Hello Beautiful? The Effect of Interviewer Physical Attractiveness on Cooperation Rates and Survey Responses

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

5 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This article analyzes the effect of interviewers’ physical attractiveness on
cooperation rates in face-to-face interviews and survey responses (self-reports
on physical appearance, weight, and health). This article includes four aspects
of physical attractiveness (facial attractiveness, voice attractiveness, body mass
index [BMI], and height) and reports that (1) interviewers with more attractive
faces and lower BMI have higher cooperation rates, (2) differences in interviewers’
personality (Big Five, Rosenberg self-esteem) account for about one
third of the total effect of facial attractiveness on cooperation rates, and (3)
being interviewed by a more attractive interviewer leads to more positive selfreports on physical appearance, weight, and health (but does not affect selfreports
unrelated to physical appearance).
Original languageEnglish
JournalSociological Methods & Research
Volume48
Issue number1
Pages (from-to)156-184
ISSN0049-1241
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2019

Keywords

  • Faculty of Social Sciences
  • interviewer effect
  • physical attractiveness
  • response rate
  • survey response
  • personality
  • social desirability

Cite this