Attractiveness and Height

Abstract

The relationship between height and attractiveness was investigated using self-reports of dating behavior and subjects' ratings of photographs depicting males and females of different heights. Shorter females were preferred more as dates, were dated more frequently, and were rated as more attractive than taller females regardless of the height of the male subjects. For males, the relationship between height and attractiveness was less clear Females expressed a general preference for dating males taller than themselves and reported dating taller males more frequently but did not rate their tall male dates as more attractive. Moreover, no relationship was found between the height of the male subjects and their self-reported dating frequency. Interestingly, females did rate a photographed male as more attractive when he was depicted as tall than when he was depicted as short relative to an adjacent female.