Singles View Other Singles as Sexy: The Influence of Relationship Status on Judgments of Attractiveness

Previous studies on whether people find single or non-single opposite-sex targets more attractive are inconsistent (e.g., O’Hagen et al., 2003; Bressan & Stranieri, 2008; Uller & Johansson, 2003); these effects may vary according to social and hormonal factors (e.g., Gangestad et al., 2004). We propose that participants’ own relationship status may influence their judgments of the attractiveness of single and non-single people. In the present study, 43 participants each rated the attractiveness of ten “profiles,” using a between-participants design. Each profile consisted of a photograph and short personal description of a young opposite-sex adult. Half the profiles were depicted as being single, and half the profiles were depicted as being romantically involved (counterbalanced). Both male and female single participants found single opposite-sex profiles more attractive, sexy, and dateable than romantically involved profiles; participants who were themselves romantically involved showed the opposite pattern, finding the romantically involved profiles more attractive, sexy, and dateable than single profiles. These findings cannot be explained as a mere halo effect of perceived similarity (i.e., people thinking more positively across the board of people they perceive as similar to themselves), because single and romantically involved participants did not differ in the degree to which they rated the confidence, honesty, comfort, and likeability of single versus romantically involved profiles. In other words, single people may be prejudiced to view other singles as attractive and sexy, but this process does not take place by affecting single people’s global impressions of singles