In fact, physical attractiveness appears to influence first impressions more than any other variable. In the study, Hatfield and her colleagues randomly matched 752 first-year students for an orientation week dance. The couples spent two and a half hours together, then took a break to fill out questionnaires about their dates. Hatfield later compared these questionnaires to personality and aptitude tests given to the students before the dance. Though there are some elements of physical attractiveness, such as symmetry, that appear to be universally appealing, in general, evaluations of beauty are subjective.
Different cultures have different standards of beauty, as do people within the same culture.
Judgments of beauty also tend to change over time and depending on how ew feel about a person otherwise. People also tend to choose partners that roughly match them in physical attractiveness. This is discussed more in the section on similarity. So while attractiveness influences judgment, judgment also influences perceptions of attractiveness. This carries over into romantic relationships.