LYING TO GET A DATE: THE EFFECT OF FACIAL PHYSICAL ATTRACTIVENESS ON THE WILLINGNESS TO DECEIVE PROSPECTIVE DATING PARTNERS Wade C. Row att Baylor University Michael R. Cunningham University of Louisville Perri B. Druen York College ABSTRACT This research explored the extent to which people use decep- tion to initiate a date with opposite-sex prospects who varied in facial physical attractiveness. Participants reviewed profiles of prospective dates varying in facial attractiveness, described their own personal characteristics to the prospective dates (study 1), and rated their willingness to lie to make themselves appear to be more desirable to each prospect (study 2). Both men and women deceptively altered their self-presented expressivity and love attitudes to more attractive prospects (study 1), and reported being more willing to lie about their personal appearance, personality traits, income, past relation- ship outcomes, career skills and intelligence to prospective dates who were higher in facial physical attractiveness, com- pared with prospective dates who were lower in facial phys- ical attractiveness (study 2). No sex-differences in the will- ingness to use deceptive self-presentational tactics were found. A strong positive correlation was found between peo- ple’s willingness to lie about a specific personal dimension and the extent to which physically attractive individuals dif- fered from other people on that dimension. Thus, it appears that people endeavor to lie to physically attractive people in ways that maximize their similarity with the attractive target. KEY WORDS ● dating ● deception ● physical attractiveness Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Dr Wade C. Rowatt, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Baylor University, Waco, TX 76798–7334, USA. [email: wade-rowatt@baylor.edu.] The authors express thanks to Anita Barbee and Tammy Rowatt for comments on a previous draft and to Dutch Meyer for his assistance with data collection. John Harvey was the Action Editor on this article. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships Copyright  1999 SAGE Publications (London, Thousand Oaks, CA and New Delhi), Vol. 16(2): 209–223. [0265–4075 (199904) 16:2; 007527]