Introduction
Facebook is still one of the leading social networks. This application allows people to interact at various levels (Mihee, 2016).’The Effects of Physical Attractiveness and Political Affiliation on Facebook Friend Acceptance’ article aims to identify some patterns between human attractiveness and political interests. The article also tries to answer the question to what extent people are ready to interact with each other based on their views and appearance. Therefore, this article can be considered relatable, as this is a situation most people are able to experience when engaging with someone for the first time. Today, political views have a huge role in how an individual will be perceived in society. To some extent, this fact also affects the success and acceptance by other people. The appearance and presentation of others have a noticeable impact on an individual’s opinion regarding interests, political affiliations, and other factors.
About the Article
Even though various movements are gaining popularity that support the acceptance of people’s unaltered appearance, people continue to pay attention to whether a particular person is attractive or not (Marder, et al., 2016). Thus, drawing parallels and interrelations between these two factors is a fascinating question to consider. However, there is one problem that can be questioned, which is the issue that states that attractiveness for each person is different. As such, it can be noted that there is no specific criterion that would help to determine with confidence whether a person is attractive or not. It is also possible to question the honesty and openness of people when they talk about their political views. Social network platforms allow for the interaction between the factors of political affiliation, the perception of attractiveness, and opportunity to create connections in the forms of friendships. In addition, it might have been worth taking into account the personal interest of people who accept applications for friends.
The Researchers’ View
Within the article, photos were selected with individuals that were determined to be attractive and unattractive. The researchers’ thesis was that the subjects would more often choose an attractive photo of a person with similar political views when presented with such information (Koller, et al., 2018). In this case, the study was based on the idea that people would want to interact more openly with a person who simultaneously has two positive qualities. However, initial studies have shown that the relationship of political interests did not play a significant role in accepting a request for friends. However, it is worth noting that the attractiveness factor remained dominant in decision-making for the subjects.
Results of the Experiment
As the studies described in this article have shown, the hypothesis that people will accept more applications for friends from attractive people proved to be true. However, it is worth noting that this decision-making criterion was more common among respondents whose political views were either Democratic or Republican (Koller et al., 2018). Those who identified themselves as Independent were inclined to accept applications for friends from unattractive and attractive people equally. However, there are specific differences between participants of different political views. The Democrat participants accepted people with different political views as friends but relied more on appearance. The Republican participants were also inclined to choose more attractive people, but at the same time giving preference to people with Republican or Independent views. It is worth noting a specific correlation between political views and the attractiveness factor (Peterson & Palmer, 2017). It is also worth considering that the study participants, whose views were Independent, accepted applications for friends regardless of their political views.
Conclusion
According to this study, social networks, especially those that have large user bases, can have a strong influence on how a person is perceived in society. However, despite this, the exciting fact is that Independent study participants showed that their perception is not affected by the above points. In addition, as it was noted in the article itself, it is necessary to conduct additional research on how these studied factors affect relationships not in an online environment.
References
Koller, E. C., Swanda, A. L., Noonan, J. A., & Sisneroz, M. T. (2018). The effects of physical attractiveness and political affiliation on Facebook friend acceptance. The international honor society in psychology, 23(4), 274-334. Web.
Marder, B., Slade, E., Houghton, D., & Archer-Brown, C. (2016). I like them, but won’t ‘like’ them: An examination of impression management associated with visible political party affiliation on Facebook. Computers in Human Behavior, 61, 280–287.
Mihee, K. (2016). Facebook’s spiral of silence and participation: The role of political expression on Facebook and partisan strength in political participation. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 19, 696–702.
Peterson, R. D., & Palmer, C. L. (2017). Effects of physical attractiveness on political beliefs. Politics and the life sciences: the journal of the Association for Politics and the Life Sciences, 36(2), 3–16.