“Does Perceived Level of Attractiveness Affect Male and Female Politicians’ Perceived Competence and Favorability?”

This study aims to gain a better understanding of the potential influence that perceived levels of attractiveness impose on individuals’ perceptions of male and female candidates’ competency and favorability. I utilized a quasi-experimental design that had a total of 603 respondents, all of which were current students at Arizona State University. The experimental design of the study consisted of the same pre-test, and post-test questionnaire, with a randomly assigned experimental group viewing a video regarding the halo effect, and a randomly assigned control group viewing a neutral video with no comment on attractiveness and its inherent effects. The results demonstrate insignificant findings in regard to candidate favorability and attractiveness, but one significant finding revealed itself in regard to competency. Hypothesis 6 (H6) identified an unexpected, yet statistically significant finding when concerning the ‘above average’ female candidate and respondents’ perception of her competency. This suggests that individuals may be more inclined to favorably perceive the competency of an attractive female candidate when they are aware of their implicit biases that accompany increased levels of attractiveness. This study offers insight into whether perceived level of attractiveness affects evaluations of male and female politicians.