Psychological Bulletin · 1988 · 278 citations · 57 references
Social SciencesPsychologySocial PsychologyInterpersonal RelationshipsSocial PerceptionMatched-pair AnalysisMatched-pair DesignsMatching TheoryMate ChoiceMating StrategiesRomantic RelationshipsHuman Mating PsychologyMatching Under PreferencesMatching With CouplesMating PreferencesPartner MatchingPhysical Attractiveness PreferencesSame-sex Friendship
The meta‑analysis incorporated 17 studies with 34 dyad samples to examine physical attractiveness similarity among romantic partners and same‑sex friends. The results showed that romantic partners have a higher and more consistent attractiveness correlation (average .39, .49 corrected) than same‑sex friends, whose matching effect appears only among men, and that partners also rate themselves similarly, supporting contemporary relationship‑formation theories.
Seventeen studies of similarity in physical attractiveness between members of romantic couples or pairs of same-sex friends, employing 34 independent samples of dyads, were retrieved. Meta-analysis found the interpartner correlation for attractiveness to be higher for romantic couples than for pairs of friends. For couples, the correlations were homogeneous across 27 samples, with an average correlation of .39 (.49 after correction for attenuation). For pairs of friends, variations among correlations were found but were explained by gender of dyad: the matching effect was obtained only with men. Romantic partners were also similar in their self-ratings of attractiveness. These findings were related to contemporary theories of relationship formation.
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