Ronald Henss: Selected Publications

Face perception, social perception, personality judgments, physiognomy, physical attractiveness, beauty, evolutionary psychology, personality description, Big Five, Mood, interrater agreement, consensus

physical attractiveness, beauty, evolutionary psychology, age perceptions, face perception, social perception, personality judgments, interrater agreement, consensus, mate choice,

Male pattern baldness, androgenetic alopecia, social perceptions, face perception, personality judgments, socio-cultural aspects of hair and hair loss

The paper presents a review of the empirical literature on strangers' perceptions of male pattern baldness (androgenetic alopecia). It also discusses some socio-cultural aspects of hair in general, and hair loss in particular.

Waist-to-Hip ratio, female attractiveness, human figure, evolutionary psychology, personality judgment, photographs vs. line drawings, ecological validity

There are a large number of empirical studies supporting the evolutionary psychological prediction that the waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) is an important attribute of female attractiveness. In contrast to previous research, which is almost exclusively based on line drawings, the present study used color photographs as stimuli . For each of six attractive females there were the original photograph and two digitally manipulated pictures, one depicting a lower and one depicting a higher WHR. In a between subjects design the pictures were rated by 180 males and 180 females. The ratings were done on 108 scales covering a broad range of the personality sphere. A factor analysis of these scales yielded seven factors. Only one of these factors was significantly affected by the WHR manipulation, namely Attractiveness. In accordance with evolutionary psychological expectations a lower ratio was more attractive than a higher one. In addition to the empirical findings, some methodological issues are discussed. It is argued that, compared with face research, research on the human figure is in a poor state.

Type nouns, lexical approach, personality judgments, Big Five, physical attractiveness, celebrities

Research in the tradition of the lexical approach has been largely confined to adjective rating scales. Another word class that appears particularly suited for personality description is the class of type nouns (e.g. extravert, misanthrope, leader, coward, intellectual). This paper presents the first investigation in the factorial structure of a relatively large set of German type nouns. Stimulus persons were 12 prominent males (e.g. Boris Becker, Helmut Kohl) and 12 prominent females (e.g. Claudia Schiffer, Steffi Graf). Raters were 240 men and 240 women. Each rater judged one stimulus person on 192 unipolar type noun scales and 32 biploar adjective scales. Factor analyses of the type nouns yielded seven factors for males and six for females. These factors represented a clear-cut and meaningful personality structure. Comparisons with the adjective factors (seven male and six female) demonstrated that the noun factors show some resemblance to the Big Five and Physical Attractiveness. Multiple regression analyses showed that the noun factors cannot be completely reduced to the Big Five. Some systematic differences between male and female stimuli are also discussed.

Lexical approach, personality description, taxonomy, type nouns

De Raad and Ostendorf (1996) harshly criticize a paper of mine in which I presented empirical evidence that the number of personality descriptive type nouns in the German language has been grossly underestimated by the Bielefeld research team (Henss, 1995). In my opinion, most of the arguments put forward by De Raad and Ostendorf are untenable. Although there are a long line of shortcomings in De Raad and Ostendorf’s paper, I will confine my rejoinder to some of the most important aspects.

Lexical approach, personality description, taxonomy, type nouns

Up until now it has been assumed that the German language comprises of far more personality-descriptive adjectives (e.g. cynical) than type nouns (e.g. cynic); cf. Angleitner et al. (1990). The present paper shows that this conclusion is unwarranted. Firstly, it is demonstrated that the German taxonomers considered only a small fraction of the relevant type nouns. Then follows a discussion of why the German language contains a huge number of personality type nouns. Finally, some pitfalls of the lexical approach to personality-description are considered.

personality impressions of strangers' faces; five factor model of personality; physical atttractiveness, mood

Two experiments investigated the personality structure emerging from ratings of strangers' faces. In experiment 1 photographs of 21 males and 21 females (age range: 20-60) were judged by a group of 924 subjects. Each judge rated a single photograph on a personality differential consisting of 89 rating scales. Each photograph was rated by 11 men and 11 women. In experiment 2 a different set of photographs (36 men, 36 women; age range: 20-60) were rated by 864 subjects. Each picture was judged by 6 males and 6 females on a 90 scale personality differential. The differentials were intended to measure the big five personality factors as well as several facets of physical attractiveness and perceived mood states. Factor analyses yielded four "big" factors. Three of these were homogenous in content and easy to interpret: Physical Attractiveness, Mood/Extraversion, and Agreeableness. By extracting a larger number of factors two further components of the five factor model could be replicated, namely Conscientiousness and Intellect/Openness. Big five factor IV (Emotional Stability) could not be identified. In its place a Self-Assertiveness factor was found in both analyses. For this factor some differences could be uncovered in the loading patterns of male and female faces, respectively.

waist-to-hip ratio, physical attractiveness, body weight, Big Five, personality judgments

In several experiments Singh (1993a,b,c; Singh & Luis, 1995) presented evidence that the attractiveness of the female figure is related to the waist-to-hip ratio and the apparent overall body weight. The present paper presents a replication and extension of the Singh studies. Both female and male figures are considered. In addition to different aspects of physical attractiveness, the so called Big Five factors of personality are considered. Both similarities and differences between the Singh studies and the present study are discussed.

physical attractiveness, consensus, agreement, inter-rater-correlations, beauty pageant

The question of amount of consensus in judgments of attractiveness is addressed by analyses of public beauty contests and a brief meta analysis of the attractiveness research literature. Two different types of public beauty contests are considered, namely contests conducted by magazines or journals, and "classical" beauty pageants. In the first group of contests, a set of photographs are depicted in a magazine and the readers are requested to choose their "favorite" simply by indicating their first preference. An analysis of 19 such contests indicated that there is usually sufficient consensus among judges. By comparing the official results with findings from two experiments in which the contestants were rank ordered by 66 and 39 subjects, respectively, some methodological problems of 'magazine contests' are discussed. In particular, it is demonstrated that the 'first-preference-method' can yield undesirable results if there is one candidate who splits the judges into contrasting groups of pro and contra. In the second group of contests - that is "classical" beauty pageants - judgments are delivered by a small group of jurors who apportion a fixed number of points to the contestants. The complete data from 11 state-wide final decisions of the election for "Misses Germany 1991" were available. Analyses of the data showed substantial agreement among judges (mean inter-rater correlations between 0.28 and 0.79; median: 0.34). However, it is criticized that the number of jurors is usually rather small. The last part of paper presents a meta analysis of consensus among judges as reported in the attractiveness research literature. A perusal of approximately one thousand research articles yielded 393 mean inter-rater correlations. For the whole data set the interquartile ranged from 0.29 to 0.54, with a median of 0.43. There were no differences between male and female judges (63 and 70 coefficients, respectively). However, there was a clear difference between male and female stimulus persons (115 vs. 161 coefficients). Although there was substantial agreement in judgments of male stimuli (interquartile: 0.23 - 0.49; median: 0.35), consensus was higher when the stimulus persons were female (0.31 - 0.54; median: 0.42). A cross tabulation by mode of representation of the stimulus persons indicated highest concordances for live judgments (0.40 - 0.69; median: 0.50; N=66), and lowest consensus for photo ratings (0.26 - 0.50; median: 0.39; N=282). Video ratings yielded intermediate values (0.41 - 0.60; median: 0.49; N=33).

similarity of faces; physiognomic features; five factor model of personality; physical attractiveness; age; multidimensional scaling; multiple regression; cross validation

Using a series of three experiments a cross validation study on dimensions of similarity among faces was carried out. In experiment 1, one hundred subjects sorted two sets of facial photographs (61 men, 62 women; age range: 20-60) into groups of faces similar in appearance. In experiment 2, a group of 864 subjects rated a subset of 36 male and 36 female faces on a personality differential consisting of 90 scales and a physiognomic differential consisting of 29 scales. Each judge rated a single photograph on all scales. In experiment 3, the complementary subsets of 25 male and 26 female faces were rated by a third group of 48 subjects. Each judge rated one set of photographs on eight different scales from the personality sphere. Nonmetric multidimensional scaling (ALSCAL) was carried out on the similarity judgments obtained in experiment 1. Using multiple regression techniques the ratings from experiment 2 were regressed on the coordinates of the similarity spaces. About two thirds of the personality scales and nearly half of the physiognomic scales could be fitted into the three-dimensional similarity space. By using factor values in place of scale values, the big five personality factors as well as physical attractiveness and age could be fitted into the three-dimensional space. The regression coefficients obtained in experiment 2 were used to predict the scale values of the complementary subset of stimulus persons in experiment 3. Except for one scale ("unlogical - logical") the cross validation was extraordinarily successful.

physical attractiveness, context effects, range-frequency-theory, height estimates

The paper contains a review of research on context effects in judgments of physical attractiveness, and it presents findings from the author's own research. Based on a classification scheme by Higgins & Stangor (1988), part one contains a systematization of context effects within the realm of attractiveness research. In part two a brief outline of Parducci's range-frequency theory is presented, and the relevant literature is discussed from this theoretical perspective. Part three presents findings from the author's research. Two experiments tested predictions derived from range-frequency theory in connection with assumptions about differential correlations between attractiveness and body height for men and women, respectively. In the first experiment (cf. Henss, 1989), 136 females estimated the body height of male stimulus persons based on head-and-shoulder photographs. The target persons, who were of average attractiveness as determined by a pre-test, were estimated taller when the context person were less attractive, as opposed to more attractive context persons. In a subsequent experiment, which was based on a 2x2x2 (sex of judges x sex of stimuli x attractiveness of context persons) design, 288 subjects provided both attractiveness ratings and height estimates. As expected, a contrast effect was found for attractiveness ratings. This effect was not qualified by sex of judges or sex of judged. Consistent with the assumption that being tall can be an asset for men while it is of rather low importance for women, height estimates showed the following pattern: The attractiveness manipulation had no effect on height estimates when the stimulus persons were female. Furthermore, there was no attractiveness context effect on height estimates when male subjects judged male stimulus persons. However, there was a clear contrast effect when females judged photographs of males. As in the preceding experiment, the targets were estimated taller when the context persons were less attractive as compared to context persons of higher attractiveness. In addition, the question of comparability of relative and absolute judgments is addressed. In one experiment, 240 subjects from different age groups rated the attractiveness of 21 men and 21 women, respectively (age range: 20-60). In this experiment, each judge rated a complete set of 21 photos (cf. Henss, 1991). In another experiment, the same photographs were judged by 924 subjects. However, each judge rated only one stimulus person. The mean attractiveness ratings obtained in both experiments were very similar, indicating that there are no substantial differences between relative and absolute judgments.

physical attractiveness, age perception, consensus, interjudge agreement, face perception

In two experiments, 492 male and female subjects from three different age groups estimated the age of adult men and women on the basis of photographs and provided attractiveness ratings of the stimulus persons. With regard to the age estimates there was almost perfect agreement between the mean judgments of the different groups, and there was high consensus among the individual judges within each group. For each single picture, however, there was high variability in the age estimates; and although the estimates were generally quite accurate, in some cases they deviated substantially from the stimulus person's true age. In both experiments there was a negative relationship between age and attractiveness for female stimuli. For male stimuli a negative relationship was found in one experiment only, whereas in the other experiment these two variables were almost uncorrelated. Both experiments yielded two kinds of ingroup-favoritism: The relationship between age and attractiveness was seen to be less negative (a) when the judges and the judged were of the same sex, and (b) when the subjects themselves belonged to the oldest age group.

Henss, R. (1998). Gesicht und Persönlichkeitseindruck. (Face and personality impressions). Göttingen: Hogrefe.
Key Words	Face perception, social perception, personality judgments, physiognomy, physical attractiveness, beauty, evolutionary psychology, personality description, Big Five, Mood, interrater agreement, consensus
Summary	For a detailed review click here

Henss, R. (1992). "Spieglein, Spieglein an der Wand ..." Geschlecht, Alter und physische Attraktivität ("Mirror, mirror on the wall ..." Sex, age, and physical attractiveness). München: Psychologie Verlags Union.
Key Words	physical attractiveness, beauty, evolutionary psychology, age perceptions, face perception, social perception, personality judgments, interrater agreement, consensus, mate choice,
Summary	For a detailed review click here

Henss, R. (2001). Social perceptions of male pattern baldness. Dermatology + Psychosomatics, 2, 63-71.
Key Words	Male pattern baldness, androgenetic alopecia, social perceptions, face perception, personality judgments, socio-cultural aspects of hair and hair loss
Summary	The paper presents a review of the empirical literature on strangers' perceptions of male pattern baldness (androgenetic alopecia). It also discusses some socio-cultural aspects of hair in general, and hair loss in particular.

Henss, R. (2000). Waist-to-hip ratio and female attractiveness. Evidence from photographic stimuli and methodological considerations. Personality and Individuall Differences, 28, 501-513.
Key Words	Waist-to-Hip ratio, female attractiveness, human figure, evolutionary psychology, personality judgment, photographs vs. line drawings, ecological validity
Summary	There are a large number of empirical studies supporting the evolutionary psychological prediction that the waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) is an important attribute of female attractiveness. In contrast to previous research, which is almost exclusively based on line drawings, the present study used color photographs as stimuli . For each of six attractive females there were the original photograph and two digitally manipulated pictures, one depicting a lower and one depicting a higher WHR. In a between subjects design the pictures were rated by 180 males and 180 females. The ratings were done on 108 scales covering a broad range of the personality sphere. A factor analysis of these scales yielded seven factors. Only one of these factors was significantly affected by the WHR manipulation, namely Attractiveness. In accordance with evolutionary psychological expectations a lower ratio was more attractive than a higher one. In addition to the empirical findings, some methodological issues are discussed. It is argued that, compared with face research, research on the human figure is in a poor state.

Henss, R. (1998). Type nouns and the Five Factor Model of personality description. European Journal of Personality, 12, 57-71.
Key Words	Type nouns, lexical approach, personality judgments, Big Five, physical attractiveness, celebrities
Summary	Research in the tradition of the lexical approach has been largely confined to adjective rating scales. Another word class that appears particularly suited for personality description is the class of type nouns (e.g. extravert, misanthrope, leader, coward, intellectual). This paper presents the first investigation in the factorial structure of a relatively large set of German type nouns. Stimulus persons were 12 prominent males (e.g. Boris Becker, Helmut Kohl) and 12 prominent females (e.g. Claudia Schiffer, Steffi Graf). Raters were 240 men and 240 women. Each rater judged one stimulus person on 192 unipolar type noun scales and 32 biploar adjective scales. Factor analyses of the type nouns yielded seven factors for males and six for females. These factors represented a clear-cut and meaningful personality structure. Comparisons with the adjective factors (seven male and six female) demonstrated that the noun factors show some resemblance to the Big Five and Physical Attractiveness. Multiple regression analyses showed that the noun factors cannot be completely reduced to the Big Five. Some systematic differences between male and female stimuli are also discussed.

RONALD HENSS Fachrichtung Psychologie Universität des Saarlandes D-66041 Saarbrücken Germany
Selected Publications Face Perception, Physical Attractiveness, Waist-to-Hip Ratio, Evolutionary Psychology, Personality Psychology, Big Five, Lexical Approach, Mood, Hair, Male Pattern Baldness, Mate Choice

Henss, R. (1996). Fantasy, wishful thinking, and statistical hokuspokus. A rejoinder to De Raad and Ostendorf (1966). European Journal of Personality, 10, 157-160.
Key Words	Lexical approach, personality description, taxonomy, type nouns
Summary	De Raad and Ostendorf (1996) harshly criticize a paper of mine in which I presented empirical evidence that the number of personality descriptive type nouns in the German language has been grossly underestimated by the Bielefeld research team (Henss, 1995). In my opinion, most of the arguments put forward by De Raad and Ostendorf are untenable. Although there are a long line of shortcomings in De Raad and Ostendorf’s paper, I will confine my rejoinder to some of the most important aspects.

Henss, R. (1995). From Aal to Zyniker. Personality-descriptive type nouns in the German language. European Journal of Personality, 9, 135-145.
Key Words	Lexical approach, personality description, taxonomy, type nouns
Summary	Up until now it has been assumed that the German language comprises of far more personality-descriptive adjectives (e.g. cynical) than type nouns (e.g. cynic); cf. Angleitner et al. (1990). The present paper shows that this conclusion is unwarranted. Firstly, it is demonstrated that the German taxonomers considered only a small fraction of the relevant type nouns. Then follows a discussion of why the German language contains a huge number of personality type nouns. Finally, some pitfalls of the lexical approach to personality-description are considered.

Henss, R. (1995). Das Fünf-Faktoren-Modell der Persönlichkeit bei der Beurteilung von Gesichtern. (The five factor model of personality in judgments of strangers' faces). Report Psychologie, 20/3, 28-39.
Key Words	personality impressions of strangers' faces; five factor model of personality; physical atttractiveness, mood
Summary	Two experiments investigated the personality structure emerging from ratings of strangers' faces. In experiment 1 photographs of 21 males and 21 females (age range: 20-60) were judged by a group of 924 subjects. Each judge rated a single photograph on a personality differential consisting of 89 rating scales. Each photograph was rated by 11 men and 11 women. In experiment 2 a different set of photographs (36 men, 36 women; age range: 20-60) were rated by 864 subjects. Each picture was judged by 6 males and 6 females on a 90 scale personality differential. The differentials were intended to measure the big five personality factors as well as several facets of physical attractiveness and perceived mood states. Factor analyses yielded four "big" factors. Three of these were homogenous in content and easy to interpret: Physical Attractiveness, Mood/Extraversion, and Agreeableness. By extracting a larger number of factors two further components of the five factor model could be replicated, namely Conscientiousness and Intellect/Openness. Big five factor IV (Emotional Stability) could not be identified. In its place a Self-Assertiveness factor was found in both analyses. For this factor some differences could be uncovered in the loading patterns of male and female faces, respectively.

Henss, R. (1995). Waist-to-Hip Ratio and Attractiveness. Replication and Extension. Personality and Individual Differences, 19, 479-488.
Key Words	waist-to-hip ratio, physical attractiveness, body weight, Big Five, personality judgments
Summary	In several experiments Singh (1993a,b,c; Singh & Luis, 1995) presented evidence that the attractiveness of the female figure is related to the waist-to-hip ratio and the apparent overall body weight. The present paper presents a replication and extension of the Singh studies. Both female and male figures are considered. In addition to different aspects of physical attractiveness, the so called Big Five factors of personality are considered. Both similarities and differences between the Singh studies and the present study are discussed.

Henss, R. (1995). Misses Germany, Titelmädchen des Jahres, Playmate des Jahres usw. Zur Urteilerübereinstimmung bei öffentlichen Schönheitswettbewerben und in psychologischen Experimenten. [Misses Germany, Cover Girl of the Year, Playmate of the Year, and so on ... Consensus in public beauty contests and in psychological experiments]. Psychologische Beiträge, 37, 124-135.
Key Words	physical attractiveness, consensus, agreement, inter-rater-correlations, beauty pageant
Summary	The question of amount of consensus in judgments of attractiveness is addressed by analyses of public beauty contests and a brief meta analysis of the attractiveness research literature. Two different types of public beauty contests are considered, namely contests conducted by magazines or journals, and "classical" beauty pageants. In the first group of contests, a set of photographs are depicted in a magazine and the readers are requested to choose their "favorite" simply by indicating their first preference. An analysis of 19 such contests indicated that there is usually sufficient consensus among judges. By comparing the official results with findings from two experiments in which the contestants were rank ordered by 66 and 39 subjects, respectively, some methodological problems of 'magazine contests' are discussed. In particular, it is demonstrated that the 'first-preference-method' can yield undesirable results if there is one candidate who splits the judges into contrasting groups of pro and contra. In the second group of contests - that is "classical" beauty pageants - judgments are delivered by a small group of jurors who apportion a fixed number of points to the contestants. The complete data from 11 state-wide final decisions of the election for "Misses Germany 1991" were available. Analyses of the data showed substantial agreement among judges (mean inter-rater correlations between 0.28 and 0.79; median: 0.34). However, it is criticized that the number of jurors is usually rather small. The last part of paper presents a meta analysis of consensus among judges as reported in the attractiveness research literature. A perusal of approximately one thousand research articles yielded 393 mean inter-rater correlations. For the whole data set the interquartile ranged from 0.29 to 0.54, with a median of 0.43. There were no differences between male and female judges (63 and 70 coefficients, respectively). However, there was a clear difference between male and female stimulus persons (115 vs. 161 coefficients). Although there was substantial agreement in judgments of male stimuli (interquartile: 0.23 - 0.49; median: 0.35), consensus was higher when the stimulus persons were female (0.31 - 0.54; median: 0.42). A cross tabulation by mode of representation of the stimulus persons indicated highest concordances for live judgments (0.40 - 0.69; median: 0.50; N=66), and lowest consensus for photo ratings (0.26 - 0.50; median: 0.39; N=282). Video ratings yielded intermediate values (0.41 - 0.60; median: 0.49; N=33).

Henss, R. (1994). Dimensionen der Ähnlichkeit von Gesichtern. Eine Kreuzvalidierung. (Dimensions of similarity of faces. A cross-validation study). Zeitschrift für experimentelle und angewandte Psychologie, 41, 398-414.
Key Words	similarity of faces; physiognomic features; five factor model of personality; physical attractiveness; age; multidimensional scaling; multiple regression; cross validation
Summary	Using a series of three experiments a cross validation study on dimensions of similarity among faces was carried out. In experiment 1, one hundred subjects sorted two sets of facial photographs (61 men, 62 women; age range: 20-60) into groups of faces similar in appearance. In experiment 2, a group of 864 subjects rated a subset of 36 male and 36 female faces on a personality differential consisting of 90 scales and a physiognomic differential consisting of 29 scales. Each judge rated a single photograph on all scales. In experiment 3, the complementary subsets of 25 male and 26 female faces were rated by a third group of 48 subjects. Each judge rated one set of photographs on eight different scales from the personality sphere. Nonmetric multidimensional scaling (ALSCAL) was carried out on the similarity judgments obtained in experiment 1. Using multiple regression techniques the ratings from experiment 2 were regressed on the coordinates of the similarity spaces. About two thirds of the personality scales and nearly half of the physiognomic scales could be fitted into the three-dimensional similarity space. By using factor values in place of scale values, the big five personality factors as well as physical attractiveness and age could be fitted into the three-dimensional space. The regression coefficients obtained in experiment 2 were used to predict the scale values of the complementary subset of stimulus persons in experiment 3. Except for one scale ("unlogical - logical") the cross validation was extraordinarily successful.

Henss, R.(1993). Kontexteffekte bei der Beurteilung der physischen Attraktivität (Context effects in judgments of physical attractiveness). In M. Hassebrauck & R. Niketta (eds.). Physische Attraktivität (Physical attractiveness). Göttingen: Hogrefe (pp.61-94).
Key Words	physical attractiveness, context effects, range-frequency-theory, height estimates
Summary	The paper contains a review of research on context effects in judgments of physical attractiveness, and it presents findings from the author's own research. Based on a classification scheme by Higgins & Stangor (1988), part one contains a systematization of context effects within the realm of attractiveness research. In part two a brief outline of Parducci's range-frequency theory is presented, and the relevant literature is discussed from this theoretical perspective. Part three presents findings from the author's research. Two experiments tested predictions derived from range-frequency theory in connection with assumptions about differential correlations between attractiveness and body height for men and women, respectively. In the first experiment (cf. Henss, 1989), 136 females estimated the body height of male stimulus persons based on head-and-shoulder photographs. The target persons, who were of average attractiveness as determined by a pre-test, were estimated taller when the context person were less attractive, as opposed to more attractive context persons. In a subsequent experiment, which was based on a 2x2x2 (sex of judges x sex of stimuli x attractiveness of context persons) design, 288 subjects provided both attractiveness ratings and height estimates. As expected, a contrast effect was found for attractiveness ratings. This effect was not qualified by sex of judges or sex of judged. Consistent with the assumption that being tall can be an asset for men while it is of rather low importance for women, height estimates showed the following pattern: The attractiveness manipulation had no effect on height estimates when the stimulus persons were female. Furthermore, there was no attractiveness context effect on height estimates when male subjects judged male stimulus persons. However, there was a clear contrast effect when females judged photographs of males. As in the preceding experiment, the targets were estimated taller when the context persons were less attractive as compared to context persons of higher attractiveness. In addition, the question of comparability of relative and absolute judgments is addressed. In one experiment, 240 subjects from different age groups rated the attractiveness of 21 men and 21 women, respectively (age range: 20-60). In this experiment, each judge rated a complete set of 21 photos (cf. Henss, 1991). In another experiment, the same photographs were judged by 924 subjects. However, each judge rated only one stimulus person. The mean attractiveness ratings obtained in both experiments were very similar, indicating that there are no substantial differences between relative and absolute judgments.

Henss, R. (1991). Perceiving age and attractiveness in facial photographs. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 21, 933-946.
Key Words	physical attractiveness, age perception, consensus, interjudge agreement, face perception
Summary	In two experiments, 492 male and female subjects from three different age groups estimated the age of adult men and women on the basis of photographs and provided attractiveness ratings of the stimulus persons. With regard to the age estimates there was almost perfect agreement between the mean judgments of the different groups, and there was high consensus among the individual judges within each group. For each single picture, however, there was high variability in the age estimates; and although the estimates were generally quite accurate, in some cases they deviated substantially from the stimulus person's true age. In both experiments there was a negative relationship between age and attractiveness for female stimuli. For male stimuli a negative relationship was found in one experiment only, whereas in the other experiment these two variables were almost uncorrelated. Both experiments yielded two kinds of ingroup-favoritism: The relationship between age and attractiveness was seen to be less negative (a) when the judges and the judged were of the same sex, and (b) when the subjects themselves belonged to the oldest age group.