| Study | Diener et al. (1995b): study US 1993 |
| Title | Physical Attractiveness and Subjective Well-Being. |
| Source | Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1995, Vol. 69, 120 - 129 |
| Public | College students, USA 199? |
| Sample | Non-probability sample (unspecified) |
| Non-Response | |
| Respondents N = | 146 |
| Correlate | |
| Author's label | Physical attractiveness |
| Page in Source | 126-127 |
| Our classification | Ratings of good looks by others |
| Operationalization | Photographs and video were taken under the different conditions conditions. A: natural(head and shoulders): Ss was told to stand at a designated spot and a frontal head and shoulder photo b: natural(full length): a condition with a full-length photo were shot. C: unadorned : Ss were asked to remove jewelry and facial cosmetics and then instructed to place their face through a piece of poster board that had an oval cutout large enough for them to do so. D: video: Ss were first asked to look at directly into the video camera were prompted to say anything they wanted about themselves. In general Ss talked about being college students and about the activities surrounding university life. After 45-60 seconds they were told to stop and face the experimenter while they talked about their family. It was videotaped from 3/4 profile angle and for 45-60 seconds. Three sets of photographs were rated by 8 raters(four males and four females) and video interview by 5 assistants on a scale of 0(extremely unattractive) to 9(extremely attractive) |
| Error Estimates | Cronbach alpha: a=.90, b=.88, c=.82, d=.56 |
| Observed Relation with Happiness | ||
| Happiness Measure | Statistics | Elaboration/Remarks |
| M-FH-g-sq-v-10-a | r=+.17 p < .05 | a natural(head and shoulders) |
| M-FH-g-sq-v-10-a | DM=+ | Attractiveness ratings males M SD - happy 3.8 0.9 - unhappy 3.4 0.9 Females - happy 4.6 0.9 - unhappy 4.4 1.0 |
| M-FH-g-sq-v-10-a | r=+.08 ns | b natural(full length) |
| M-FH-g-sq-v-10-a | DM=0 | Attractiveness ratings males M SD - happy 4.3 0.8 - unhappy 3.9 1.0 Females - happy 4.6 1.0 - unhappy 4.6 1.0 |
| M-FH-g-sq-v-10-a | r=-.01 ns | c unadorned photo |
| M-FH-g-sq-v-10-a | DM=0 | Attractiveness ratings males M SD - happy 4.0 0.6 - unhappy 4.0 0.8 Females - happy 4.1 0.9 - unhappy 4.0 0.7 |
| M-FH-g-sq-v-10-a | r=+.08 ns | d video |
| M-FH-g-sq-v-10-a | DM=+ | Attractiveness ratings males M SD - happy 5.2 1.2 - unhappy 4.6 1.0 Females - happy 5.5 2.2 - unhappy 5.2 1.4 |
| Code | Full Text |
| M-FH-g-sq-v-10-a | Selfreport on single question: Use the list below to answer the following question: IN GENERAL, HOW HAPPY OR UNHAPPY DO YOU USUALLY FEEL? Check the one statement that best describes your average happiness. 10 extremely happy (feeling ecstatic, joyous, fantastic!) 9 very happy (feeling really good and elated!) 8 pretty happy (spirits high, feeling good) 7 mildly happy (feeling fairly good and somewhat cheerful) 6 slightly happy ( just a bit above neutral) 5 slightly unhappy (just a bit below neutral) 4 mildly unhappy (just a bit low) 3 pretty unhappy (somewhat "blue", spirits down) 2 very unhappy ( depressed, spirits very low) 1 extremely unhappy (utterly depressed, completely down) Name: Fordyce's overall happiness item. |
| Symbol | Explanation |
| DM | DIFFERENCE of MEANS Type: descriptive statistic only. Measurement level: Correlate: dichotomous, Happiness: metric Range: depending on the happiness rating scale of the author; range symmetric about zero. Meaning: the difference of the mean happiness, as measured on the author's rating scale, between the two correlate levels. |
| r | PRODUCT-MOMENT CORRELATION COEFFICIENT (Also "Pearson's correlation coefficient' or simply 'correlation coefficient') Type: test statistic. Measurement level: Correlate: metric, Happiness: metric Range: [-1; +1] Meaning: r = 0 « no correlation , r = 1 « perfect correlation, where high correlate values correspond with high happiness values, and r = -1 « perfect correlation, where high correlate values correspond with low happiness values. |