) FOR
NONOBESE-OBESE BY SEXBY HAIR COLOR

Hair Color Nonobese Obese


Men Women Men Women
M SE M SE M SE M SE
Red 3.43 0.32 5.20 0.17 2.40 0.25 2.20 0.28
Blonde 5.25 0.29 5.20 0.22 2.55 0.22 2.74 0.37
Brown 4.80 0.19 5.15 0.21 3.05 0.29 2.35 0.26
Black 4.65 0.25 5.00 0.36 2.75 0.25 2.90 0.24
Note.-Not Attractive-1 2 3 4 5 6 7-Very Attractive.

Several conclusions seem justified by this analysis. (a) In printed re-


sumes, nonobese persons were seen as significantly more attractive than the
obese persons. This was true regardless of sex and/or hair color except for
redheaded men. Redheaded men were rated as significantly less attractive
even if nonobese. (b) The hair color stereotype, which is not a matter of
personal choice, did not seem to interact with the obese stereotype.
Although obesity was seen as a very important component of attractiveness,
the students appeared to be evaluating each stereotype independently of the
other.
REFERENCES
CHERNIN,K. (1981) The obsession: rejlecrions on the Qranny of slenderness. New York: Harper
& Rowe.
CLAYSON,D. E., & MAUGI-IAN, M. R. C. (1986) Redheads and blonds: stereotypic images.
Psychological Reports, 59, 81 1-816.
DEJONG,W. (1980) The sti ma of obesity: the consequences of naive assumptions concerning
the causes of physica!deviance. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 21, 75-87.
FEINMAN,S., & GILL, G . W. (1978) Sex differences in physical attractiveness preferences.
Journal of Social Prychology, 105, 43-52.
KLASSEN,M. (1987) The cognitive basis of social judgment: the role of stereoty ical beliefs in
the processing of information about obese and thin people. Unpublished Soccoral disser-
tation, Kansas State Univer.
LAWSON,E. D. (1971) Hair color, personality, and the observer. Psychological Repom, 28,
311-322.
202 D. E. CLAYSON & M. L. KLASSEN

Wuss, E. (1980) Perceived self-infiction and evaluation of obese and handicapped persons.
Perceptual and Motor Skills, 50, 1268.
YOUNG,L. M., & POWELL, B. (1985) The effects of obesity on the clinical judgments of men-
tal health professionals. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 26, 233-246.

Accepted December 1, 1988

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