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Facial attraction: an exploratory study of the judgements made by people with intellectual disabilities
Author(s) -
Donnachie M.,
Jones B.,
Jahoda A.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of intellectual disability research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.941
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1365-2788
pISSN - 0964-2633
DOI - 10.1111/jir.12823
Subject(s) - attractiveness , psychology , attraction , intellectual disability , romance , interpersonal attraction , exploratory research , sexual attraction , developmental psychology , population , physical attractiveness , association (psychology) , social psychology , sexual behavior , medicine , psychiatry , linguistics , philosophy , environmental health , sociology , anthropology , psychoanalysis , psychotherapist
Background Although romantic or sexual attraction is a major research topic in the general population, little is known about people with intellectual disabilities' (ID) views of attractiveness. Methods Fifty‐eight participants (16–40 years) took part in this exploratory study, 29 with ID and 29 without ID. Participants were shown 50 images of men or women's faces and asked to rate how attractive they thought the faces were. Results A strong association was found between what men and women with ID and those without ID considered attractive in romantic partners. However, people with ID were more likely to consider themselves desirable to others. Conclusions The findings suggest that people with mild ID make the same subtle judgements about facial attraction as other individuals.