Do physically attractive individuals truly possess a multitude of better characteristics? The current study aimed to answer the age old question, \"Do looks matter?\" within the context of online dating and framed itself using cursory research performed by Brand and colleagues (2012). Good Genes Theory, Halo Effect, Physical Attractiveness Stereotype, and Social Information Procession theory were also used to explore what function appearance truly plays in online dating and how it influences a user's written text.
83 men were surveyed and asked to rate 84 women's online dating profiles (photos and texts) independently of one another to determine if those who were perceived as physically attractive also wrote more attractive texts as well. Results indicated that physical attractiveness was correlated with text attractiveness but not with text confidence. Findings also indicated the more attractive a woman's photo, the less discrepancy there was between her photo attractiveness and text attractiveness scores. Finally, photo attractiveness did not differ significantly for men's ratings of women in this study and women's ratings of men in the Brand et al. (2012) study.
","abstract_html":"<p>Do physically attractive individuals truly possess a multitude of better characteristics? The current study aimed to answer the age old question, "Do looks matter?" within the context of online dating and framed itself using cursory research performed by Brand and colleagues (2012). Good Genes Theory, Halo Effect, Physical Attractiveness Stereotype, and Social Information Procession theory were also used to explore what function appearance truly plays in online dating and how it influences a user's written text.</p> <p>83 men were surveyed and asked to rate 84 women's online dating profiles (photos and texts) independently of one another to determine if those who were perceived as physically attractive also wrote more attractive texts as well. Results indicated that physical attractiveness was correlated with text attractiveness but not with text confidence. Findings also indicated the more attractive a woman's photo, the less discrepancy there was between her photo attractiveness and text attractiveness scores. Finally, photo attractiveness did not differ significantly for men's ratings of women in this study and women's ratings of men in the Brand et al. (2012) study.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Celani-Morrell, Collette"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"M.A.","degree_level":"Masters Thesis","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Mary Claire Morr Serewicz, Ph.D.","Erin Willer","Lynn Schofield-Clark"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2016,"date_issued":"2016-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2016-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:03:19Z","subjects":["Attractiveness","Confidence","Good genes theory","Halo effect","Online dating","Physical attractiveness stereotype","Communication"],"languages":["en"],"rights":["Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.
"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/1103","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Mary Claire Morr Serewicz, Ph.D.","Erin Willer","Lynn Schofield-Clark"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Celani-Morrell, Collette"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2017-02-13T08:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Masters Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["M.A."]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Attractiveness","Confidence","Good genes theory","Halo effect","Online dating","Physical attractiveness stereotype","Communication"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.
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83 men were surveyed and asked to rate 84 women's online dating profiles (photos and texts) independently of one another to determine if those who were perceived as physically attractive also wrote more attractive texts as well. Results indicated that physical attractiveness was correlated with text attractiveness but not with text confidence. Findings also indicated the more attractive a woman's photo, the less discrepancy there was between her photo attractiveness and text attractiveness scores. Finally, photo attractiveness did not differ significantly for men's ratings of women in this study and women's ratings of men in the Brand et al. (2012) study.
"]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Beautiful People Are Better, at Least Online: Associations Between Photo Attractiveness and Text Attractiveness in Women's Online Dating Profiles"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Mary Claire Morr Serewicz, Ph.D.","Erin Willer","Lynn Schofield-Clark"],"dc:creator":["Celani-Morrell, Collette"],"dc:date.available":["2017-02-13T08:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Do physically attractive individuals truly possess a multitude of better characteristics? The current study aimed to answer the age old question, \"Do looks matter?\" within the context of online dating and framed itself using cursory research performed by Brand and colleagues (2012). Good Genes Theory, Halo Effect, Physical Attractiveness Stereotype, and Social Information Procession theory were also used to explore what function appearance truly plays in online dating and how it influences a user's written text.
83 men were surveyed and asked to rate 84 women's online dating profiles (photos and texts) independently of one another to determine if those who were perceived as physically attractive also wrote more attractive texts as well. Results indicated that physical attractiveness was correlated with text attractiveness but not with text confidence. Findings also indicated the more attractive a woman's photo, the less discrepancy there was between her photo attractiveness and text attractiveness scores. Finally, photo attractiveness did not differ significantly for men's ratings of women in this study and women's ratings of men in the Brand et al. (2012) study.
"],"dc:format":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier":["https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/1103"],"dc:language":["en"],"dc:rights":["Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.
"],"dc:subject":["Attractiveness","Confidence","Good genes theory","Halo effect","Online dating","Physical attractiveness stereotype","Communication"],"dc:title":["Beautiful People Are Better, at Least Online: Associations Between Photo Attractiveness and Text Attractiveness in Women's Online Dating Profiles"],"thesis:degree_level":["Masters Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["M.A."]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:03:19Z"}