Physical attractiveness in preschoolers: Relationships with power, status, aggression and social skills
Section snippets
Power and status
Power has been differentially defined depending on the domain of inquiry. Social psychologists have defined power as the capacity to influence the states and behaviors of others by virtue of the control of social (friendship, ostracism) and material resources (economic, entertainment; Keltner, Gruenfeld, & Anderson, 2003). With this conceptualization in mind, the closest instantiation of the power concept in the developmental domain is social dominance from a resource control theoretic
Power, status and aggressive self-expression
Aggression is of central interest when it comes to power (social dominance) and status (social preference, social prominence) in children. Aggression appears to have differential relations to these concepts; namely, aggression appears to be one of a number of strategies to achieve social dominance (via resource control) in preschoolers (Hawley, 2003a, Ostrov and Keating, 2004) as well as an effective way to achieve and maintain social prominence in adolescents (Adler and Adler, 1998, Cillessen
Resolving the paradox: Variable-centered vs. person-centered approaches
Both of these views – though on the surface appear diametrically opposed – have tremendous face validity. Both the aggressive-rejected child and the aggressive-popular are familiar to developmentalists and the lay population alike. Resolution to the quandary is gained by inspecting the different methods used in these bodies of work. Presently dominant in psychological and developmental literatures is what has been referred to as a variable-centered approach (e.g., Laursen & Hoff, 2006). These
Aggression and physical attractiveness
Variable- and person-centered approaches to aggression can be seen as giving rise to two distinct hypotheses regarding the relationship between aggression and physical attractiveness. If one's physical attractiveness is believed by the beholder to index one's competencies (as is typically believed), then we might reasonably expect aggressive individuals to be rated as physically unattractive because aggression is associated with qualities that conflict with the positive outcomes and skills
Resource control theory and social dominance (power)
The present resource control theoretic approach asserts that a subgroup of aggressive social dominants will be viewed favorably by others, and furthermore suggests that these favorable views will be reflected in physical attractiveness ratings. The roots of the present theoretical approach are evolutionary, but the details of this aspect of the theory need not be explored here.2
Questions of the present study
The opening quote by Charles Reade (a 19th century English novelist) suggests to us what has long been implied in the field of psychology; namely, that certain social and material benefits are granted to those blessed with good looks. Reade suggests that power over others is one of these benefits. But we wonder whether his implied causal direction is the only correct one. That is, could it be that those who wield power ‘with a smile' (e.g., prosocial and bistrategic controllers, both of whom
Participants
Participants included 153 children recruited from 3 preschools in a small Midwestern city. Approximately 77.8% of the sample was European-American, 8.5% African or African-American,< 2% Hispanic, 10.46% Asian or Asian-American, and < 2% Native American. The average age of these children was 4.85 years (SD = 0.86). Seventy nine of the children were girls (51.63% of the sample) and 74 were boys (48.37% of the sample). Written parental consent was obtained for all participating children according to
Results
Before addressing our person- and variable-centered hypotheses, we will first explore the correlational relationships among the key constructs central to the study.
Discussion
We opened this paper citing the literature that has clearly conveyed that physical attractiveness is a social asset that bolsters ones ability to attract and wield power over others. Our results certainly speak to these issues. Before discussing the role of physical attractiveness, however, it is useful to first explore the ways the present work replicates and adds to the literature on social status and aggression as one of the strategies to attain it. Then, the profiles of the resource control
Conclusions
This study, though not definitive, suggests that it is not necessarily beauty that wins power unidirectionally, but also it is the wielding of power (i.e., via effective resource control) together with prosociality (in a unique combination) that is socially appealing and therefore deemed as physically attractive. In many ways, bistrategic controllers (and prosocial controllers) have qualities of good leaders in that they are extraverted, confident, and socially central (e.g., Stogdill, 1974).
Acknowledgement
Patricia H. Hawley, Department of Psychology, University of Kansas. The authors would like to thank our tireless preschool research team (D. Armer, S. Cotter, J. Gaunt, E. Gutierrez, T. Hamilton, D. Hammond, K. Heil, L. Huber, K. Kaal, V. Koop, S. Lazorow, J. Schurman, S. Snapp, R. Talley, J. Talley, and C. Tickle-Kelly), and our participating preschool directors, teachers, and families.
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