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Losing Hair, Losing Points?: The Effects of Male Pattern Baldness on Social Impression Formation 1
Author(s) -
Cash Thomas F.
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.1990.tb00404.x
Subject(s) - physical attractiveness , psychology , human physical appearance , attractiveness , social perception , perception , social psychology , impression formation , psychosocial , interpersonal communication , interpersonal perception , social desirability , interpersonal attraction , stimulus (psychology) , developmental psychology , cognitive psychology , attraction , linguistics , philosophy , neuroscience , psychiatry , psychoanalysis
In the voluminous research on the psychology of physical appearance, the psychosocial effects of common male pattern baldness (MPB) have been largely neglected. The present experiment examined the influence of MPB on the initial social perceptions of men by both sexes. Eighteen pairs of photographic slides of balding and nonbalding control men were matched on the actual age, race, and other physical attributes of the men. In a first‐impressions context, 54 men and 54 women rated these stimulus persons on seven dimensions of social perception. MPB caused generally less favorable initial impressions, including lower ratings of physical attractiveness, judgments of less desirable personal and interpersonal characteristics, and misperceptions of age. The moderating effects of perceivers' sex and age and stimulus persons' age were examined, mostly without consequence. The baldness stereotype was substantially attenuated when physical attractiveness was statistically controlled.