Moderating effects of need for cognition on attractiveness stereotyping. Samantha Hansen. Algoma University College

Transcription

1 Moderating 1 Running head: NEED FOR COGNITION AND ATTRACTIVENESS STEREOTYPING SP PSYC HAN 97/98 RESERVE Moderating effects of need for cognition on attractiveness stereotyping Samantha Hansen Algoma University College SP PSYC HAN 97/98 RESERVE

2 Moderating 2 Abstract The following paper is a review of the literature regarding both attractiveness stereotyping and the personality construct, need for cognition. First identified by Dion, Bersheid and Walster (1972), the attractiveness stereotype has led to copious investigation into the factors underlying the stereotype. Recent attention has focused on individual difference variables that might moderate its effects. The findings of Dion and Dion (1987) suggest that a person's belief in a just world moderates the attractiveness bias via status cues. In this review, a second such variable, need for cognition, that has been found to relate to routes of persuasion (e.g., peripheral), is proposed as a moderating variable in attractiveness stereotyping.

3 Moderating 3 Moderating Effects of Need for Cognition on Attractiveness Stereotyping During the past 25 years, much research has been generated concerning the attractiveness stereotype; this refers to the tendency to attribute more positive characteristics to physically attractive, compared to unattractive, individuals. Pervasive and widespread, this bias toward perceiving attractive people as more socially desirable than unattractive people, has a tremendous impact on interpersonal relations in all facets of life. While individuals appear to differ on the extent to which they implement this bias. Recently, researchers have undertaken to identify those individual difference variables which might serve to moderate this bias in social perception. The present paper reviews those variables thus far identified as moderators and proposes that the personality construct "need for cognition" may be one such variable that influences the degree to which people bias their social perceptions in favour of attractive persons. Attractiveness Stereotyping In their landmark study appropriately labelled, "What is Beautiful is Good", Dion, Bersheid and Walster (1972) first demonstrated the existence of the attractiveness stereotype. Participants were asked to rate photographs of men and women previously determined to be either attractive, unattractive or of average attractiveness, on 27 different personality traits. They were also asked to estimate the target person's likelihood of life success and happiness. Results

4 Moderating 4 indicated that a strong bias in favour of attractive people existed; physically attractive persons were generally assumed to possess more socially desirable personalities than those less physically appealing. Specifically, attractive targets were perceived to be more poised, interesting, sociable, sexy, sensitive, kind, outgoing, and strong than unattractive targets. In addition, they were also expected to attain greater life success and happiness than their unattractive counterparts. Several subsequent studies have confirmed the existence of the attractiveness bias (e.g., Dion & Dion, 1987; Adams & Huston, 1975). This bias appears to be pervasive, existing across the lifespan, regardless of target age. The bias has been identified when infants are judging adults (Langlois & Roggman, 1990), adults are judging children (Dion, 1972), and adults are judging other adults (Adams & Huston, 1975). In short, those who are physically attractive are perceived more favourably than those who are unattractive. In a meta-analysis of the research on attractiveness stereotyping, Feingold (1992) concluded that physically attractive men and women were perceived as more sociable, dominant, sexually warm, mentally healthy and socially skilled, but not as possessing greater character (e.g., honesty, genuineness, morality, etc.) than physically unattractive individuals. Feingold's meta-analysis of physical attractiveness indicated no significant relationship existed between attractiveness and basic personality traits such as sociability,

5 Moderating 5 dominance and mental health, however, a modest correlation existed between self-ratings of attractiveness and personality traits when these latter traits were related to social behaviour. Those who considered themselves to be attractive tended to experience less loneliness, social anxiety and self-consciousness than those who saw themselves as unattractive. The concerns stimulated by Feingold's (1992) assertion that the pervasiveness of such a stereotype has far-reaching implications on personal perception, social success, academic achievement and life satisfaction are valid because relative attractiveness remains fairly stable over time (Johnson & Pittenger, 1984) and there exists a general agreement on who is considered attractive (e.g., women with "babyfaceness") (Zebrowitz, Olson, &Hoffman, 1993). For such reasons, researchers have placed high importance on determining those factors that might foster the attractiveness stereotype. In his review of the literature, Feingold (1992) concluded that the attractiveness stereotype develops as the result of three causes. First, physically attractive people are over-represented in the entertainment media. The characters played by attractive actors are most often shown to have superior social skills and to be sexually uninhibited. These repeated exposures lead viewers to generalize such attributes to attractive persons. Feingold also attributes the stereotype to peoples' tendency toward the fundamental attribution error; that is, the tendency to make dispositional attributions for the situationally-determined behaviors of others. Although this bias is applied

6 Moderating 6 equally to attractive and unattractive people, Feingold contends that it maintains a role in the fostering of the attractiveness bias. The third manner in which the stereotype is fostered is through temporal extension. Feingold asserts that people tend to assume that the particular traits displayed by others in a social situation are enduring, when in fact, they are often due to the momentary situation. For reasons such as these, it is widely accepted that the attraction bias exists. Moderating Variables Recently, attention has been directed at identifying individual differences that might moderate the effects of attractiveness stereotyping. Feingold (1992) found that sex, the most frequently studied subject variable, does not moderate the effect of attractiveness on trait attribution. Male and female participants are equally likely to use attractiveness as a cue in making personality inferences about others. However, an earlier study by Dermer and Thiel (1975) did report a moderating effect by a different subject variable. Photographs of extremely unattractive, extremely attractive, and moderately attractive women were presented to subjects who themselves had previously been rated as either unattractive, attractive or of average attractiveness. The subjects were then required to rate the photographs using Dion et al.'s (1972) Social Desirability Index consisting of 27 personality traits. The results indicated that the subject's own level of attractiveness affected their use of the stereotype; attractive subjects were more likely to display the attractiveness stereotype (i.e., use

7 Moderating 7 attractiveness as an evaluative cue) than unattractive subjects. A 1987 study by Dion and Dion suggested that personality traits may also serve as moderators of the attractiveness bias. Dion and Dion sought to determine whether an individual's "belief in a just world" might moderate the stereotype. The developer of this construct, Lerner (1990, as cited in Dion & Dion, 1987), defined it as a person's "naive faith of a close connection between one's character and one's fate"; in other words, the belief that, "people get what they deserve and deserve what they get". Participants were asked to complete the Just World Scale and to rate the personality traits of either attractive or unattractive male and female targets on a social desirability scale similar to that employed by Dion et al. (1972). The results indicated that participants who believed in a just world perceived the personalities of attractive male targets as more socially desirable than unattractive male targets. In addition, believers in a just world perceived the attractive male targets as more socially desirable than did nonbelievers. Similar results were not found in the female target conditions. Dion and Dion (1987) used the theory of status characteristics and expectation states to explain the effect. They suggested that in addition to attractiveness, subjects also considered other status cues, in this case, the sex of the target, when making personality inferences. It is this aggregate of cues that affects an individual's judgements. Thus, (in our society) maleness and attractiveness elicit more positive attributions than femaleness and attractiveness. Dion and Dion concluded that, in making personality inferences, a person's belief in a just

8 Moderating 8 world moderates the effects of the attractiveness bias; that is, the degree to which an individual applies the stereotype is dependent on his or her belief in a just world. The tendency to attribute positive characteristics to attractive people and thereby perceive them to be more socially desirable than unattractive people remains insufficiently understood. According to Feingold, it seems that people form expectations about attractive people, perhaps based in part, on the portrayal of attractive individuals in the entertainment media. Unaware that these expectations influence their behavior toward attractive people (e.g., by treating them exceptionally well), observers may misattribute the behavior of attractive people to dispositional sources when, in fact, the behavior is more likely the result of situational cues; namely the differential treatment that attractive people receive from the observer. As a result of this (mis)attributional process, the attractiveness stereotype can lead to attractive persons acquiring some of the characteristics mistakenly attributed to them, a form of self-fulfilling prophecy. As suggested by Feingold (1992), if attractive people are repeatedly treated as outgoing and sociable by others, there is a possibility that they will begin to see themselves in this light and begin displaying such qualities in their daily interactions. Although intriguing, this explanation of the stereotype is incomplete since studies such as that of Dion and Dion (1987) have shown that not all people succumb to the attractiveness bias in all circumstances. These investigators

9 Moderating 9 found that a person's belief in a just world moderates the effects of the bias. In his meta-analysis Feingold (1992) suggested that future research should be directed at identifying additional subject variables that might moderate the effects of attractiveness stereotyping. One possible individual difference variable is "need for cognition." Need for Cognition "Need for cognition" refers to an individual's tendency to "engage in and enjoy effortful cognitive activities". First coined by Cacioppo and Petty (1982), this construct has been the focus of much research on individual differences in personality attributes, information acquisition, and information processing (Cacioppo, Petty, Feinstein and Jarvis, 1996). Cacioppo and Petty (1982) observed that, regardless of the situation, some individuals seem to be "cognitive misers" while others appear to be "chronic cognizers." Cognitive misers were hypothesized to be individuals who possessed low intrinsic motivation to engage in effortful cognitive endeavours, whereas chronic cognizers were thought to have high intrinsic motivation for such endeavours. In the initial factor-analytic study on this individual difference variable, Cacioppo and Petty (1982) used a known-groups method to compare the responses of university faculty members and assembly-line workers on 45 statements with strong face validity of need for cognition (e.g., "I only think as hard as I have to"). Participants were asked to indicate the degree to which each item characterized them on a nine-point Likert-type scale. Cacioppo and

10 Moderating 10 Petty found that much of the variance was accounted for by a single factor, which they termed "need for cognition". This personality construct was thought to fall along a bipolar continuum. Individuals with a high need for cognition (NFC) were hypothesized as having a tendency to seek out, think about and reflect on information in order to attain an understanding of the world around them. Conversely, people with a low NFC were thought to have a tendency not to exert much effort in making sense of their surroundings, but rather to rely on more heuristically-oriented (i.e., voting for the tallest or most attractive candidate) cognitive processes to reach the same end. In a second study, Cacioppo and Petty (1982) used a more homogenous group of university undergraduates and the same results were found. In both cases, they successfully demonstrated that neither test anxiety nor response set (i.e., social desirability) affected responses on the NFC scale. A short form of the scale (Cacioppo, Petty & Kao, 1984) consisting of 18 items was found to be highly correlated with the original 34-item scale. Many independent researchers have since confirmed the reliability and validity of both scales (e.g., Cacioppo et al., 1996; Sadowski & Gulgoz, 1992b; Cacioppo, Petty & Morris, 1983). The scales psychometric properties and its usefulness as a predictive measure have stimulated an immense amount of research on the need for cognition. Many individual differences have been associated with NFC. In their review of the literature, Cacioppo et al. (1996) reported that high NFC was found to be associated with openness to ideas, introspectiveness (Berzonsky &

11 Moderating 1 1 Sullivan, 1992), private self-consciousness, and high self-esteem (Mueller & Grove, 1991). A high NFC was shown to be negatively related to neuroticism (Dornic, Ekehammar & Laaksonen, 1991), external locus of control (Fletcher, Danilovics, Fernandez, Peterson & Reeder, 1986), and social anxiety (Petty & Jarvis, 1996). In other words, high NFC persons tend to be emotionally stable, socially comfortable and have an internal locus of control. Cacioppo and Petty's (1982) initial assertion was that individuals with a high NFC tend to enjoy effortful cognitive endeavours. In studies of self-reported affective reactions to cognitive tasks, it was found that individuals high, compared to low, in NFC experienced more positive affective reactions to cognitive tasks, especially to challenging cognitive tasks (Condra, 1992). For example, Cacioppo and Petty (1982) found that when participants performed a complex number-circling task, those in the high NFC group reported more enjoyment than those in the low NFC group; however, when the number-circling task was quite simple, those in the low NFC group reported the highest enjoyment. Thompson, Chaiken and Hazlewood (1993) found that the drive to complete challenging tasks in participants with high compared to low NFC was significantly reduced when an external reward for completing the task was offered; this finding suggested that individuals who are high in NFC have an internal motivation to seek out and engage in challenging cognitive endeavours.. Presumably, satisfaction of this need results in a positive emotional reward which, in turn, reinforces the need for cognition.

12 Moderating 12 The validity of the construct of need for cognition has been supported by research examining the frequency and depth of effortful thought amongst those hypothesized to differ in this construct. For example, after being exposed to a cognitive task, such as an impression formation exercise (concerning the merits of a new product), those with a high NFC generated more task-relevant thoughts than those with a low NFC (Lassiter, Briggs & Slaw, 1991, as cited in Cacioppo et al., 1996). Relatedly, on recall of previously presented material, high NFC participants recalled a significantly greater number of items than low NFC participants (Cacioppo, Petty, and Morris, 1983). Consistent with the latter finding, individuals high in NFC have been shown to have a larger breadth of general knowledge than those low in NFC (Cacioppo et al., 1986). Furthermore, studies that measured performance on a variety of cognitive tasks found that people high in NFC tended to outperform their low NFC counterparts (Dornic et al., 1991, as cited in Cacioppo et al., 1996; Sadowski & Gulogoz, 1992a). Such studies support the assertion that individuals with a high NFC spend a great deal of time and exert much mental effort in thinking about the world around them. In addition to studying the differential amounts of information acquisition in people with varying levels of NFC, researchers have also examined how people, high and low in NFC, differ in terms of their responsiveness to argument quality. For example, Cacioppo et al. (1983) presented a set of either strong or weak arguments (for the institution of senior comprehensive exams) to participants varying in NFC who initially held the same position on the issue.

13 Moderating 13 Results indicated that the quality of the argument had a greater impact on message evaluation and source impressions of participants high, rather than low, in NFC. A later study undertaken by Axsom, Yates and Chaiken (1987) demonstrated that individuals high in NFC tended to rely specifically on the quality or logic of the argument, whereas their counterparts relied on heuristic cues. Many studies have since acknowledged this finding that people low in NFC rely on cues such as audience response, number of arguments presented, and the expertness and attractiveness of the message source (Cacioppo et al., 1996). In short, individuals with low NFC seem unwilling to put forth any more cognitive effort than is necessary, whereas individuals with high NFC seem to be driven to thoroughly evaluate available information empirically and rationally when forming judgements and making decisions. Need for Cognition and Attractiveness Stereotyping Throughout the literature on NFC, many references are made to Petty and Cacioppo's (1986) Elaboration Likelihood Model (e.g., Cacioppo et al., 1996). According to this model, there are two distinct routes to persuasion on which individuals reliably differ; these are central and peripheral routes. Those who use the central route tend to evaluate the quality of the argument to form an opinion, whereas those who use the peripheral route use heuristic cues such as previous knowledge, number of arguments and the attractiveness of the message source. These same tendencies have been reported for individuals high and low in NFC respectively (Cacioppo et al., 1996; Cacioppo & Petty,

14 Moderating ). Cacioppo et al. (1996) reported that peripheral route users tend to have weak attitudes that are highly susceptible to counter arguments and are not very predictive of behaviour. In contrast, the central route users' attitudes tend to be relatively strong, and more predictive of behaviour. Similar findings have been made concerning attitude persistence and resistance to change in individuals varying in NFC (Cacioppo & Petty, 1984; Cacioppo et al., 1986; Haugtvedt & Petty, 1992). In summary, individuals who score high, rather than low, on the NFC scale have a strong intrinsic motivation to engage in and enjoy effortful cognitive activities. In addition to having been correlated with several other personality traits, variations in the level of NFC have also been shown to moderate information acquisition and processing. Those with a high NFC tend to be constantly thinking and critically evaluating the world around them, whereas those with a low NFC tend to rely on simple rules of thumb to make sense of their world. Individuals with a high level of NFC tend to generate more thoughts, have greater knowledge bases and perform better on complex cognitive tasks than individuals with a lower level of NFC. Because people with a high NFC are more apt to expend cognitive effort, they also have a greater tendency than people with a low NFC to correct biases in their judgements (Petty & Jarvis, 1996). Such differences, coupled with the finding that those high in NFC tend to use central route processing most often, whereas those with a low NFC are more likely to use peripheral processing, suggest that this construct may serve to

15 Moderating 15 moderate the attractiveness stereotype. No research has yet examined the possibility that need for cognition represents an individual difference variable that moderates attractiveness stereotyping.

16 Moderating 16 References Adams, G. R. and Huston, T. L. (1975). Social perception of middle-aged persons varying in physical attractiveness. Developmental Psychology, 11, Axsom, D., Yates, S. M., and Chaiken, S. (1987). Audience response as a heuristic cue in persuasion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53, Cacioppo, T. J., and Petty, R. E. (1982). The need for cognition. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 42, Cacioppo, J. T., Petty, R. E., Feinstein, J. A., and Jarvis, W. B. G. (1996). Dispositional differences in cognitive motivation: the life and times of individuals varying in need for cognition. Psychological Bulletin, 119, Cacioppo, J. T., Petty, R. E. and Kao, C. F. (1984). The efficient assessment of need for cognition. Journal of Personality Assessment, 48, Cacioppo, J. T., Petty, R. E., Kao, C. F., and Rodriguez, R. (1986). Central and peripheral routes to persuasion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, Cacioppo, J. T., Petty, R. E., and Morris, K. J. (1983). Effects of need for cognition on message evaluation, recall and persuasion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 45,

17 Moderating 17 Condra, M. (1992). The link between need for cognition and political interest, involvement and media usage. Psychology, 29, Dermer, M. and Thiel, D. L. (1975). When beauty may fail Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 31, Dion, K., Bersheid, E., and Walster, E. (1972). What is beautiful is good. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 24, Dion, K. L. and Dion, K. K. (1987). Belief in a just world and physical attractiveness stereotyping. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, Feingold, A. (1992). Good-looking people are not what we think. Psychological Bulletin, 11, Fletcher, F. J. 0., Danilovics, P., Fernandez, G., Peterson, D., and Reeder, G. D. (1986). Attributional complexity: an individual difference measure. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, Haugtvedt, C. P., and Petty, R. E. (1992). Personality and persuasion: need for cognition moderates the persistence and resistence of attitude changes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63, Johnson, D. F. and Pittenger, J. B. (1984). Attribution, the attractiveness stereotype, and the elderly. Developmental Psychology, 20, Langlois, J. H., Roggman, L. A., and Riesser-Danner, L. A. (1990). Infants' differential social responses to attractive and unattractive faces. Developmental Psychology, 26,

18 Moderating 18 Petty, R. E. and Cacioppo, J. T. (1986). The Elaboration Likelihood Model of persuasion. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 19, Sadowski, C. J. and Gulgoz, S. (1992a). Association of need for cognition and course performance. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 74, 498. Sadowski, C. J. and Gulgoz, S. (1992b). Internal consistency and test retest reliability of the Need for Cognition Scale. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 74, 610. Thompson, E. P., Chaiken, S., and Hazlewood, J. D. (1993). Need for cognition and desire for control as moderators of extrinsic reward effects. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64, Zebrowitz, L. A., Olson, K., and Hoffman, K. (1993). Stability of babyfaceness and attractiveness across the life span. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64,

19 Running head: NEED FOR COGNITION AND ATTRACTIVENESS STEREOTYPING Moderating Moderating effects of need for cognition on attractiveness stereotyping Samantha Hansen Algoma University College

20 Moderating 2 Abstract The present study investigated the moderating effects of the need for cognition (NFC) on the attractiveness bias. Based on previous research suggesting that people low in NFC are more strongly influenced by peripheral cues (e.g., attractiveness), it was expected that such individuals in the present study would exhibit stronger attractiveness biases than individuals high in NFC. Male and female participants, high and low in NFC, rated four photographs that varied in attractiveness and sex: (a) an attractive male, (b) an attractive female, (c) an unattractive male, (d) an unattractive female. Each participant rated a single photo on 17 personality traits using a 7-point scale. The results indicated that both high and low NFC participants evidenced an attractiveness bias, however, that of the low NFC participants was found to be significantly stronger. This pattern of findings suggests that previous assumptions about the pervasiveness of the bias need to be modified to include the moderating effects of the individual difference variable, need for cognition.

21 Moderating 3 Moderating Effects of Need for Cognition on Attractiveness Stereotyping During the past 25 years, much research has been generated concerning the attractiveness stereotype; this refers to the tendency to attribute more positive characteristics to physically attractive, compared to unattractive, individuals. Pervasive and widespread, this bias toward perceiving attractive people as more socially desirable than unattractive people has a tremendous impact on interpersonal relations in all facets of life. However, individuals appear to differ on the extent to which they implement this bias. Recently, researchers have undertaken to identify those individual difference variables which might serve to moderate this bias in social perception. The present study sought to determine whether the personality construct, need for cognition (NFC), also moderates the effects of the attractiveness bias. In their landmark study appropriately labelled, "What is Beautiful is Good", Dion, Bersheid and Walster (1972) first demonstrated the existence of the attractiveness stereotype. Participants were asked to rate photographs of men and women previously determined to be either attractive, unattractive or of average attractiveness, on 27 different personality traits. They were also asked to estimate the target person's likelihood of life success and happiness. Results indicated that a strong bias in favor of attractive people existed; physically attractive persons were generally assumed to possess more socially desirable personalities than those less physically appealing. Specifically, attractive

22 Moderating 4 targets were perceived to be more poised, interesting, sociable, sexy, sensitive, kind, outgoing, and strong than unattractive targets. In addition, they were also expected to attain greater life success and happiness than their unattractive counterparts. Several subsequent studies have confirmed the existence of the attractiveness bias (e.g., Adams & Huston, 1975; Dion & Dion, 1987). The stereotype appears to be pervasive, existing across the lifespan, regardless of target age. Specifically, the bias has been identified when infants are judging adults (Langlois & Roggman, 1990), adults are judging children (Dion et al., 1972), and adults are judging other adults (Adams & Huston, 1975). In a meta-analysis of the research on attractiveness stereotyping, Feingold (1992) concluded that physically attractive male and female adults were perceived as more sociable, dominant, sexually warm, mentally healthy and socially skilled, but not as possessing greater character (e.g., honesty, genuineness, morality, etc.) than physically unattractive individuals. Feingold's (1992) meta-analysis of physical attractiveness indicated that no significant relationship existed between judges' ratings of attractiveness and target's selfratings of traits such as sociability, dominance and mental health. On the other hand, a modest correlation existed between self-ratings of attractiveness and self-ratings of personality traits related to social behavior. Those who considered themselves to be attractive tended to report less loneliness, social anxiety and self-consciousness than those who judged themselves to be

23 Moderating 5 unattractive. Being that the stereotype is so pervasive, attention has been directed at determining individual differences that might moderate the effects of the attractiveness bias. Individual Differences in Attractiveness Stereotyping To date, few studies have examined the moderating effects of individual difference variables on the attractiveness stereotype. Feingold (1992) found that sex, the most frequently studied subject variable, did not moderate the effect of attractiveness on trait attributions. Male and female participants were equally likely to use attractiveness as a cue in making personality inferences about others. Similarly, Adams & Huston (1975) reported that the age of the evaluator does not moderate the attractiveness bias. However, an earlier study by Dermer and Thiel (1975) reported that the participants' own level of attractiveness served as a moderator of the stereotype. Specifically, attractive participants were more likely to display the attractiveness stereotype (i.e., use attractiveness as an evaluative cue) than unattractive participants. In addition to sex and attractiveness, one's "belief in a just world" has also been found to moderate the effects of the attractiveness stereotype; however, this effect appears to be restricted to male targets (Dion & Dion, 1987). Dion and Dion have suggested that believers in a just world employ status cues in their social perceptions; since being male and attractive are qualities that are perceived (in our society) to be of higher status than being female and attractive, only in the male target conditions was "belief in a just world" a moderator of the attractiveness bias.

24 Moderating 6 The aforementioned findings can be summarized as follows: the use of attractiveness as a cue in making trait attributions to others has not been shown to be moderated by either the age or sex of the observer; however, a moderating effect has been shown for (a) the observer's own level of attractiveness and (b) for the observer's belief in a just world. Feingold (1992) suggested that future research should be directed at identifying additional individual difference variables that might moderate the effects of attractiveness stereotyping. One possible individual difference variable is "need for cognition." Need for Cognition First coined by Cacioppo and Petty (1982), "need for cognition" (NEC) refers to an individual's tendency to engage in and enjoy effortful cognitive activities. Cacioppo and Petty observed that, regardless of the situation, some individuals seem to be "cognitive misers" while others appear to be "chronic cognizers." In the initial factor-analytic study on this individual difference variable, Cacioppo and Petty (1982) used a known-groups method to compare the responses of university faculty members and assembly-line workers on 45 statements with strong face validity of need for cognition (e.g., "I only think as hard as I have to"). Participants were asked to indicate the degree to which each item characterized them on a nine-point Likert-type scale. Cacioppo and Petty found that much of the variance was accounted for by a single factor, which they termed "need for cognition". Numerous investigations have since elaborated on the differences

25 Moderating 7 between individuals varying in the NFC. Studies investigating information acquisition and retention have found that individuals with a higher NFC demonstrate both greater frequency and depth of cognitive processing (Cacioppo, Petty, Kao & Rodriguez, 1986; Cacioppo, Petty & Morris, 1983; Sadowski & Gulogoz, 1992a). In addition to having a greater tendency to seek out, think about and reflect on information than those with a lower NFC, individuals with a higher NFC have been found to experience more positive affective reactions to challenging cognitive tasks (Cacioppo & Petty, 1992; Condra, 1992; Thompson, Chaiken & Hazlewood, 1993). Hence, Cacioppo and Petty's supposition that individuals varying in the NFC differ in the degree to which they enjoy and engage in effortful cognitive processing has been confirmed in various studies. Researchers have also examined how people, high and low in the NFC, differ in terms of their responsiveness to argument quality and their persistence and resistance to attitude change. Cumulative evidence seems to suggests that individuals with a high NFC rely specifically on quality and logic, whereas those with a low NFC rely only on heuristic cues (Le., audience response, number of arguments presented, expertness and attractiveness of message source) when evaluating an argument (Axsom, Yates & Chaiken, 1987; Cacioppo et al., 1996; Cacioppo et al., 1983). These varied sources of information have been labelled "central" and "peripheral" cues within the context of the Elaboration Likelihood Model (Petty & Cacioppo, 1986). Also consistent with this model, the attitudes

26 Moderating 8 of individuals with a high NFC tend to be relatively strong and highly predictive of behavior; in contrast, the attitudes of those with a low NFC tend to be highly susceptible to counter arguments and are not highly predictive of behavior (Cacioppo et al., 1986; Haugtvedt & Petty, 1992). Furthermore, because individuals with high levels of NFC are more likely to expend cognitive effort, they also have a greater tendency to correct biases in their judgements, compared to those with low NFC levels (Cacioppo et al., 1996). In light of the evidence favoring the use of heuristic cues by those with low NFC, it is reasonable to suggest that such persons would have a strong tendency to judge target persons based on attractiveness cues. To date, no research has examined any moderating effects of need for cognition on the implementation of the attractiveness bias. Present Study In the present study it was hypothesized that need for cognition would moderate the effects of the attractiveness stereotype. Specifically, it was predicted that those with a low need for cognition would attribute more socially desirable characteristics to attractive, compared to unattractive, targets than those with a high need for cognition. Such an effect was expected since attractiveness stereotyping entails an evaluation based solely on the level of attractiveness; individuals low in NFC have a tendency to rely on such peripheral (i.e., heuristic) cues, whereas those with a high NFC are more likely to use central processing, a route that does not contain attractiveness cues as

27 Moderating 9 the basis of judgements. Method Participants One hundred and sixty students, recruited from Algoma University College and Sault College, participated in this investigation. The sample consisted of 80 men (age 19-45) and 80 women (age18-56). In each of these groups there were equal numbers of high and low NFC participants. Those students who were recruited from a classroom received course credit for their participation. Materials The Need for Cognition Scale (Cacioppo et al., 1984) consisted of 18 statements for which the participants were asked to indicate the extent to which each item was characteristic of them. The possible responses were presented in a 5-point Likert-type format ranging from "extremely uncharacteristic" to "extremely characteristic", with "uncertain" as a neutral midpoint. The responses were scored with values ranging from 1 to 5 and keyed so that higher scores indicated a higher NFC. As reported by Cacioppo et al. (1996), the majority of factor analytic studies on the Need for Cognition Scale (NCS) have found that a single factor parsimoniously accounts for the variability in the responses. The responses to

28 Moderating 10 the 18-item NCS are internally consistent (Cronbach's alpha =.90) and reliable at retest (r =.88; Sadowski & Gulgoz, 1992b). The reliability of the scale was found to be similar for men and women (e.g., Cronbach alpha =.86 for men and women; Sadowski, 1993). Such findings coupled with those that NFC is not significantly related to response biases such as test anxiety (r =.02, ns; Cacioppo & Petty, 1992) or social desirability (r =.14, ns; Cacioppo & Petty, 1982), suggest that the NFC is both a valid and reliable construct. The Just World Scale (Rubin & Peplau, 1975) consisted of twenty statements for which participants were asked to indicate their degree of agreement or disagreement using a 5-point Likert-type response format. The possible responses ranged from "strongly agree" to "strongly disagree", with "neither agree nor disagree" serving as the neutral midpoint. Nine of the items were reverse scored. Higher scores indicated higher Just World Beliefs. A brief questionnaire was administered which asked participants to provide their first name and telephone number in order to schedule a future meeting. In addition, they were asked to indicate their sex, age and own level of attractiveness (rated on a 7-point scale). The stimulus materials included a photograph of an attractive male, an unattractive male, an attractive female, and an unattractive female, as well as a social desirability index comprised of the sum of the 17 trait ratings. Initially, 10 photographs of attractive women and 10 photographs of attractive men were selected from a number of specialty products and magazines. Care was taken in

29 Moderating 11 only choosing faces that did not appear familiar. After being digitally scanned, the photographs were standardized for both pose and background. All photos were cropped at the shoulder to minimize clothing cues. Each set (male and female) was presented in a random sequence to an independent panel of judges (male and female undergraduates ranging from 18 to 50 years of age). The panel members were asked to rate the level of physical attractiveness of each target person on a 7-point scale. Panel members were also asked whether they recognized the target person. None of the targets were reported as familiar. The photograph rated highest in each set was chosen for use in the experiment. Similar to the process used by Perlini, Bertolissi and Lind (in press), the attractive female and attractive male target photographs were digitally modified using Corel Photopaint and Kai's Power Goo to create similar, but unattractive, targets. This was achieved by thinning the lips, slightly increasing the distance between the eyes, pinching the eyes to appear smaller and enlarging the tip of the nose. All other facial features were held constant (e.g., hair length, style and color, skin texture, jaw line etc.). As a manipulation check, the unattractive versions of the male and female targets were then embedded in a random sequence of photographs and presented to a panel of new judges. These individuals did in fact perceive the photos as being unattractive. The Social Desirability Index was comprised of the same 17 bipolar traits used in Dion et al.'s (1972) study. As reported by Dion et al., the internal consistency of these trait ratings is quite high (coefficient alpha =.903). Each

30 Moderating 12 bipolar trait was rated on a 7-point scale, with higher ratings indicating greater social desirability. The traits were as follows: poised-awkward, strong-weak, interesting-boring, assertive-submissive, sociable-unsociable, independentdependent, warm-cold, desirable as a friend-undesirable as a friend, genuineartificial, kind-cruel, exciting-dull, sophisticated-unsophisticated, sexually warmsexually cold, sincere-insincere, sensitive-insensitive, well mannered-ill mannered, polite-impolite. The bipolar, 7-point rating of attractive-unattractive was embedded amongst the trait ratings and served as a check on the attractiveness manipulation. The positive pole was on the right for half of the items and on the left for the other half in order to counter acquiescence response set. Procedure The prospective participants were approached and asked if they would consent to participate in a study on social perception. It was explained that they would first complete two scales and a brief questionnaire and that during a second phase, which would be later scheduled, they would be asked to make a number of responses to a target photograph. A package containing the untitled Need for Cognition and Just World Scales and a brief questionnaire was then distributed to the consenting participants. As recommended by Cacioppo et al. (1996), the participants were instructed that there were no correct answers, their honesty in responding to the questions was important, and their responses were

31 Moderating 13 confidential. The scores on the NFC scale were normally distributed (M = 64, SD = 11) with a median of 64, which is consistent with the findings of Haugtvedt and Petty (1992). A median split was performed to determine which individuals would be considered high and low in the NFC. The participants were matched on NFC and sex (i.e., high NFC males, high NFC females, low NFC males and low NFC females). Collapsed across NFC, the means remained consistent between men and women (M = 64.10, M = 63.44, respectively). Participants in each of the four groups were then randomly assigned to one of four target conditions (i.e., attractive male photo, attractive female photo, unattractive male photo, unattractive female photo). As is illustrated in Table 1, the design of the study was a 2 (Sex of Participant: male/female) X 2 (Sex of Target: male/female) X 2 (Need for Cognition: high/low) X 2 (Attractiveness of Target: attractive/unattractive) between groups design. Insert Table 1 about here The second phase was administered in small groups. Upon arrival, each participant was seated in a cubicle and asked to refrain from commenting on the stimulus materials. They were given a package containing a single photograph and the Social Desirability Index and instructed to rate the target person on each

32 Moderating 14 bipolar trait using the 7-point scale provided. Upon completion, the participants were given a detailed written debriefing wherein the true purpose of the study was explained. Hypotheses. Based on research concerning need for cognition and attractiveness stereotyping, a main effect was only predicted for attractiveness of target. More germane to this study were the predicted interactions. It was anticipated that the main effect for attractiveness would be qualified by a higher order interaction; that is, NFC was expected to moderate the tendency to attribute more positive traits to attractive, compared to unattractive, targets. More specifically, the attractiveness bias amongst the low NFC participants was predicted to be significantly larger than that of the high NFC participants. Relatedly, within the attractive target conditions, the low NFC participants were predicted to ascribe more socially desirable attributes to the physically attractive targets than were the high NFC participants. In contrast, amongst physically unattractive targets the difference in attributions of social desirability between the high and low NFC participants was predicted to be considerably smaller since the target lacked the heuristic cue (namely, attractiveness) that the low NFC subjects would ordinarily rely upon. Based on Feingold's (1992) comprehensive review of the literature, the sex of the participant was not expected to have an interaction with target attractiveness. The Cacioppo and Petty (1996) review strongly demonstrates

33 Moderating 15 that there are no sex differences in NFC; thus, NFC was not predicted to interact with sex of judge. However, target sex has been found to interact with target attractiveness and the individual difference variable, just world belief (Dion & Dion, 1987). As discussed earlier, belief in a just world moderated the attractiveness bias for male targets only. This finding was interpreted by Dion and Dion as suggesting that both sex and physical attractiveness are status cues that believers in a just world are sensitive to. It was unclear whether participants who differ in NFC would be similarly sensitive to sex of target when exhibiting their attractiveness bias. Consequently, no specific predictions were made about the interaction amongst NFC, target attractiveness and target sex. Results The attractiveness manipulation check and the dependent measures were analyzed in a 2 X 2 X 2 X 2 factorial ANOVA design with Participant NFC (High/Low), Participant Sex (Male/Female), Photo Attractiveness (Attractive/Unattractive), and Photo Sex (Male/Female) as independent variables. Check on the Attractiveness Manipulation Analysis of the attractiveness variable yielded a highly significant main effect for Photo Attractiveness, F (1,144) = , p <.001. As was expected, the attractive photos were in fact perceived by the observers to be more

34 Moderating 16 physically attractive than the unattractive photos (Ms = 6.09 vs. 4.20, respectively). Analysis also indicated main effects for Participant Sex [F (1,144) = 11.80, Q. <.001] and Photo Sex [F (1,144) = 8.12, g <.005]; however, each of these main effects were qualified by higher-order interactions. The main effect for Photo Sex was qualified by a two-way interaction; namely, Participant NFC X Photo Sex, F (1,144) = 3.34, a <.07. This interaction was further qualified by a higher-order 3-way interaction of Participant Sex X Participant NFC X Photo Sex, F (1,144) = 4.49, <.03. Further analyses were performed on this interaction. Simple main effect analyses performed on each level of the NFC factor indicated that for high NFC participants, there was a main effect for Participant Sex, [F (1,76) = 7.22, a <.009] and a main effect for Photo Sex, [F (1,76) = 6.40, a <.01]. Females rated the target photos as more attractive (M = 5.48, SD = 1.52 ) than the males rated the same photos (M = 4.63, SD = 1.41). In addition, the female photos were rated higher in attractiveness (M = 5.45, SD = 1.45) than the male photos OA = 4.65, SD = 1.49). For low NFC participants, there were no main effects nor an interaction. In short, it appeared that Participant Sex and Photo Sex only effected the attractiveness ratings of high NFC participants.

35 Moderating 17 Social Desirability Index Analysis of the social desirability index was computed using a 2 (Participant Sex: Male/Female) X 2 (Participant NFC: High/Low) X 2 (Photo Attractiveness: Attractive/Unattractive) X 2 (Photo Sex: Male/Female) ANOVA. Main effects were found for: (1) Participant Sex, F (1,144) = 15.50, p <.001, [Ms = vs , for men and women respectively], (2) Participant NFC, F (1,144) = 11.13, p <.001, (3) Photo Sex, F (1,144) = 4.56, p <.03 and (4) Photo Attractiveness, F (1,144) = 40.41, p <.001. However, main effects of Participant NFC, Photo Sex and Target Attractiveness were qualified by the following higher-order interactions: (1) Participant NFC X Photo Sex, F (1,144) = 3.22, p <.075 and (2) Participant NFC X Photo Attractiveness, F (1,144) = 6.46, p <.01. Simple main effect analyses were performed on each of these interactions as follows. Participant NFC X Photo Sex. Simple main effect analyses conducted at both levels of the Participant NFC factor indicated that high NFC judges rated male and female photos as similar in social desirability (Ms = vs ); however, low NFC judges rated male targets as more socially desirable that female targets, F (1,78) = 4.64, p <.03; Ms = vs , respectively. Hence, only amongst the low NFC participants was sex of photo used as a cue in judging the social desirability of targets. When Photo Sex was held constant, and the effects of NFC on social desirability ratings was analyzed, the results indicated that for female targets

36 Moderating 18 there was no difference in attributions of social desirability of low NFCs compared to high NFCs, (Ms = vs , respectively), F <1. However, within the male photo conditions, it was found that individuals low in NFC rated the targets as more socially desirable than did individuals high in NFC, F (1,78) = 9.54, p <.003, (Ms = vs , respectively). The means and standard deviations underlying these effects are presented in Table 2. Insert Table 2 about here Participant NFC X Photo Attractiveness. Simple effect analyses at each level of the Participant NFC factor indicated that, as expected, both low [F (1,78) = 31.55, p <.001] and high NFC [F (1,78) = 7.40, j <.008] participants evidenced an attractiveness bias, that is, both ascribed more positive traits to the attractive, as compared to the unattractive, photos. The means and standard deviations underlying these effects are presented in Table 3. Insert Table 3 about here Simple main effect analyses at each level of the Attractiveness factor indicated that high and low NFC participants rated the photos of the unattractive target as equivalent in social desirability (Ms = vs ), F (1,78) =.31, p >.10; however, amongst attractive target photos, low NFC participants rated

37 Moderating 19 such photos as significantly higher in social desirability than high NFC participants rated such photos (Ms = vs ), F (1,78) = 14.38, <.001. This latter finding confirms the hypothesis that low NFC participants construe attractiveness as a stronger cue in their attributions of social desirability than high NFC participants. Correlations. In order to identify those variables predictive of social desirability ascriptions, Pearson Product Moment correlations amongst 5 variables were conducted; (1) Participant NFC, (2) Participant Just World Belief, (3) Selfratings of Attractiveness, (4) Target Ratings of Attractiveness, (5) Target Ratings of Social Desirability. In a preliminary analysis, the data for all participants was analyzed. Given the sample size (N=160), correlations exceeding r = were deemed statistically significant in this analysis. Refer to Table 4 for these correlations. Insert Table 4 about here The only significant predictor of social desirability ratings was Target Ratings of Attractiveness, r = Given that NFC predicted both Target Ratings of Attractiveness and Target Ratings of Social Desirability in the earlier ANOVAs, the aforementioned correlation was further examined for participants