The effects of sensation seeking, physical attractiveness of stimuli, and exposure frequency on liking

Fifty-four males and 46 females who scored high or low on a sensation seeking scale were exposed to slides of physically attractive or unattractive person stimuli 1, 2, 5, 10, or 25 times in a 2 × 2 × 2 × 5 repeated measures design. Liking and future recognition expectancy were positive linear functions of exposure frequency. Sensation seeking x stimuli interactions indicated that high sensation seekers both liked and expected to recognize the physically attractive persons in the future more than the physically unattractive persons, while low sensation seekers did not differ on their ratings of the attractive or unattractive persons. Results were discussed in terms of Stang’s learning-affect theory, the optimal stimulation approach, and the physical attractiveness stereotype.