Maxims or myths of beauty? A meta-analytic and theoretical review.

2000/01/01 by Judith H. Langlois, Lisa Kalakanis, Adam J. Rubenstein +3 · 1 voice · 60 citations
Business, Management and Accounting · Psychology · #Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification #Eating Disorders and Behaviors #Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior

paper · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.126.3.390

openalex publication_date 2000/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29

Abstract

Common maxims about beauty suggest that attractiveness is not important in life. In contrast, both fitness-related evolutionary theory and socialization theory suggest that attractiveness influences development and interaction. In 11 meta-analyses, the authors evaluate these contradictory claims, demonstrating that (a) raters agree about who is and is not attractive, both within and across cultures; (b) attractive children and adults are judged more positively than unattractive children and adults, even by those who know them; (c) attractive children and adults are treated more positively than unattractive children and adults, even by those who know them; and (d) attractive children and adults exhibit more positive behaviors and traits than unattractive children and adults. Results are used to evaluate social and fitness-related evolutionary theories and the veracity of maxims about beauty.

Citations

• The file drawer problem and tolerance for null results.
• Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences
• Advances In Experimental Social Psychology

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Discussions

• A meta-analysis of 100s studies finds that people strongly agree about how beautiful others are (r=.90), including across ethnicities (r=.88) and across cultures (r=.94) doi.org/10.1037/0033... [bsky, 4 points, 1 comments]

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