Moderating effects of need for cognition on attractiveness stereotyping

The present study investigated the moderating effects of the need for cognition (NFC) on the attractiveness bias. Based on previous research suggesting that people low in NFC are more strongly influenced by peripheral cues (e.g., attractiveness), it was expected that such individuals in the present study would exhibit stronger attractiveness biases than individuals high in NFC. Male and female participants, high and low in NFC, rated four photographs that varied in attractiveness and sex: (a) an attractive male, (b) an attractive female, (C) an unattractive male, (d) an unattractive female. Each participant rated a single photo on 17 personality traits using a 7-point scale. The results indicated that both high and low NFC participants evidenced an attractiveness bias, however, that of the low NFC participants was found to be significantly stronger. This pattern of findings suggests that previous assumptions about the pervasiveness of the bias need to be modified to include the moderating effects of the individual differences variable, need for cognition.