Wheeler, L., & Kim, Y. (1997). What is beautiful is culturally good: The physical attractiveness stereotype has different content in collectivistic cultures. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 23(8), 795-800. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167297238

Three groups of Korean college students (n = 157) rated each other’s physical attractiveness across a range from “not attractive” to “very attractive.” They used criteria previously used in meta-analyses of the physical attractiveness stereotype in North America. Participants did not perceive attractive targets as having higher potency, in contrast to North American participants, and did perceive attractive targets as having higher integrity and concern for others, in contrast to North American participants. This is consistent with predictions based on the greater tendency in collectivistic cultures to stress harmonious relationships. It has been argued that all cultures stereotype based on physical attractiveness, but the specifics of the stereotype change from one society to another due to differences in value systems. In this article, we provide a universally applicable explanation for the prevalence of attractiveness stereotypes.