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Similarity
Appearance
Every year more than half a million people in the United States
flock to cosmetic surgeons in attempts to change their physical
appearance, presumably with the goal of enhancing their We respond to physical beauty in a number of ways. Physically attractive persons are more likely to be described as well adjusted, friendly, poised, sociable, independent, dominant, and intelligent. Handsome men tend to be rated as more "masculine," while beautiful women are rated as more "feminine" <REF>(Eagly and others, 1991; Feingold, 1992). Attractive job applicants are more likely to be hired than unattractive applicants, even by experienced personnel interviewers <REF>(Cash, Gillen, & Burns, 1977). In a study of over 700 newly hired MBA graduates, men judged to be better-looking obtained starting salaries more than $2000 higher than men of below-average attractiveness. Once hired, women judged to be above-average in attractiveness tended to earn over $4000 more a year than women employees rated as less attractive <REF>(Frieze and others, 1991). Studies of jury decision making have determined that jurors are less likely to find physically attractive defendants to be guilty, and tend to recommend less severe punishments for attractive defendants <REF>(Efran, 1974).
Could it be that we are instinctively attracted to beautiful people? Individuals appear to make judgments about the attractiveness of other people almost automatically. Research indicates that we react to the physical appearance of a person within the first tenth of a second <REF>(Locher and others, 1993). 
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Do "opposites attract," or do "birds of a feather
flock together"? Generally, similarity seems to win out <REF>(Alicke
& Largo, 1995; Pilkington & Lyden, 1997). We tend to choose
individuals who are similar to us for dating and marriage partners.
More often than not, dating couples will be similar in age, intelligence,
education, religion, physical attractiveness, and even height
<REF>(Hill, Rubin, & Peplau, 1976). Computer dating
and "matchmaking" services often exploit the similarity
principle when prospective partners are matched on the basis of
similar interests and attitudes. College roommates who begin school
with similar attitudes tend to end up as better friends at the
end of the year <REF>(Newcomb, 1961).
attractiveness
to others. Even though we are often told that "beauty is
only skin deep," for both men and women it seems that physical
appearance does play a significant role in our initial attraction
to other persons <REF>(Sprecher & Duck, 1994).
The instinct hypothesis of physical attraction has been advanced
by evolutionary psychologists such as David Buss <REF>(1999).
They have argued that because certain features such as unblemished
skin, symmetrical faces, or certain body types are associated
with fertility or general health, over the course of human evolution
we have been shaped by natural selection to have a favorable emotional
response to those features. According to this view, the characteristics
that we find attractive are those that indicate how successful
the individual would be as a prospective mate and parent to our
children. For example, symmetry may be one of those traits that
we are biologically programmed to find attractive. Insects, animals,
and humans all show a distinct preference for a symmetrical or
balanced physical appearance in potential mates; lopsided or disproportionate
features seem to be less attractive, possibly because they may
indicate ill health or poor genetic fitness. In essence, a "normal"
appearance, with few extreme features, may be an indicator of
health and therefore attractive. Randy Thornhill & Steven
Gangestad <REF>(1994), for example, found that among college
undergraduates, men with more symmetrical facial features and
bodies were rated as more attractive by women, and also tended
to have more sexual partners.