Attractiveness-halo findings are skewed by male-subject female-target designs.
Evidence
Physical attractiveness-based halo effects have been found to be greater for female than male targets (Bar-Tal & Saxe, 1976; Wallston & O’Leary, 1981). As Berscheid (1985) has pointed out, however, halo effect research is grossly imbalanced in its predominant use of male subjects and female targets—a strategy that may reflect both popular belief and evidence showing that physical attractiveness of an opposite-sex partner is more important for men than for women (Feingold, 1990). Alternately, the imbalance may indicate that attractiveness is a more potent implicit attitudinal cue component of females than males. — Anthony G. Greenwald and Mahzarin R. Banaji, Implicit Social Cognition, 93
Categorization
- recurring: this claim recurs 2 times within its source