Communicator Physical Attractiveness and Persuasion

In a field setting, physically attractive or unattractive male and female communicator-subjects delivered a persuasive message to target-subjects of each sex. Results indicated that attractive (vs. unattractive) communicators induced significantly greater persuasion on both a verbal and behavioral measure of target agreement. In addition, female targets indicated greater agreement than did male targets. Data gathered from communicator-subjects during an earlier laboratory session indicated that physically attractive and unattractive communicators differed with respect to several communication skills and other attributes relevant to communicator persuasiveness, including grade point average, Scholastic Aptitude Test scores, and several measures of self-evaluation. These findings suggest that attractive individuals may be more persuasive than unattractive persons partly because they possess characteristics that dispose them to be more effective communicators.