The Effect of Physical Attractiveness on Responses to Pop Music Performers and Their Music

Abstract

Previous research has shown that manipulations of source prestige can mediate subjects' responses to music, and that attractive people are perceived more positively than their unattractive counterparts. In light of this, the present study investigated the effects of the physical attractiveness of twenty pop music performers on adolescent subjects' responses to them, and excerpts of new age/ambient dance music allegedly by these artists. A series of adjectival scales gave rise to multivariate main effects of physical attractiveness on ratings of both the performers and their alleged music, with univariate main effects on the scales indicating that performer physical attractiveness was perceived positively by the subjects. There was also evidence that responses to the music were associated positively with responses to the performers. These results indicate that the performer of music can influence aesthetic responses, and that his/her physical attractiveness may mediate the nature of this relationship.