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PHYSICAL ATTRACTIVENESS AND SEVERITY OF SENTENCING

NCJ Number
48619
Journal
Psychological Reports Volume: 40 Issue: 1 Dated: (1977) Pages: 315-318
Author(s)
G LEVENTHAL; R KRATE
Date Published
1977
Length
4 pages
Annotation
A SIMULATION EXPERIMENT MEASURING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PERCEIVED PHYSICAL ATTRACTIVENESS AND THE LENGTH OF ASSIGNED SENTENCE IS DESCRIBED.
Abstract
THE SUBJECTS WERE 192 STUDENT VOLUNTEERS FROM TWO STATE COLLEGES. THEY WERE DIVIDED INTO TWO GROUPS: THE SENTENCING GROUP AND THE ATTRACTION GROUP. EACH GROUP WAS COMPOSED OF A RANDOM SELECTION OF 24 WHITE MALES, 24 WHITE FEMALES, 24 BLACK MALES, AND 24 BLACK FEMALES. TWENTY-FOUR COLOR PHOTOGRAPHS OF SIX WHITE MALES, SIX WHITE FEMALES, SIX BLACK MALES, AND SIX BLACK FEMALES IN FRONT AND SIDE POSES WERE USED IN THE EXPERIMENT. TWENTY-FOUR ACCOMPANYING 'CRIME REPORTS' WERE PROVIDED, INDICATING THE NATURE OF THE CRIME AND THE ECONOMIC STATUS OF THE 'CRIMINAL' (HIGH OR LOW). SUBJECTS IN THE SENTENCING GROUP WERE INSTRUCTED TO ASSUME THE ROLE OF A 'JUDGE' AND TO SENTENCE (IN YEARS AND MONTHS) THE 24 CONVICTED DEFENDANTS WHOSE PHOTOGRAPHS AND PRESENTENCE REPORTS WERE GIVEN THEM. FOR THE FOUR RACE AND SEX SUBGROUPS, EACH OF THE 24 PHOTOS WAS PAIRED WITH EACH OF THE 24 CRIME REPORTS; THESE WERE PRESENTED TO SUBJECTS IN RANDOM ORDER. IN THIS WAY, THE IMPORTANT VARIABLES OF THE NATURE OF THE CRIME AND ECONOMIC STATUS OF THE DEFENDANTS WERE CONTROLLED. SUBJECTS IN THE ATTRACTION GROUP WERE INSTRUCTED TO RATE THE PHYSICAL ATTRACTIVENESS OF THE 24 PEOPLE WHOSE PHOTOS WERE SHOWN TO THEM. THE RATING WAS IN THE FORM OF A 7-POINT LIKERT-TYPE SCALE FROM VERY UNATTRACTIVE TO VERY ATTRACTIVE. THE MEANS FOR SENTENCING AND ATTRACTIVENESS FOR THE 24 PHOTOGRAPHS WERE CALCULATED. THE OVERALL RATING FROM THE SENTENCING GROUP CORRELATED NEGATIVELY WITH THE DATA FROM THE ATTRACTIVENESS GROUP ACCORDING TO THE PEARSON PRODUCT-MOMENT METHOD AT A .05 LEVEL OF SIGNIFICANCE. IT IS CONCLUDED THAT THOSE DEFENDANTS WHO WERE RATED BY AN INDEPENDENT GROUP TO BE ATTRACTIVE WERE GIVEN LIGHTER SENTENCES THAN THOSE RATED UNATTRACTIVE. (RCB)

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