Hair Loss, Body Height and Attractiveness Malus for Men

In a study on social perception of genetically caused hair loss in men (androgenetic alopecia), facial photographs of 59 men from the estimated age range of 28 to 58 were assessed. The photos were taken from a model catalog and, when viewed objectively, the men were considerably more attractive than the average of their peers. In a supplementary experiment, 21 students assessed all the photos according to the degree of hair loss. The internal consistency was almost perfect (Cronbach's α =.99). The main experiment was conducted online in a German and an English version. Each of the 1618 participants rated a randomly selected photo on 36 personality-descriptive rating scales and estimated age, height and weight. From the ratings, the factors attractiveness, mood, family orientation, professional status, social agreeableness, emotional stability and masculine facial features were obtained. The personality factors have sufficient to very high reliability (α =.73 to.88). The items babyface and likeable were also taken into account. For all variables, the consensus among the judges is at least good, mostly high to excellent (ICC(1, k) =.75 to.98). There are no noteworthy differences between the German and English versions, nor between male and female judges, but the age of the judges has a significant influence on the factors of attractiveness, family orientation and professional status. In the case of attractiveness, the ratings become more positive as the age of the judges increases, while the opposite is true for family orientation and status. With one exception, the men were rated favorably in every respect. The exception is attractiveness and, in particular, the sexual component. Here the ratings were a downright degradation, which we refer to as an attractiveness malus for men. At the level of the judges, hair loss is the dominant variable. With increasing hair loss, men appear older, less attractive, smaller, less masculine, less intelligent and successful at work, more family-oriented, more socially agreeable, in a better mood and more likeable. At the stimulus person level, only the correlation with age and attractiveness and mood is significant. At this level, estimated height is the dominant variable. It correlates positively with attractiveness, emotional stability and masculine appearance and negatively with age, family orientation, social agreeableness, mood and being likeable. The estimated body height thus shows the mirror image of hair loss at the level of the judges. The study makes it clear how important it is to distinguish between the level of the judges and the level of the judged. The level of the stimulus person shows that the individual characteristics are of the greatest importance, but the degree of hair loss can modify the first impressions.