Development and validation of a single-item scale for the relative assessment of physical attractiveness: The Attractiveness Rating 1 (AR1)

Abstract

Physical attractiveness is an important factor of social interaction and cognition, such as in mate choice or in the impressions people form of themselves and of others. In the context of social and health sciences, physical attractiveness has also been shown to complement the prediction of various target variables. Among other relationships, physical attractiveness is associated with criteria of professional success, various health variables and overall life satisfaction. However, the measurement of physical attractiveness via absolute ratings has several shortcomings. For example, attractiveness judgments are influenced by characteristics of the rater. As pointed out in literature, especially the interaction between age and gender of rater and target person has a significant impact on rating scores. The aim of this study was to construct a scale for the economical, reliable and valid assessment of physical attractiveness, controlling for methodological problems reported in prior research. To achieve this, the Attractiveness Rating 1 (AR1) employs a relative measurement approach. The AR1 was constructed and validated using four diverse samples. The presented results suggest that the AR1 adequately measures physical attractiveness.