Fairy
tales: Influences on children’s perceptions of physical attractiveness
as displayed through social perceptions and social preferences By:
Colette M. Salvas |
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Welcome Thank
you for visiting my web page. The following information is a accumulation
of two semesters in Experimental Psychology I and Experimental Psychology
II at Saint Anselm College.I hope
that you enjoy reading about my thesis, and if you have any questions or
would like more information about my research, please feel free to contact
me via email. First
and foremost, I would like to thank my family, especially my parents, for
providing me with the opportunity to attend Saint Anselm College and supporting
my decision to become a psychology major.If
it was not for their love and support, I would not be at this point today.Thank
you for giving me the privilege and the opportunity to be as happy as I
am here.I always knew that I had
your support, and that you were there for me, even if it meant a random
two-hour drive from Rhode Island to New Hampshire.I
do not know what I would have ever done without your support over the past
four years.Thank you for everything,
but most of all for never giving up on me and always encouraging me.And
to my sister, for listening to me complain about how stressed I was, and
more importantly, just providing a listening ear no matter what was going
on.I love you all. Secondly,
I would like to thank Chris, for his unending love and support, even on
my worst of days.From the very
beginning of our relationship you have supported me in my efforts with
my thesis.Your encouragement,
regardless of my frustrations and disappointments, has pulled me through
this process.As nervous and tense
as I was on the first day of my data collection, you helped me through
it by surprising me and becoming my “research assistant” for the afternoon.Even
though we may not have been together for that long, you have demonstrated
the true meaning of love through the way that you listen and never cease
to be there for me, even if it means hours of your time.I
do not know what I would ever do without you.I
love you. What
would life be without my crazy roomies?Andrea,
Erica, and Nicole- thank you so much for the laughs and the tears.You
are all part of the reason I am where I am today.Your
support and understanding has been so important to me through all that
I have faced this semester.Thank
you for reminding me the of the importance of laughing and relaxing, especially
when I seemed to forget the meaning of both of those two words.My
life would not be the same without any one of you. To
my fellow psychology majors and my professors- namely Katie G., Christine,
Meagan, Katie L., Professor Finn, and Professor Ossoff as “the fam” and
of course my roomie Erica- having your support and knowing that we were
in this together helped to get me through it.From
words of empathy to reminders that we could and would get through this,
you have made me feel like part of a community, and have truly helped me
to find my niche here at Saint A.’s.Life
in the psychology department has proven to never have a dull moment- especially
not with any of you around.Through
all of you, Saint A.’s has become my home away from home.Thank
you for all of you love and support. And
last, but certainly not least, to Professor McKenna and Professor Ossoff,
who have both helped me to arrive at the finished product.Thank
you for understanding my frustrations regarding field research, and for
always somehow convincing me that it would be okay.I
greatly appreciate all the time and support that you have given me, especially
when it made your days crazier than what they already were.Thank
you for being the great professors that you are. While
there has been a great deal of research done regarding how physical attractiveness
influences the psychological development of children, there has not been
a great deal of research conducted that examines the influence of fairy
tales on their social behavior.Fairy
tales often vividly portray physical attractiveness through characters
such as Snow White, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty.While
the presence of the concept of physical attractiveness is evident in fairy
tales, there is not much research regarding the interaction of physical
attractiveness as depicted in fairy tales and children’s social behavior.The
goal of the present study was to examine whether a relationship exists
between the physical attractiveness portrayed in fairy tales and the social
perceptions and social preferences of children.It
was hypothesized that children will be influenced by the beauty-is-good
stereotype in their social perceptions and social preferences based upon
their experiences with fairy tales. Children
were divided into two groups by random assignment, one of which was exposed
to a fairy tale that demonstrated the beauty-is-good stereotype, Sleeping
Beauty; and a second group which was exposed to the modern day children’s
movie, Shrek, a satire of other fairy tales that portrays notions
opposite of the beauty-is-good stereotype.After
viewing the movies, children were asked to fill out a survey rating selected
characters on their physical attractiveness, as well as how nice or mean
they perceived the characters to be.Children
were then asked to fill out a survey which asked them to rate six different
photographs for physical attractiveness, and traits revealing their social
perceptions and social preference for the photographs. A
2 (Sleeping Beauty, Shrek) x 2 (attractive photograph, unattractive
photograph) repeated measures ANOVA and 2 (Sleeping Beauty, Shrek)
x 3 (attractive photograph, unattractive photograph, moderately attractive
photograph) repeated measures ANOVA were used to analyze the results.2
x 2 analyses revealed that while there was no significant difference between
groups with regards to exposure to fairy-tale type, the beauty-is-good
stereotype prevailed among how children perceived the attractive versus
the unattractive female photos and also with regards to how nice, and how
much fun to be with the female was perceived to be.In
terms of the male photographs, attractive males were thought to be more
nice, fun to be with, and outgoing.Gender
differences among the participant responses were only found with regards
to how much they would like to have the attractive female as their teacher.No
overall effects were found for age. Results
of the present study seem to indicate that brief exposure to messages that
contradict the beauty-is-good stereotype is not enough to influence the
social perceptions and social preferences of children.Findings
will provide psychologists with further insight into the role that fairy
tales, as well as outside influences, play in the social behavior of children
and will hopefully lead to further research within this particular subject
area in the field of developmental psychology.Perhaps
further research should seek to provide more extended exposure to notions
that negate the beauty-is-good stereotype in order to determine the extent
to which it influences social behavior. Physical
attractiveness has become a very popular topic in the realm of psychology.Numerous
studies have been done evaluating the way that physical attractiveness
influences behavior, perceptions, self-esteem, social preference, and even
academic performance (Adams & Crane, 1980; Dion & Berscheid, 1974;
Dion, Berscheid, & Walster, 1972; Dushenko, Perry, Schilling, &
Smolarski, 1978; Hoffner & Cantor, 1985; Hunsberger & Cavanagh,
1988; Krantz, 1987; Langlois & Styczynski, 1979; Vaughn & Langlois,
1983).Through this research,
psychologists have been able to draw some important conclusions regarding
the influence of physical appearance on attributions and perceptions.While
many studies have focused on adult responses to physical appearance, more
and more studies have come to focus on child perceptions of physical appearance
and its implications (Adams & Crane, 1980; Dion & Berscheid, 1974;
Dion, Berscheid, & Walster, 1972; Dushenko, Perry, Schilling, &
Smolarski, 1978; Hoffner & Cantor, 1985; Hunsberger & Cavanagh,
1988; Krantz, 1987; Langlois & Styczynski, 1979; Vaughn & Langlois,
1983). In
addition to physical attractiveness, one of the other popular topics within
the field of psychology is the role of fairy tales in the lives of children.Studies
have examined the symbols, meaning, and influences of fairy tales on behavior
(Crain, D’Alessio, McIntyre, & Smoke, 1983; Danilewitz, 1991; Walker
& Lunz, 1976).Researchers have
also examined the importance of fairy tales as a means of communication
of important norms and values (Danilewitz, 1991; Thompson, 2000; Walker
& Lunz, 1976; Whyte, 1987). While
there has been a great deal of research done regarding how physical attractiveness
influences the psychological development of children, there has not been
a great deal of research conducted that examines the influence of fairy
tales on the social behavior of children.Research
examining the interaction of physical attractiveness and fairy tales is
also lacking.Physical attractiveness
is often portrayed vividly to children in stories such as Cinderella,
Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.Despite
this apparent connection, many psychologists have not yet ventured into
examining whether physical attractiveness depicted in fairy tales has an
effect on children’s social perceptions and social preferences.This
study proposes to fill that gap and examine the role of physical attractiveness
in fairy tales’ influence on children.
Influences
of physical attractiveness on cognition and behavior
One
of the first studies conducted to examine the influence of physical appearance
on social perceptions in adults was conducted by Dion, Berscheid, and Walster
(1972).These researchers asked college
students enrolled in introductory psychology courses to evaluate personality
traits based upon three pictures that they were given.Half
of the participants received pictures of males, and the other half of females.They
received three envelopes that each contained one picture- either of a highly
attractive person, a person of average attractiveness, or a non-attractive
person.Participants were asked
to rate each of the photographs, one at a time, on twenty-seven different
personality traits as they opened each envelope.Following
this task, participants were then asked to decide from the three photographs
who would be most likely to possess certain quality of life characteristics
(i.e. marital happiness, social and professional happiness, etc.)Finally,
the experimenter asked the students to decide who they thought would be
most likely to enter into each of twenty-seven different professions.Results
indicated that favorable personality traits and most of the quality of
life traits were more likely to be attributed to the highly attractive
person than the non-attractive person.The
exception was that highly attractive people were not assumed to make better
parents.These effects proved
to be true regardless of the sex of the rater and the sex of the person
evaluated.Based on the research
of Dion, Berscheid, and Walster (1972), the phrase “what is beautiful is
good” (p. 285) has been commonly used to describe these effects.
Researchers
Dushenko, Perry, Schilling, and Smolarski (1978) used the findings of Dion,
Berscheid, and Walster (1972) to conduct further research on physical attractiveness
as it relates to age and sex.They
tested two groups of participants- one of children between the ages of
10-12 years, and the other of adults between the ages of 55-75 years to
determine whether or not differences existed between the strength of the
beauty-is-good stereotype among varying ages.Participants
were presented with a picture of an attractive and an unattractive female
person, and asked to decide which would display each of nine different
personality traits, and then each of five quality of life elements.This
task was used to measure social attributions.Results
indicated that an intact beauty-is-good stereotype existed, especially
among the child participants, who were more likely to attribute positive
characteristics and quality of life elements to the attractive people than
were the adults.Girls were much
more likely than female adults to advocate the beauty-is-good stereotype,
and boys were more likely than adult males to do the same thing.In
general, however, no significance was found for the quality of life measure
in terms of both the child and adult responses.In
other words, physically attractive people were no more likely to be attributed
to have positive qualities of life than physically unattractive people.The
non-significance of the quality of life dimensions contradicts the findings
of Dion, Berscheid, and Walster (1972).The
finding that the men were more likely to favor the beauty-is-good stereotype
than women also slightly contradicts the findings of Dion, Berscheid, and
Walster (1972) who suggested that the sex of the rater did not have an
affect on the attributions made about physical attractiveness of the photographs
of the men and women.The findings
of this study suggest that children only base judgments on physical attractiveness
in terms of personality traits.These
results also indicate that boys will be slightly more likely than girls
to make attributions based on the beauty-is-good stereotype.Both
of these factors are important to take into consideration when evaluating
the effects of the beauty-is-good stereotype on children’s attributions. Further
expanding on the research conducted by Dion, Berscheid, and Walster (1972),
Langlois and Styczynski (1979) tested the concept of the beauty-is-good
stereotype with preschool, second, and fourth grade age children where
the participants were shown previously rated pictures of attractive and
unattractive classmates and asked to decide which classmates they liked,
and then which of the classmates would be most likely to demonstrate pro-social,
antisocial, and socially competent behaviors.Results
showed that attractive girl classmates became increasingly popular as the
age of the rater increased, while attractive boys became decreasingly popular
when the age of the rater was over 5 years.Unattractive
boys were found to be more popular than attractive boys, while the reverse
was true for the girls.However,
by age 8, attractive peers were more liked than unattractive peers.In
terms of behavior, Langlois and Styczinski (1979) discovered that children
rated attractive peers as demonstrating more pro-social behavior than unattractive
peers.There was an interaction
with age, however.Attractive girls
were associated with pro-social behaviors until age 8, while unattractive
girls were associated with pro-social behaviors at age 10.In
terms of the boys, the reverse was found to be true.These
findings further suggest the importance of considering the age of the rater
in terms of the beauty-is-good stereotype, as the influences of physical
attractiveness varies as a function of the age of the rater. The
discovery that attractive females were found to be more popular than attractive
males (Langlois & Styczinski, 1979) was further supported by Vaughn
and Langlois (1983).They asked children
between the ages of 4-5 years to choose three of their classmates that
they “especially liked” from a board of previously rated photographs.Results
indicated that children were more likely to choose attractive peers versus
unattractive peers, especially when the attractive peers were females.While
the researchers noted that physical attractiveness was not an accurate
predictor of popularity among the boys, the researchers did note that at
the beginning of the school year when the children were assessed, physical
attractiveness was found to be related to popularity among the boys.However,
by the end of the school year, this no longer appeared to be true.Physical
attractiveness was still an accurate predictor of popularity among the
girls, however.This research
suggests that initial social perceptions and preferences of children are
based upon physical attractiveness.Thus,
if children look at a series of unfamiliar photographs, their social perceptions
and social preferences of the people pictured may prove to be a function
of physical attractiveness.The more
physically attractive the person pictured is, the more likely the child
will associate positive traits to them, and perhaps even like them. In
addition to this study conducted by Langlois and Styczynski (1979), Krantz
(1987) examined the role that physical attractiveness played in the social
choices of boy and girls who were entering kindergarten.Photographs
of the children were taken preceding the beginning of the school year.Children
were shown the pictures of their classmates and asked to pick the classmates
that they would like to make friends with.Mothers
were asked to predict the classmates that they thought their child would
like to become friends with.Five
weeks into the beginning of the school year, sociometric tests were given
in which the children were asked to nominate three best friends who were
of the same sex, and then rate the rest of their same-sex peers.Results
indicated that physical attractiveness was an accurate predictor of choice
of friends among same-sex peers.Mothers
and daughters were found to be more likely to use physical attractiveness
in choosing friends.Boys, however,
were not found to place any emphasis on physical attractiveness when choosing
same-sex friends.While this study
further supports the findings of Vaughn and Langlois (1983), it does not
take into account what the children’s preferences would have been before
the school year began.Perhaps,
as Vaughn and Langlois found, even though physical attractiveness was not
important in boys’ decisions of friends, it would have played an important
role if the decisions were made before being allowed to get to know their
classmates.The findings of Vaughn
and Langlois (1983), are still crucial and relevant to the present study,
because they suggest that children make prior decisions of friends based
upon physical attractiveness.Krantz
(1987) suggests that parents play an important role in the development
of their children’s perceptions. The
possibility that parents influence children’s perceptions through their
development leads one to question if there are any other factors that important
in the children’s social development.Perhaps
these other factors even influence and formulate children’s concepts of
what is physically attractive and what is physically unattractive.According
to Bandura’s social learning theory (Aronson, Wilson, & Akert, 2002),
social behaviors are learned through observing and imitating others.Children
observe demonstrations of social behaviors not only through their parents,
but also through their teachers, and even television programs.If
a child watches a program where a person they perceive as physically attractive
is associated with goodness and treated better than a person who is unattractive,
according to social learning theory, the child would observe this behavior
and make it his own.The importance
of Bandura’s social learning theory is that it takes into account the many
factors that influence social development.In
children, these influences come in the form of the behaviors that they
observe most frequently, which is often that of their parents, teachers,
and television programs. To
follow up on previous research conducted regarding the social perceptions
of adults and children as a result of physical attractiveness, Adams and
Crane (1980) decided to conduct a study that combined the perceptions of
parents, teachers, and their children of the beauty-is-good stereotype.Researchers
showed the children and their parents sets of photographs of other children,
as well as middle-aged people.Results
indicated that parents and teachers expected their children to make positive
attributions and have preferences for the attractive as opposed to the
unattractive male children.The
only exception to this prediction was that the parents did not expect that
the photographs of the girls would be judged on the basis of physical attractiveness.However,
children made their assessments based on the beauty-is-good stereotype
with no regards for the gender of the photographs.These
findings are important because they support the suggestions made by Dion
and Berscheid (1974) who suggest that children are influenced in making
attributions on the basis of physical attractiveness because they are predisposed
to expect certain behaviors from attractive versus unattractive peers.If,
in accordance with Bandura’s social learning theory (Aronson, Wilson, &
Akert, 2002), parents and teachers could be the possible cause for this
predisposition because they play such an important role in children’s lives,
then perhaps there are other factors, such ideas portrayed through stories,
that can lead children to make decisions on the basis of physical attractiveness. While
the research of Adams and Crane (1980) is important, especially since it
further suggests that other factors, namely parents and teachers, influence
children’s social development, their research contradicts the findings
of previous studies with regards to the social preferences.Children
have been found to select their same-sex peer friends on the basis of physical
attractiveness; and this holds true especially amongst girls (Krantz, 1987).Further
contributing to differences between their study and those prior to them,
was the lack of age consideration.Age
has been found to play an important role in how children are influenced
by the physical attractiveness of their peers (Dion & Berscheid, 1974;
Langlois & Styczynski, 1979).Even
though Adams and Crane found support for the beauty-is-good stereotype,
their findings cannot be applied across age, especially since they only
studied pre-school age children. In
addition to considering age, gender is also an important factor to be considered,
as there is conflicting research with regards to whether an interaction
exists between gender and the beauty-is-good stereotype. According to Dushenko,
Perry, Schilling, and Smolarski (1978), boys were found to be more likely
to use physical attractiveness as a means of making social attributions.This
conflicts with the previous research of Dion, Berscheid, and Walster (1972),
who claim that the sex of the rater did not affect the attributions made
regarding the photographs participants saw.Findings
of Dion, Berscheid, and Walster (1972) indicate that no difference exists
between boys and girls regarding the values of physical appearance.Further
research by Vaughn and Langlois (1983), revealed that while girls and boys
both made attributions based on physical appearance before the school year
began, only girls continued to be influenced by these attributions as the
year progressed.Krantz (1987)
further supported this research as he found that girls were more likely
to make attributions based on physical appearance than were the boys.In
addition to making more attributions, girls were also found to be most
likely to be the subject of these attributions as Langlois and Styczinski
(1979), discovered when they found that attractive girls were more popular
than attractive boys.These conflicting
findings suggest that the implications of gender in terms of the beauty-is-good
stereotype are not clear.In order
to clarify these findings, further studies should be done regarding gender
differences with regards to the beauty-is-good stereotype. While
many studies consider gender in the study of physical attractiveness in
social perception and social preferences, Hunsberger and Cavanagh (1988)
took a different approach to studying the beauty-is-good stereotype.Their
approach focused more on the age differences of school age children.They
researched the influence of physical attractiveness on the expectations
children may have of potential teachers.They
tested first grade children who were between the ages of 6-7 and sixth
grade children who were between the ages of 11-13.Children
were shown twenty black and white photographs of female university students,
which had been previously rated by both adults and children for physical
attractiveness.They were then instructed
by the experimenter to pretend that they were opening a new school and
needed to select teachers for the grade in which they were currently enrolled.Children
were asked questions regarding who they thought would be the nicest, who
they thought would punish the students more when they were bad or when
they misbehaved, who they thought the students would learn the most from,
who they thought would be the happiest and most fun to be around, who they
would like to have as a new teacher if they were to go to this school,
and which teacher was the prettiest.Results
supported the expectations of the beauty-is-good stereotype with regards
to social perceptions and social preferences- the attractive female was
rated as the nicest, most likely to be learned from, happiest, and the
teacher they would select.Unattractive
females were rated as the most likely to punish their students.No
significance was found for age or sex of the child, indicating the neither
age nor gender influenced the way that the children answered the questions
that were posed to them. The
exception was that the older students were less likely to base their opinions
of who they would learn the most from using the beauty-is-good stereotype. Based
on the knowledge acquired from previous studies, (Adams & Crane, 1980;
Dion & Berscheid, 1974; Dion Berscheid, & Walster, 1972;Dushenko,
Perry, Schilling, & Smolarski, 1978; Krantz, 1987; Hunsberger and Cavanaugh,
1988; Langlois & Styczynski, 1979; & Vaughn & Langlois, 1983)
it is evident that physical attractiveness plays a role in the social perceptions
and social preferences of children.While
there is conflicting information regarding the role effects that gender
and age play in the effect physical attractiveness has on children’s judgments,
both gender and age are considerations that must be made when evaluating
the influence of this construct has on children’s social perceptions and
preferences.Yet another consideration
that must be made is the fact that children may be predisposed to make
certain judgments on the basis of physical attractiveness as the result
of outside influences which they learn from (Adams & Crane, 1980; Dion
& Berscheid, 1974) in accordance with Bandura’s social learning theory
(Aronson, Wilson, & Akert, 2002). One
of the many outside factors that influences children is that of the media.Through
media, children perceive and interpret information.While
much of the previous research mentioned has dealt with perceptions of physical
attractiveness through photographs, the work of Hoffner and Cantor (1985)
looked at children’s perceptions of attractiveness through not only a depiction,
but also through a behavioral depiction.Hoffner
and Cantor presented the child participants with an attractive woman conducting
a nice act, an attractive woman conducting a mean act, an unattractive
woman conducting a nice act, and lastly an unattractive woman conducting
a mean act.The results from the
study indicated main effects for both the attractiveness and behavior of
the woman.Results indicated, that
especially among the 3-5 year olds, the attractive woman, even when she
performed a mean act, was rated as nicer than the mean woman when she performed
a nice act.As age increased,
the children were more likely to focus on the behavior than the attractiveness
of the woman that was depicted.The
6-7 and 9-10 year olds were found to rely on the behavior differences in
their decisions.In a second study,
in which no information was given regarding the behavior of the woman,
but instead only the pictures were presented, the children across all ages
relied on physical attractiveness in making their decisions.This
finding further supported the prediction that presentation of the stimuli
in media format would influence the responses given by the children.The
importance of the consideration of the influence of outside sources leads
to the discussion of the next area of literature- how fairy tales influence
children. Fairy
tales and children A
fairy tale can be defined as “a biography told for the purpose of educating”
(Danilewitz, 1991, p. 88).The
research conducted by Danilewitz described fairy tales as a means of revealing
and handling real-life situations and conflicts in a fantasy world that
the child can come to comprehend and not fear.Parents
surveyed by Danilewitz felt that fairy tales were of great importance to
the growth and development of their child, especially in terms of their
imaginations and verbal abilities. Danilewitz found that most parents read
fairy tales to their children, but she stated that the telling of the fairy
tale was still considered to be the best means of communicating it. The
statement made by Danilewitz (1991) regarding the telling of fairy tales
supports earlier research on this topic conducted by Walker and Lunz (1976).Walker
and Lunz evaluated the differences between the telling and reading of fairy
tales.Their conclusion indicated
that telling the tales had greater impact because the child perceives more
of the symbols and archetypes that are present within the story when it
is verbally presented.This is an
important factor to consider, especially in terms of the present study.The
fairy tales must be communicated to the children in order for them to be
most effective.Presentation of the
fairy tales through video format will thus be utilized, so that the story
can be communicated to the children in the same format, without any differences,
each time they are exposed to it.The
video will present a live rendition of the tale, which may prove to be
a better means of communication, but the children will be hearing the voices
of live actors and actresses who are portraying the parts of characters. Strayer
(1995) also found that hearing fairy-tales was important to the children.He
found that whether the child perceived the fairy tale visually did not
play a role in how much they liked the tale, however, listening to the
tale influenced how much they liked it.Children
in the study rated Cinderella, Goldilocks, Sleeping Beauty,
and Beauty and the Beast as the fairy tales that they liked the
most.The more often the children
heard a fairy tale, the more they liked it.Based
on this knowledge, the present study will consider presenting more popular
fairy-tales, through video format.Even
though viewing the fairy tale has been perceived to have no impact on how
much the children like it, they will still be able to hear the tale as
portrayedby the voices of actors
and actresses. Further
evaluating the importance of the auditory presentation of fairy tales,
research conducted by Crain, D’Alessio, McIntyre, and Smoke (1983) demonstrated
hearing fairy-tales causes children to be more self-absorbed.The
researchers studied children between the ages of 9-11 years, of both genders.The
participants were exposed to one of three different conditions: one in
which they heard a fairy-tale, one in which they watched a film, and the
other in which they heard a meaningless story.Observers
coded the children’s play after they were exposed to each condition.When
children were verbally exposed to fairy tales as opposed to films or meaningless
stories, their behavior was affected.These
children tended to be quieter, and not as anxious to arrive at the play
table that was provided for them.When
they played, it was in a quiet manner, where they did not pay much attention
to the other children or the adults that were present in the room.A
second experiment was also conducted, with the only differences in procedure
being small modifications to assure the reliability of the first study.Results
once again indicated that after hearing fairy tales, children tended to
be quieter and less likely to engage in pro-social behavior than their
peers who watched a film or heard a pointless story.These
children were also observed to be more self-absorbed when engaged in play
with others.The researchers suggested
that the reason the children were not as likely to engage in pro-social
behavior was that they were still lost in thought, processing the information
with which they were presented.This
study suggests that fairy tales affect the behaviors of the children who
listen to them.This finding supports
the idea that children are influenced by the concepts presented to them
within fairy-tales. Among
the concepts that are presented to children through fairy-tales is that
of beauty.Thompson (2000) evaluated
the presentation of beauty through the five different versions of Cinderella.Her
research commented on the fact that beauty, especially of females, is presented
not only as a quality, but also a moral absolute in fairy tales.Since
so many fairy tales contain the element of beauty within their narratives,
beauty becomes constant and unchanging.Beauty
then becomes a characteristic that is equivalent to the virtues of the
characters, including how good the character is.Thompson
also notes that fairy tales are a part of culture and socialization. Research
preceding that of Thompson (2000) has also provided support for the fact
that fairy tales are a component of culture and socialization.Whyte
(1987) discussed the fairy tales as teaching tools. He states that both
the implicit and the explicit content of fairy tales, cultural ideas and
concepts are communicated, along with their importance.Recognizing
both Thompson (2000) and Whyte (1987), it can thus be expected that fairy
tales play an important role in the what children learn and how they think.
The
Present Study
The
purpose of the present study is to determine whether a connection exists
between the influence that physical attractiveness has on children’s social
perceptions and social preferences and their conception of physical attractiveness
as depicted through fairy-tales.While
previous research has made some important findings about physical attractiveness
(Adams & Crane, 1980; Dion & Berscheid, 1974; Dion, Berscheid,
& Walster, 1972; Dushenko, Perry, Schilling, & Smolarski 1978;
Hunsberger & Cavanagh, 1988; Krantz, 1987; Langlois & Styczynski,
1979; Vaughn & Langlois, 1983) and fairy tales (Crain, D’Alessio, McIntyre,
and Smoke, 1983; Danilewitz, 1991; Strayer, 1995; Thompson, 2000; Walker
& Lunz, 1976; Whyte, 1987), there were several factors outside of physical
attractiveness, namely age and gender, that may have influenced findings.Previous
research has revealed that these factors must be taken into consideration
when conducting research on this topic. In
research regarding how physical attractiveness influences social perceptions
and social preferences, previous studies have revealed the importance of
clearly defining the variables of social perceptions and social preferences.Perhaps
the best examples of this fact were demonstrated in experiments conducted
by Adams and Crane (1980) and Hunsberger and Cavanagh (1988).Adams
and Crane (1980) asked participants which person they would most like to
play with as a measure of social preference, and who would be most likely
to possess certain characteristics, as a means of measuring social perceptions.Hunsberger
and Cavanagh (1988) asked children four questions regarding the personality
traits to measure social perceptions, and who they would prefer to have
as a teacher in order to measure social preferences.The
present study will therefore define social perceptions through the means
of assessing traits, and social preferences will be defined through decisions
the children make as to who they would like to have as a teacher. In
addition to clearly defining social perceptions and social preferences,
the present study will also seek to control for gender and age, since previous
research conflicts on the existence and description of the interaction
between each and the beauty-is-good stereotype (Dion, Berscheid, &
Walster, 1972; Dushenko, Perry, Schilling, & Smolarski, 1978; and Dion
& Berscheid,1974; & Langlois & Styczynski, 1979; respectively). Lastly,
another factor that cannot be ignored in conducting this study is the popularity
of certain fairy tales.Strayer
(1995) noted that the more children heard certain fairy-tales, the more
they liked them.The present study
will take care to ensure that the fairy tales in the movies that are selected
for the children to view are equally well known, so that there is no confounding
factor in their judgments of the characters (i.e. perceiving some characters
more favorably than others on a basis of familiarity with them). The
purpose of the present study is to determine whether or not a relationship
exists between the perception that children have of physical attractiveness
in fairy tales and their social perceptions and social preferences.Research
on this topic will expand on the knowledge of psychologists and researchers
who have evaluated each topic individually.This
study will also allow psychologists to gain a further understanding of
how fairy tales influence children and their perceptions of the world around
them in an empirical manner.It is
hypothesized that children will be more influenced by the beauty-is-good
stereotype in their social perceptions and social preferences based upon
their experiences with Sleeping Beauty (a movie version of the fairy
tale that depicts messages supporting the beauty-is-good stereotype), as
opposed to Shrek (a movie that satirizes fairy tales and portrays
messages that negate the beauty-is-good stereotype, as Shrek and Princess
are still good characters even though they are portrayed as ugly ogres). Materials:
Before the actual experimentation began, consent letters were sent home
to parents informing them of the study and asking their permission for
their child’s participation (See Appendix A).Once
these permission slips were returned, a second letter was sent home thanking
the parents for allowing their child to participate, and informing them
of the day and time of the study. The
main stimuli for this experiment included excerpts totaling approximately
20 minutes from two videos, Sleeping Beauty and Shrek, as
well as a series of six previously rated photographs.Clips
shown from Sleeping Beauty supported the concept of the beauty-is-good
stereotype, while clips from Shrek promoted ideas that were opposite
that of the beauty-is-good stereotype.Sleeping
Beauty clips included scenes of the fairies bestowing gifts on Sleeping
Beauty, the meeting between the Prince and Sleeping Beauty, the Prince’s
escape from Maleficent (the evil fairy), and the concluding scene of the
Prince and Sleeping Beauty dancing.From
Shrek, the children were shown clips that included the meeting of
Shrek and Donkey, Shrek and Donkey talking at their campsite, the Princess
talking to Donkey after she turned into an ogre, and the closing scene
between Shrek and the Princess. Following
the videos, three surveys that were created by the experimenter were used
to measure the children’s social perceptions and social preferences.The
first two surveys were forms of one survey that were used to assess the
children’s perceptions of what they saw in the video they viewed.They
were asked to rate each of five characters on physical attractiveness and
dispositions using a five-point Likert scale.The
Sleeping Beauty survey presented the characters of Maleficent, Sleeping
Beauty, Maleficent’s workers, Flora (a good fairy), and the Prince.The
Shrek survey presented the characters of Shrek, Donkey, Lord Farquard,
Princess Fiona before sunset, and Princess Fiona after sunset.Next,
the children were asked to describe the physical appearance of each of
the five characters in their own words.Lastly,
the survey asked them whether or not they were familiar with the story
that was presented in the movie.This
question was used to ensure that children were equally familiar with Sleeping
Beauty and Shrek (See Appendix C).A
third survey was used which measured children’s social perceptions and
preferences for six different, previously rated photographs based on a
series of six questions which used a 5 point Likert scale.The
first of the six questions was a manipulation check, as it asked children
to rate how attractive they perceived each photograph to be.The
next four questions served as a measure of social perceptions asking children
to rate how nice, how much fun to be with, how shy, and how likely to punish
the person pictured in the photograph would be. The last question served
as a measure of social preference, asking the children to rate how much
they would like to have the person pictured as their teacher (See Appendix
D). Participants:Participants
were 12 boys- 3 of age six, 2 age seven, 3 age eight, 2 age nine, and 2
age eleven; and 5 girls- 1 age six, 1 age seven, 1 age eight, and 2 age
nine; for whom parental consent was obtained.All
participants were from two local Y.M.C.A. after-school sites, one for children
ages 5-8, and the other children ages 8-11, where parents were paying for
or receiving some financial assistance for their child’s participation
within the program. The
children were divided into two groups by random assignment, while the siblings
at each site were paired in the same group to accommodate parents.Conditions
included the Sleeping Beauty and Shrek groups, with the Sleeping
Beauty condition containing 6 participants: 5 boys (1 six year old,
1 seven year old, 2 eight year olds, and 1 nine year old) and 1 girl (seven
year old); and the Shrek condition containing 11 participants: 7
boys (2 six year olds, 1 seven year old, 1 eight year old, 1 nine year
old, and 2 eleven year olds) and 4 girls (1 six year old, 1 seven year
old, and 2 nine year olds). Procedure:
Before the actual experimentation began, the experimenter obtained permission
from a local summer camp program to conduct her study.After
obtaining parental consent, the experimenter piloted the present study
to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the experimental design.Eleven
children were used to pre-rate the photographs, and fifteen children were
enlisted to go through the actual study.After
conducting this pilot, changes were made to improve the content of the
experimental design so that it could be presented formally to another site
for experimentation.A few months
prior to the experiment, the experimenter contacted a local after-school
program to obtain permission to conduct her research project within the
program.Once approval was obtained,
informed consent letters sent home to parents of program participants between
the ages of 6 and 11 years of age.Once
permission slips were returned, another letter was sent home to parents
telling them the day that their child had been selected to participate
in the study.Children who were
given their parents’ written consent were asked for verbal assent at the
beginning of the experiment. Children
were divided into two groups by random assignment.They
were told that they would be watching parts of a movie and answering some
questions regarding what they saw because the experimenter was interested
in knowing their opinions and reactions to what they viewed.The
first group was shown clips from the movie Sleeping Beauty.The
second group of children was exposed to the same procedure, with the exception
that they were exposed to clips from the movie Shrek.After
the children viewed the clips, they were asked to fill out the Post-movie
survey regarding their perceptions of the video.Each
of the surveys was numbered, so that when the children completed them,
they could come and receive the corresponding photograph-rating survey.For
example, if the first survey the child completed was numbered 1, he received
the photograph rating survey with the number 1 as well.The
surveys were corresponding in number so that later it could be determined
whether the movie that the children watched, and their perceptions of the
characters in the movie influenced the outcome of their perceptions and
preferences on the photograph rating survey. Upon
the completion of the photograph-rating questionnaire, the children were
debriefed about their participation.A
letter regarding the full intent of the experiment was sent home to the
parents, in the event that their child did not understand the experiment,
and so that the parent could be remain fully informed about the nature
and purpose of the experimentation (See Appendix E).Parents
were given contact information along with the debriefing in the event that
they have any questions, concerns, or would like to know the findings of
the experiment. Results
indicated that the manipulation was overall successful although the female
ratings were somewhat higher than the male ratings. Table
1: Mean
ratings of photographs across both conditions for manipulation check
*note.
Ratings based on Likert 1-5 scale (1 being very ugly, 5 being very pretty).
Ten
2(Sleeping Beauty, Shrek) x 2 (attractive photograph, unattractive
photograph) repeated measures Analysis of Variance were used to determine
whether differences existed between the groups with regards to their social
perceptions and social preferences.The
analyses revealed that there was no effect for type of fairy tale for each
of the four social perception questions regarding the attractive and unattractive
female photographs: how nice F(1, 15)= 1.193, p> .05; how much fun
to be with F(1, 15)= .765, p>.05; how outgoing F(1, 15)= .035, p>
.05; how likely to punish F(1, 14)= .064, p> .05; and the social
preference question: how much they would like to have the person as their
teacher F(1, 15)= .090, p> .05.The
tests also revealed no significance in terms of the type of fairy tale
with regards to the male photographs on the same four social perception
questions: how nice F(1, 15)= .447, p> .05; how much fun to be with
F(1, 15)= .011, p>.05; how outgoing F(1, 15)= 2.424, p> .05;
how likely to punish F(1, 15)= 1.272, p> .05; and the social preference
question: how much they would like to have the person as their teacher
F(1, 15)= .845, p> .05. Table
2: Mean
ratings and standard errors for the 2 (Sleeping Beauty, Shrek) x 2 (attractive
photograph, unattractive photograph) repeated measures for social perceptions
and social preferences
While
there was no significance among the between the subjects factor in terms
of the social perception and social preference questions, there was significance
within subjects among some of the questions in terms of the attractiveness
variable.With regards to the female
photographs significance was found among the following social perception
questions: how nice F(1, 15)= 9.787, p<.05; how much fun to be
with F(1, 15)= 11.053, p< .05; and the social preference question:
how much they would like to have the person as their teacher F(1, 15)=
16.791, p< .05.There
was no significance for perceptions of how outgoing F(1, 15)= 4.179, p>.05,
or how likely the person would be to punish them F(1, 14)= 1.238, p>
.05; though the outgoing characteristic was approaching significance.The
means for these effects indicate that the perceived physical attractiveness
of both the attractive and unattractive photographs is consistent with
that of the ratings for how nice and how much fun the people pictured are
perceived to be, as well as how much they would like to have the person
as their teacher (See Table 1 and Table 2). With
regards to the male photographs, significance was found among the following
social perception questions: how nice F(1, 15)= 9.743, p<.05;
how much fun to be with F(1, 15)= 5.680, p< .05; and finally,
how outgoing F(1, 15)= 5.089, p< .05.There
was no significance found among how likely to punish F(1, 15)= 4.055, p>
.05 or how much they would like to have the person as their teacher F(1,
15)= 4.306, p> .05; though both of these numbers were approaching
significance.The means here indicate
that in terms of the attractive and unattractive male, how attractive the
photographed person was perceived to be is consistent with how nice, how
much fun to be with, and how outgoing they were perceived to be (See Table
1 and Table 2).The consistency between
ratings for physical attractiveness, social perceptions, and social preference
are in accord with the hypothesis Following
the 2x2 repeated measure ANOVAs, a series of ten 2 (Sleeping Beauty,
Shrek) x 3 (attractive photograph, unattractive photograph, moderately
attractive photograph) repeated measure ANOVAs were run using the same
between subjects factors, but instead of just evaluating differences between
the attractive and unattractive photographs, the moderately attractive
photographs were added to the within subjects factors.The
measures revealed that there was no significance, once again, for the between
conditions factor of fairy tale type among any of the social perception
or social preference questions for both the male and the female photographs,
however.There was some significance
among the within subjects factor in terms of both the female and male photographs.Among
the female photographs, as with the 2x2 repeated measures ANOVAs, there
was significance among how nice F(2, 14)= 11.484, p<.05; how
much fun to be with the person was perceived to be F(2, 14)= 8.872, p<
.05; and how much they would like to have the person as their teacher F(2,
14)= 8.415, p<.05.In terms
of the male photographs, significance was only found with how nice F(2,14)=
6.385, p<.05 and was approaching on how much fun to be with F(2,
14)= 3.373, p<.05.The
means for these effects reveal that among the females, ratings for physical
attractiveness were consistent with that of how nice and how much fun to
be with they were perceived to be, as well as how much the children would
like to have the female in the photograph as their teacher.Means
for questions regarding the males reveal that their perceived physical
attractiveness is consistent with how nice and how much fun they were perceived
to be (See Table 1 and Table 3)These
findings were consistent with the hypothesis. Table
3: Mean
ratings and standard errors for the 2 (Sleeping Beauty, Shrek) x 3 (attractive
photograph, unattractive photograph, moderately attractive photograph)
repeated measures for social perceptions and social preferences
In
addition to using independent samples t-test to evaluate the perceptions
of the fairy tale characters, paired samples t-tests were used to determine
whether differences existed between how attractive and how nice each character
was perceived to be.Within the
Sleeping Beauty condition, evaluations of attractiveness were found
to be related to perceptions of how nice the respective character was,
as there were no significant differences between the means.The
only exception to this finding was with regards to Flora, who children
perceived to be nicer than attractive (t(5)= -5.715, p< .05).Findings
with regard to the Sleeping Beauty condition are in accord with
the predicted outcome.The only exception
to this would be with regards to Flora, who even though the children perceived
her as neither attractive nor unattractive, they were rated her as being
nice.Within the Shrek condition,
there were a few differences found between how attractive and how nice
the characters were perceived to be.Differences
were found with regards to Shrek, t(10)= -3.614, p< .05; Donkey,
t(10)= -3.545, p< .05; and Princess Fiona after sunset, t(10)=
-5.787, p< .05.In each
of these cases, the character was found to be nicer than what they were
attractive, which the experimenter expected to happen (see Table 4).
Table
4: Mean
ratings and standard deviations of T-tests for how attractive and how nice
characters in Sleeping Beauty and Shrek were perceived to
be
note.
*Statistically significant p< .05 The
purpose of this research was to determine the effects of exposure to fairy
tales on the beauty-is-good stereotype.It
was hypothesized that children who were exposed to Sleeping Beauty,
a fairy tale that presents ideas consistent with the beauty-is-good stereotype,
would be more likely to use the beauty-is-good stereotype in making decisions
regarding their social perceptions and their social preferences than would
children who were exposed to Shrek, a movie that presents ideas
that contradict that of the beauty-is-good stereotype.As
revealed in the results section, findings indicated that the movie that
the children were exposed to had no bearing on whether they would be more
likely to use the beauty-is-good stereotype in making decisions regarding
their social perceptions and their social preferences.Perhaps
the manipulation of the fairy-tale variable did not affect the dependent
variable in the way predicted because the social development of children
is not due merely to one or two factors.While
the children were exposed to Shrek, which presents ideas that contradict
that of the beauty-is-good stereotype, children are bombarded by many other
elements of culture (i.e. media) that support stereotypes such as the beauty-is-good
stereotype.The results of the
within groups measures reveal that the beauty-is-good stereotype prevailed
in how children determined some of their social perceptions and social
preferences, indicating, that as revealed by the research of Vaughn and
Langlois (1983), the social perceptions and social preferences of children
are influenced by physical attractiveness when viewing unknown photographs.Perhaps
a more extensive manipulation would be needed to overcome the influence
of the beauty-is-good stereotype in relation to the actual social development
of the children.A more extensive
manipulation might include presenting children at a young age with messages
that negate the beauty-is-good stereotype, and comparing their social development
to those children who were not subject to these messages.Further
research then, might seek to complete a longitudinal study on this topic.
While
effects might not have been found in terms of the influence that ideas
presented in fairy-tales have on children in their social perceptions and
social preferences, this is none the less an important topic to consider
for further study.Children grow
up reading fairy-tales.In fact,
fairy-tales are often used as educational tools as supported by the research
of Whyte (1987), especially among younger children.They
must have some influence on the way that children think, and perhaps even
perceive the world.Even though
the present study did not support the fact that physical attractiveness
as depicted in fairy tales influences social cognition, this is merely
one study of a small population.Research
must continue regarding this topic, especially since a review of the literature
reveals alack of empirical research
that evaluates the influences that fairy tales have on children.Extending
and expanding on the research of this study could provide people within
the educational field with pertinent information regarding how ideas communicated
through stories influence the thoughts of children. Further research should
seek to evaluate the extent to which children conceptualize and use themes
presented in fairy tales within their everyday logic and reasoning.Perhaps
research should be conducted regarding the extent to which fairy-tales
are a part of the every-day lives of children, both in and out of the classroom.Further
findings can only lead to a greater understanding of how children learn
through stories.
Adams,
G.R. & Crane, P.(1980).An
assessment of parents’ and teachers’ expectations ofpreschool
children’s social preference for attractive or unattractive children and
adults.Child Development, 51,
224-231. Aronson,
E., Wilson, T. D., & Akert, R. M.(2002).Social
Psychology.Upper Saddle River:
Prentice Hall. Crain,
W. C., D’Alessio, E., McIntyre, B., & Smoke, L.(1983).The
impact of hearing a fairy
tale on children’s immediate behavior.Journal
of Genetic Psychology, 143, 9-17. Danilewitz,
D.(1991).Once
upon a time… The meaning and importance of fairy tales. Early
Childhood Development and Care, 75, 97-98. Dion,
K., Berscheid, E., & Walster, E.(1972).What
is beautiful is good.Journal
of Personality
and Social Psychology, 24, 285-290. Dion,
K., & Berscheid, E.(1974).Physical
attractiveness and peer perception among children.Sociometry,
37, 1, 1-12. Dushenko,
T.W., Perry, R.P., Schilling, J., & Smolarski, S.(1978).Generality
of the physical
attractiveness stereotype for age and sex.Journal
of Social Psychology, 105, 303-304. Hoffner,
C. & Cantor, J.(1985).Developmental
differences in responses to a television character’s
appearance and behavior.Developmental
Psychology, 21, 6, 1065- 1074. Hunsberger,
B. & Cavanagh, B.(1988).Physical
attractiveness and children’s expectations
of potential teachers.Psychology
in Schools, 25, 70-74. Krantz,
M.(1987).Physical
attractiveness and popularity: A predictive study. Psychological
Reports, 60, 723-726. Langlois,
J.H., & Styczynski, L.E.(1979).The
effects of physical attractiveness on the behavioral
attributions and peer preferences of acquainted children. International
Journal of Behavioral Development, 2, 325-341. Strayer,
J.(1995).Children’s
and adults’ responses to fairy tales.Early
Child Development
and Care, 113, 1-17. Thompson,
M. C.(2000).If
the shoe fits; Virtue and absolute beauty in fairy-tale drama. Youth
Theatre Journal, 14, 114-122. Walker,
V., & Lunz, M. E.(1976).Symbols,
fairy tales, and school-age children.The Elementary
School Journal, 77, 94-100. Whyte,
D.A.(1987).Stories,
fairy tales, and fables as teaching tools.Human
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15, 1,
43-46. Vaughn,
B. E., & Langlois, J. H.(1983).Physical
attractiveness as a correlate of peer status
and social competence in preschool children.Developmental
Psychology, 19,
4,
561-567. Appendix
A Letter
to Parents Dear
Parent/ Guardians, My
name is Colette Salvas and I am a part-time childcare employee for the
Y.M.C.A. of Manchester, New Hampshire. While I work for the Y.M.C.A. part-time
in the pre-school program, I attend Saint Anselm College in Manchester,
New Hampshire full time.I major
in psychology, but I am hoping to pursue my masters in elementary education
following graduation next spring. As
a psychology major entering my senior year, I am required to complete a
thesis in order to graduate.The
thesis is a course requirement for my Experimental Psychology II class,
which is under the direction of Dr. Elizabeth Ossoff, Ph. D.Our
thesis involves conducting a research project using the scientific method
of experimentation.For my thesis
topic, I have chosen the topic “Fairy Tales: Influences on Children’s Perceptions
of Physical Attractiveness as Displayed through Social Perceptions and
Social Preferences”.My topic involves
examining how physical attractiveness, as depicted through fairy tales,
affects children’s social perceptions and social preferences.In
order to complete this project, I will be showing children between the
ages of 6 and 10 years clips from Walt Disney’s Sleeping Beauty
(rated G for General Audiences) and Shrek (rated PG for mild language
and some crude humor).The children
will be shown one of the two movies, following which they will be asked
to complete a short survey regarding their perceptions of characters and
situations from selected clips.After
this survey is completed, children will then be asked to rate a series
of photographs based on their perceptions and preferences. All
psychological research at Saint Anselm College is conducted according to
strict ethical principles outlined by the American Psychological Association
and is in full compliance with federal law. The Department of Health
and Human Services, for example, specifies that informed consent must be
given prior to research studies, that is, "...the knowing consent of an
individual or his legally authorized representative so situated as to be
able to exercise free power of choice without undue inducement or any element
of force, fraud, deceit, duress, or other form of constraint or coercion." Participation
in this research project is completely voluntary.Parental
consent is required first for children to be allowed to participate, and
then the children’s verbal assent is required.In
other words, if a child does not want to participate, they do not have
to.I am hoping to conduct the
project during the after-school hours between 3:30 and 6:00 when the children
arrive to the School’s Out Program. If
you are interested or would allow your child to participate in my research
project, please return the form below as soon as possible.Responses
are due no later than Wednesday, October 2, 2002.Thank
you for your time and for your cooperation. Sincerely, Colette
M. Salvas I
___________________________, give my child ____________________________,
permission to participate in the research study “Fairy Tales: Influences
on Children’s Perceptions of Physical Attractiveness as Displayed through
Social Perceptions and Social Preferences” that will be conducted by Colette
M. Salvas. ____________________________________________ Parent’s
SignatureDate Appendix
B Dear
Parent/ Guardian, Thank
you for allowing your child to participate in my research study “Fairy
Tales: Influences on Children’s Perceptions of Physical Attractiveness
as Displayed through Social Perceptions and Social Preferences.”This
letter is to inform you that I will be conducting my study on Wednesday
and Friday of next week with the children during after school program
hours.I am dividing the children
up by the movie that they will be assigned to see.I
am hoping to begin the project by 4:00 at the latest, and I am estimating
that the project will probably take roughly about an hour to an hour and
a half to do. The younger children will probably take longer to complete
the project because they will require assistance with reading the surveys
and following the directions.I am
estimating that you can pick up your child around 5:30.If
for any reason there is a problem, please feel free to talk to me.On
the bottom of this letter the day that your child has been assigned to
participate in the study is circled. I
greatly appreciate your time, effort, and cooperation with me on this project.If
you are interested in learning about the results of this study and their
implications, feel free to approach me and give me your name and address.I
can mail you a copy of my findings once the project has been completed.My
thesis is to be finished for Thanksgiving, so you can expect to hear from
me around that time.If you have
any questions, please feel free to contact me at csalvas@anselm.edu or
through the Y.M.C.A. of Manchester.Once
again, thank you so much for your support. =) Thank
you, Colette
M. Salvas Your
child _________________________ has been selected to participate in the
research study on Wednesday, October ___/ Friday, October ___ of next week. Appendix
C Sample
Movie Surveys Sleeping
Beauty
Circle
One: Male Female Age:______
Very
UglyUglyNeitherPrettyVery
Pretty
On
a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being extremely mean and 5 being the extremely nice,
rate the following characters from the movie. Very
MeanMeanNeitherNiceVery
Nice
How
would you describe the physical appearance of the following characters? Maleficent
(the dark fairy)_______________________________________ Sleeping
Beauty _______________________________________ Maleficent’s
workers__________________________________ Flora
(the red fairy)_______________________________________ Prince_______________________________________
Did
you know the story of Sleeping
Beauty
before watching this movie?
Circle
one:YESNO
Shrek
Circle
One: Male Female Age:_____
Very
UglyUglyNeitherPrettyVery
Pretty
On
a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being very mean and 5 being very nice, rate the following
characters from the movie. Very
MeanMeanNeitherNiceVery
Nice
How
would you describe the physical appearances of the following characters? Shrek_______________________________________ Donkey_______________________________________ Lord
Farquard_______________________________________ Princess
Fiona (before sunset)_______________________________________ Princess
Fiona (after sunset)_______________________________________ Have
you seen the movie Shrek before today?Circle
one:YESNO Appendix
D Photograph
Rating Survey Sample
Page from Photograph Rating Survey Look
at photograph A
and then answer the questions. On
a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being very ugly and 5 being very pretty, rate photograph
A. Very
UglyUglyNeitherPrettyVery
Pretty
A. 1 2 3 4 5
On
a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being very mean and 5 being very nice, rate photograph
A. Very
meanMeanNeitherNiceVery
nice A.12345 On
a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being the least fun to be with, and 5 being the most
fun to be with, rate photograph A. No
fun at allNo funNeitherFunVery
fun A.12345 On
a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being extremely shy and 5 being the most outgoing,
rate photograph
A. Very
shyShyNeitherOutgoingVery
outgoing A.12345 On
a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being the most likely to punish you when you do something
wrong and 5 being the least likely to punish you, rate photograph A. Very
likelyLikelyNeitherUnlikelyVery
unlikely A.12345 On
a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being very much dislike, and 5 being very much like,
rate photograph
A
on how much you would like to have the person as your teacher. Very
much dislikeDislikeNeitherLikeVery
much like A.12345 Appendix
E Debriefing
Statement Fairy
Tales: Influences on Children’s Perceptions of Physical Attractiveness
as Displayed through Social Perceptions and Social Preferences Thank
you for allowing your child to participate in my study!!!While
there has been a great deal of research done regarding how physical attractiveness
influences the psychological development of children (Dion, Berscheid,
& Walster 1972; Hunsberger & Cavanagh, 1988; Langlois & Styczynski
1979; Vaughn & Langlois, 1983), there has not been a great deal of
research conducted that examines the influence of fairy tales on their
social behavior.Physical attractiveness
is often portrayed vividly to children in stories such as Cinderella,
Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.Research
examining whether an interaction between physical attractiveness and fairy
tales exists is also lacking.Despite
this apparent connection, many psychologists have not yet ventured into
examining whether physical attractiveness depicted in fairy tales has an
effect on children’s social perceptions and preferences.The
goal of my study was to evaluate whether such a relationship exists.It
is hypothesized that children will be influenced by the beauty-is-good
stereotype (beautiful objects are perceived as good and ugly objects as
bad) in their social perceptions and social preferences based upon their
experiences with fairy tales. The
children were divided into two groups by random assignment.The
first group was shown various clips from the well-known fairy tale movie,
Sleeping Beauty, rated G, for general audiences.Sleeping
Beauty portrayed the beauty-is-good stereotype- good characters were
presented as physically attractive (i.e., Sleeping Beauty and the Prince)
and bad characters as ugly (Maleficent and her workers).After
the children viewed the clips, they were asked to fill out a short survey
regarding their thoughts about the characters, as well as whether or not
they had any particular preference for some characters versus others.After
this activity, the children were then asked to rate the attractiveness
of previously rated photographs of various people that are presented to
them.Following this exercise, they
used these pictures to make decisions about who they thought would be most
likely to have certain characteristics, as well as who they would prefer
to spend time with, and be their teacher/ counselor. The
second group of children was exposed to the same procedure, except that
they were exposed to a clip from the movie Shrek, rated PG for mild
language and some crude humor.Shrek
is a satire of other fairy tales and presents ideas that are opposite that
of the beauty-is-good stereotype.Even
though Shrek is presented as ugly, he is still presented as good, while
characters such as Lord Farquard are presented as bad. The
study may show the beauty-is-good stereotype as evident among the responses
regarding social perceptions and social preferences from the Sleeping
Beauty group, as opposed to the Shrek group.It
is important to note, though, that there are not right or wrong answers
here.Children react in different
ways, I am only attempting to address one influence possible. Responses
and data were collected as a group, and they again in no way reflect or
indicate anything about your child personally.Your
child’s response will remain anonymous, the only way their data is reported
is collectively.After the experiment
is conducted, I will have no way of knowing your child’s individual response.However,
if you are interested in finding out the overall findings of the study,
you can contact me via email or through the Y.M.C.A. in Manchester. The
results of this study will help psychologists to further understand the
role that fairy tales play in the lives of children, especially in terms
of whether ideas portrayed in fairy tales influence their social perceptions
and their social preferences.Findings
will hopefully lead to further studies in this field; especially since
there has not been much research conducted examining the beauty-is-good
stereotype in children’s fairy tales. References Dion,
K., Berscheid, E., & Walster, E.(1972).What
is beautiful is good.Journal
of Personality
and Social Psychology, 24, 285-290. Hunsberger,
B. & Cavanagh, B.(1988).Physical
attractiveness and children’s expectations
ofpotential teachers.Psychology
in Schools, 25, 70-74. Langlois,
J.H., & Styczynski, L.E.(1979).The
effects of physical attractiveness on the behavioral
attributions and peer preferences of acquainted children.International
Journal of Behavioral Development, 2, 325-341. Vaughn,
B. E., & Langlois, J. H.(1983).Physical
attractiveness as a correlate of peer status
and social competence in preschool children.Developmental
Psychology, 19,
4,
561-567. Marvels
and Tales: Journal of Fairy Tale Studies Fairy
Tales and Fantasy- Links to fairy tale websites Further
Reading- Articles Written by Langlois & Colleagues All
Psych Online: The Virtual Psychology Classroom- Social Psychology |
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Key
words:
Physical attractiveness, fairy tales, beauty-is-good stereotype, social
perceptions, social preferences, child psychology, social cognition,
social learning theory.