The authors investigated whether general and domain-specific control beliefs were related to stigmatizing physical appearance qualities in young, middle-aged, and older adults. Being babyfaced, unattractive, or short was associated with diminished control beliefs in young and middle adulthood, whereas being overweight was not. Those who were less attractive, more babyfaced, shorter, or heavier sometimes perceived more rather than less control than their more favored peers, suggesting that individuals whose appearance creates social barriers may compensate with greater efforts to control their social environment. One notable age difference was that high babyfaceness was associated with diminished control beliefs at younger ages but with higher control beliefs in older adulthood.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Aiken, L. S. , & West, S. G. (1991). Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
2.
Alder, N. E. , Boyce, T., Chesney, M. A., Cohen, S., Folkman, S., Kahn, R. L., & Syme, S. L. (1994). Socioeconomic status and health: The challenge of the gradient. American Psychologist, 49, 15-24.
3.
Allon, N. (1982). The stigma of overweight in everyday life. In B. B. Wolman & S. DeBerry (Eds.), Psychological aspects of obesity: A handbook (pp. 130-174). New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.
4.
Barrios, B. A. , Barrios, Z. G., & Topping, J. S. (1977). Locus of control of what?Psychology, 14, 51-54.
5.
Berry, D. S. , & McArthur, L. Z. (1985). Some components and consequences of a babyface. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 48, 312-323.
6.
Brackbill, Y. , & Nevill, D. D. (1981). Parental expectations of achievement as affected by children’s height. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 27(4), 429-441.
7.
Buss, D. M. (1989). Sex differences in human mate preference: Evolutionary hypotheses tested in 37 cultures. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 12, 1-49.
8.
Cash, T. F. , & Smith, E. (1982). Physical attractiveness and personality among American college students. Journal of Psychology, 111, 183-191.
9.
Chaiken, S. (1986). Physical appearance and social influence. In C. P. Herman, M. P. Zanna, & E. T. Higgins (Eds.), Physical appearance, stigma, and social behavior: The Ontario Symposium (Vol. 3, pp. 143-177). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
10.
Cohen, J. , & Cohen, P. (1983). Applied multiple regression/correlation analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
11.
Collins, M. A. , & Zebrowitz, L. A. (1995). The contributions of appearance to occupations outcomes in civilian and military settings. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 25, 129-163.
12.
Copley, J. E. , & Brownlow, S. (1995). The interactive effects of facial maturity and name warmth on perceptions of job candidates. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 16, 251-265.
13.
Crandall, C. S. (1994). Prejudice against fat people: Ideology and self-interest. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66, 882-894.
14.
Crocker, J. , Major, B., & Steele, C. (1998). Social stigma. In D. T. Gilbert, S. T. Fiske, & G. Lindzey (Eds.), The handbook of social psychology (4th ed., pp. 504-553). Boston: McGraw-Hill.
15.
Dejong, W. (1980). The stigma of obesity: The consequences of naive assumptions concerning the causes of physical deviance. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 81, 75-87.
16.
Dejong, W. , & Kleck, R. E. (1986). The social psychological effects of overweight. In C. P. Herman, M. P. Zanna, & E. T. Higgins (Eds.), Physical appearance, stigma, and social behavior: The Ontario Symposium (Vol. 3, pp. 65-87). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
17.
Deutsch, F. M. , Zalenski, C. M., & Clark, M. E. (1986). Is there a double standard of aging?Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 16, 771-785.
18.
Eagly, A. H. , Ashmore, R. D., Makhijani, M. G., & Longo, L. C. (1991). What is beautiful is good, but...: A meta-analytic review of research on the physical attractiveness stereotype. Psychological Bulletin, 110, 109-128.
19.
Eisenberg, N. , Roth, K., Bryniarski, K. A., & Murray, E. (1984). Sex differences in the relationship of height to children’s actual and attributed social and cognitive competencies. Sex Roles, 11, 719-734.
20.
Fallon, A. E. , & Rozin, P. (1985). Sex differences in perceptions of desirable body shape. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 94, 102-105.
21.
Feingold, A. (1990). Gender differences in effects of physical attractiveness on romantic attraction: A comparison across five research paradigms. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39, 981-993.
22.
Feingold, A. (1992). Good-looking people are not what we think. Psychological Bulletin, 111, 304-341.
23.
Frank, E. , & Taylor, C. B. (1993). Coronary heart disease in women: Influences on diagnosis and treatment. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 15, 156-161.
24.
Friedman, H. , & Zebrowitz, L. A. (1992). The contribution of typical sex differences in facial maturity to sex role stereotypes. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 18, 430-438.
25.
Hadden, S. B. , & Brownlow, S. (1991, March 20-24). The impact of facial structure and assertiveness on dating choice. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Southeastern Psychological Association, New Orleans, LA.
26.
Hadjistavropoulos, H. D. , Ross, M. A., & von Baeyer, C. L. (1990). Are physicians’ ratings of pain affected by patients’ physical attractiveness?Social Science and Medicine, 31, 69-72.
27.
Jackson, L. A. , & Ervin, K. S. (1992). Height stereotypes of women and men: The liabilities of shortness for both sexes. Journal of Social Psychology, 132, 433-445.
28.
Lachman, M. E. , & Weaver, S. L. (1998a). The sense of control as a moderator of social class differences in health and well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 763-773.
29.
Lachman, M. E. , & Weaver, S. L. (1998b). Sociodemographic variations in the sense of control by domain: Findings from the MacArthur studies of midlife. Psychology and Aging, 13, 553-562.
30.
Langer, E. (1979). The illusion of incompetence. In L. Perlmutter & R. Monty (Eds.), Choice and perceived control (pp. 301-313). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
31.
Langlois, J. , Kalakanis, L., Rubenstein, A., Larson, A., Hallam, M., & Smoot, M. (1996, July). The myths of beauty: A meta-analytic review. Paper presented at the meeting of the American Psychological Society, San Francisco.
32.
Levenson, H. (1981). Differentiating among internality, powerful others, and chance. In H. M. Lefcourt (Ed.), Research in the locus of control construct: Assessment methods (Vol. 1, pp. 15-63). New York: Academic Press.
33.
McArthur, L. Z. , & Apatow, K. (1983-1984). Impressions of babyfaced adults. Social Cognition, 2, 315-342.
34.
Miller, C. T. , & Myers, A. M. (1998). Compensating for prejudice: How overweight people (and others) control outcomes despite prejudice. In J. K. Swim & C. Stangor (Eds.), Prejudice: The target’s perspective (pp. 191-218). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
35.
Miller, C. T. , Rothblum, E. D., Felicio, D., & Brand, P. (1995). Compensating for stigma: Obese and nonobese women’s reactions to being visible. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 21, 1093-1106.
36.
Miller, C. T. , & Rudiger, L. (1997, October). Compensation for prejudice: How the stigmatized obtain desired outcomes despite prejudice. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Society of Experimental Social Psychology, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
37.
Montepare, J. M. , & Zebrowitz, L. A. (1998). Person perception comes of age: The salience and significance of age in social judgments. In M. P. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 30, pp. 93-161). New York: Academic Press.
38.
Pasupathi, M. , Carstensen, L. L., & Tsai, J. L. (1995). Ageism in interpersonal settings. In B. Lott & D. Maluso (Eds.), The social psychology of interpersonal discrimination (pp. 160-182). New York: Guilford.
39.
Peterson, C. , & Stunkard, J. (1989). Personal control and health promotion. Social Science and Medicine, 28, 819-828.
40.
Roberts, J. V. , & Herman, C. P. (1986). The psychology of height: An empirical review. In C. P. Herman, M. P. Zanna, & E. T. Higgins (Eds.), Physical appearance, stigma, and social behavior: The Ontario Symposium (Vol. 3, pp. 113-140). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
41.
Rodin, J. (1986, September 19). Aging and health: Effects of the sense of control. Science, 233, 1271-1276.
42.
Rodin, J. (1990). Control by any other name: Definitions, concepts, processes. In J. Rodin, C. Schooler, & K. W. Schaie (Eds.), Self-directedness: Cause and effects throughout the life course (pp. 1-18). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
43.
Rodin, J. , Silberstein, L. R., & Striegel-Moore, R. H. (1984). Women and weight: A normative discontent. In T. B. Sonderegger (Ed.), Nebraska symposium on motivation (Vol. 32, pp. 267-307). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
44.
Rothblum, E. D. , Brand, P. A., Miller, C. T., & Oetjen, H. A. (1990). The relationship between obesity, employment discrimination, and employment-related victimization. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 37, 251-266.
45.
Rotter, J. B. (1966). Generalized expectancies for internal versus external control of reinforcement. Psychological Monographs: General and Applied, 80, 1-28.
46.
Shea, J. , Crossman, S. M., & Adams, G. R. (1978). Physical attractiveness and personality development. Journal of Psychology, 99, 59-62.
47.
Skinner, E. A. (1996). A guide to constructs of control. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71, 549-570.
48.
Udry, J. R. , & Eckland, B. K. (1984). Benefits of being attractive: Differential payoffs for men and women. Psychological Reports, 54, 47-56.
49.
Weisz, J. R. (1983). Can I control it? The pursuit of veridical answers across the life span. In P. B. Baltes & O. G. Brim (Eds.), Life-span development and behavior (pp. 233-300). New York: Academic Press.
50.
Zebrowitz, L. A. (1997). Reading faces: Window to the soul?Boulder, CO: Westview.
51.
Zebrowitz, L. A. , Andreoletti, C., Collins, M. A., Lee, S. Y., & Blumenthal, J. (1998). Bright, bad, babyfaced boys: Appearance stereotypes do not always yield self-fulfilling prophecy effects. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 1300-1320.
52.
Zebrowitz, L. A. , Collins, M. A., & Dutta, R. (1998). The relationship between appearance and personality across the lifespan. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 24, 736-749.
53.
Zebrowitz, L. A. , Olson, K., & Hoffman, K. (1993). The stability of babyfaceness and attractiveness across the lifespan. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64, 453-466.
54.
Zebrowitz, L. A. , Tenenbaum, D. R., Goldstein, L. H. (1991). The impact of job applicants’ facial maturity, gender, and academic achievement on hiring recommendations. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 21, 525-548.
