No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
Why Beautiful People Are More Intelligent
Abstract
Empirical studies demonstrate that individuals perceive physically attractive others to be more intelligent than physically unattractive others. While most researchers dismiss this perception as a “bias” or “stereotype,” we contend that individuals have this perception because beautiful people indeed are more intelligent. The conclusion that beautiful people are more intelligent follows from four assumptions. (1) Men who are more intelligent are more likely to attain higher status than men who are less intelligent. (2) Higher-status men are more likely to mate with more beautiful women than lower-status men. (3) Intelligence is heritable. (4) Beauty is heritable. If all four assumptions are empirically true, then the conclusion that beautiful people are more intelligent is logically true, making it a proven theorem. We present empirical evidence for each of the four assumptions. While we concentrate on the relationship between beauty and intelligence in this paper, our evolutionary psychological explanation can account for a correlation between physical attractiveness and any other heritable trait that helps men attain higher status (such as aggression and social skills).
... Physical attractiveness as an indicator of genetic and developmental health is significantly positively correlated with adult health (Thornhill & Gangestad, 1993;Thornhill & Møller, 1997) and general intelligence (Kanazawa, 2011a;Kanazawa & Kovar, 2004), and general intelligence is in turn correlated with such factors relevant to productivity as personality (Big Five personality factors) (Ackerman & Heggestad, 1997;Chamorro-Premuzic & Furnham, 2006). A conditiondependent model of personality (Kanazawa, 2011b;Lewis, 2015) proposes that adaptive individual differences in personality may emerge from universal human nature in response to stable phenotypic features of the individual, such as physical attractiveness and formidability. ...
... By general intelligence, we mean "the ability to reason deductively or inductively, think abstractly, use analogies, synthesize information, and apply it to new domains" (Kanazawa, 2010, p. 281). General intelligence is known to be positively correlated with physical attractiveness (Kanazawa, 2011a;Kanazawa & Kovar, 2004). Add Health measured respondents' intelligence with the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) at Ages 16 and 22, and with working memory tests (word recall and backward digit span) at Age 29. ...
... The results presented in Tables 4 and 5 suggested that very unattractive individuals earned more than others who were physically more attractive because they were more intelligent and attained greater education. However, it is not clear why very unattractive individuals are more intelligent and attain greater education, especially since this result contradicted earlier findings that intelligence and physical attractiveness were positively correlated (Kanazawa 2011a;Kanazawa & Kovar, 2004). More research is clearly necessary to explore the unique nature of very unattractive individuals. ...
Purpose
Economists have widely documented the “beauty premium” and “ugliness penalty” on earnings. Explanations based on employer and client discrimination would predict a monotonic association between physical attractiveness and earnings; explanations based on occupational self-selection would explain the beauty premium as a function of workers’ occupations; and explanations based on individual differences would predict that the beauty premium would disappear once appropriate individual differences are controlled. In this paper, we empirically tested the three competing hypotheses about the “beauty premium”.
Design/Methodology/Approach
We analyzed a nationally representative and prospectively longitudinal sample from the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health (Add Health).
Findings
The results contradicted the discrimination and self-selection explanations and strongly supported the individual differences explanation. Very unattractive respondents always earned significantly more than unattractive respondents, sometimes more than average-looking or attractive respondents. Multiple regression analyses showed that there was very weak evidence for the beauty premium, and it disappeared completely once individual differences, such as health, intelligence, and Big Five personality factors, were statistically controlled.
Implications
Past findings of beauty premium and ugliness penalty may possibly be due to the fact that: 1) “very unattractive” and “unattractive” categories are usually collapsed into “below average” category; and 2) health, intelligence (as opposed to education) and Big Five personality factors are not controlled. It appears that more beautiful workers earn more, not because they are beautiful, but because they are healthier, more intelligent, and have better (more Conscientious and Extraverted, and less Neurotic) personality.
Originality/Value
This is the first study to show that: 1) very unattractive workers have extremely high earnings and earn more than physically more attractive workers, suggesting evidence for the potential ugliness premium; and 2) the apparent beauty premium and ugliness penalty may be a function of unmeasured traits correlated with physical attractiveness, such as health, intelligence, and personality.
... The latter include also the so-called 'halo effect' or 'physical attractiveness premium whereby beauty gets rewarded by higher wages. This observation was initially made by psychologists who argue that physical attractiveness serves as a signal for intelligence and sociable behavior (Langlois et al., 2000;Zebrowitz et al., 2002;Kanazawa and Kovar, 2004). Evidence from trust and public goods games indeed confirms that physically attractive individuals are thought to be more cooperative and trustworthy than unattractive ones (Wilson and Eckel, 2006;Andreoni and Petrie, 2008). ...
... Andreoni and Petrie (2008), furthermore, find that the impact of beauty disappears when information about the actual job performance of the individual in question is available, though the perceived cooperativeness is still expected to boost the individual´s job performance. Moreover, attractive people are expected to be more intelligent than less attractive ones (Langlois et al., 2000;Zebrowitz et al., 2002;Kanazawa and Kovar, 2004). An experiment by Zebrowitz et al. (2002) finds that beauty is used as a proxy for intelligence: the more attractive an individual is found to be, the more intelligent he or she is assumed to be. ...
... An experiment by Zebrowitz et al. (2002) finds that beauty is used as a proxy for intelligence: the more attractive an individual is found to be, the more intelligent he or she is assumed to be. Kanazawa and Kovar (2004) propose a theory that describes why intelligence positively corresponds to physical attractiveness. ...
We study the impact of physical attractiveness on productivity. Previous literature found a strong impact on wages and career progression, which can be either due to discrimination in favor of good-looking people or can reflect an association between attractiveness and productivity. We utilize a context where there is no or limited face-to-face interaction, academic publishing, so that the scope for beauty-based discrimination should be limited. Using data on around 2,000 authors of journal publications in economics, we find a significantly positive effect of authors’ attractiveness on both journal quality and citations. However, the impact on citations disappears after we control for journal quality.
... That is, intelligence and physical attractiveness may both signal mate value, allowing the possessor of a high value in one trait (e.g., high intelligence) to trade for a mate possessing a high value in the other trait (e.g., physical attractiveness). Because intelligence and physical attractiveness are substantially heritable (Kanazawa & Kovar, 2004;McGovern, Neale, & Kendler, 1996;Polderman et al., 2015), the two traits likely exhibit genetic and, consequently, phenotypic intrapersonal correlations. ...
... That women, more than men, value intelligence in potential mates is less well established. Women may place greater emphasis on intelligence because it indicates the ability of a potential mate to acquire resources (Kanazawa & Kovar, 2004), which makes intelligence a valued trait, but less of a direct fitness indicator than physical attractiveness. Alternatively, intelligence may be a direct fitness indicator that is sexually selected (Miller, 2000). ...
... The current investigation represents an attempt to egress from directly testing the intrapersonal association between physical attractiveness and intelligence and instead tests a single premise undergirding the possibility of such an association (Kanazawa & Kovar, 2004). The premise is that there is cross-trait assortative mating for intelligence and physical attractiveness. ...
We investigated cross-trait assortative mating for the traits of physical attractiveness and intelligence using data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study. It was hypothesized that more physically attractive individuals would have a spouse that was more intelligent, but that this association would be moderated by sex. Specifically, we predicted that more physically attractive women would have more intelligent husbands, but that a man's physical attractiveness would not predict his wife's intelligence. The results of correlation and regression analyses were consistent with these predictions, although the effect sizes were small. Additionally, we identified an interaction in which women's physical attractiveness was more strongly associated with their husbands' intelligence for more intelligent women than for less intelligent women. We conclude with suggestions for further research addressing cross-trait assortative mating for physical attractiveness and intelligence.
... From this perspective, attractive individuals have better employment options (Pfeifer, 2012), are more likely to be considered for job openings (Ruffle & Shtudiner, 2015), and earn higher incomes on average (Judge et al., 2009) than their less attractive counterparts. While there are several theories that have been developed to explain these differences, ranging from taste-based economic biases (Maestripieri, Henry, & Nickels, 2017) to evolutionary biological justifications (Kanazawa & Kovar, 2004), researchers across several disciplines agree that physical attractiveness can be positively related to work within organizational contexts. However, although the association between work and attractiveness is generally thought to be positive, this positive relationship is not necessarily universal to all occupational settings. ...
... From this perspective, while income depends on education and self-evaluations, intelligence and attractiveness serve as independent factors that can influence both of these mediators. While there is evidence to suggest that attractiveness and intelligence are somewhat correlated, with the correlation being stronger for men than for women (Kanazawa, 2011;Kanazawa & Kovar, 2004), recent research has indicated that perceived attractiveness can be misleading with regard to first impressions (Talamas, Mavor, & Perrett, 2016). From this perspective, it is possible that individuals adopt a "brains or beauty" view such that their initial impressions lead them to believe that attractive individuals may be less intelligent as a result of prevailing social stereotypes (Skelton, Francis, & Read, 2010). ...
Research summary
Using a two study approach, we examine the relationship between attractiveness and key aspects of self‐employment. In Study 1, in which individuals rated the attractiveness of participants at the beginning of the interview, our results indicate that self‐employed males are more likely to be attractive and that more attractive self‐employed males have higher incomes. In Study 2, our findings indicate that at low levels of attractiveness, higher IQ self‐employed males have higher incomes in 1974; however, differences in income from IQ declined as attractiveness increases. We do not find differences for either outcome for females in either study.
Managerial summary
This research investigates the relationship between attractiveness and self‐employment. The results indicate that self‐employed males are more likely to be considered attractive than their female counterparts, and that attractive self‐employed males have higher incomes than self‐employed males who were not considered attractive. Additionally, our results reveal that IQ is positively associated with income for less attractive self‐employed males, however this relationship decreases in strength as attractiveness increases. Interestingly, our results do not indicate that attractiveness influences either the likelihood of self‐employment, or performance within self‐employment, for females. Our findings highlight the importance that attractiveness can play within the self‐employment process, as well as the relevance of considering the role that social norms regarding gender might have in determining who pursues, and is successful in, self‐employment.
... (Table 2 presents empirical evidence for mutual mate choice and display across taxa; this list is extended in the online appendix.) Models of ornament evolution through mutual choice may also prove useful in the human behavioral sciences, given the substantial evidence for mutual mate choice in humans (Borgerhoff Mulder, 2004;Buss, Reis, & Rusbult, 2004;Kanazawa & Kovar, 2004), and for many human morphological and behavioral traits functioning as costly fitness indicators (Gangestad, Bennett, & Thornhill, 2001;Grammer, Fink, Møller, & Thornhill, 2003;Haselton & Miller, 2006;Penton-Voak et al., 2001;Prokosch, Yeo, & Miller, 2005;Shaner, Miller, & Mintz, 2004;Smith & Bliege Bird, 2000). ...
... (Daunt et al., 2003) Human Homo sapiens Assortative mating by physical attractiveness and intelligence. (Buss et al., 2004;Kanazawa & Kovar, 2004) Jumping spider ...
... T. Miller, 2011;Van Leeuwen & Macrae, 2005), especially when motivated (Lemay et al., 2010) or when the association aligns with cultural values (Wheeler & Kim, 1997). Evolutionary accounts also exist, focusing on the functional benefits of the stereotype (Brewer & Archer, 2007;Moore et al., 2011;Rhodes, 2006;Rhodes et al., 2001), arguing that it emerges because attractiveness signals intelligence (Kanazawa, 2011;Kanazawa & Kovar, 2004), social competence (Goldman & Lewis, 1977;Haas & Gregory, 2005), and genetic fitness (Hume & Montgomerie, 2001;Oberzaucher & Grammer, 2010;Weeden & Sabini, 2005). ...
For almost 50 years, psychologists have understood that what is beautiful is perceived as good. This simple and intuitively appealing hypothesis has been confirmed in many ways, prompting a wide range of studies documenting the depth and breadth of its truth. Yet, for what is arguably one of the most important forms of "goodness" that there is-moral goodness-research has told a different story. Although greater attractiveness is associated with a host of positive attributes, it has been only inconsistently associated with greater perceived morality (or lesser immorality), and meta-analyses have suggested the total effect of beauty on moral judgment is near zero. The current research documents one plausible reason for this. Across nine experiments employing a variety of methodological and measurement strategies, we show how attractiveness can be perceived as both morally good and bad. We found that attractiveness causally influences beliefs about vanity, which translates into beliefs that more attractive targets are less moral and more immoral. Then, we document a positive association between attractiveness and sociability-the nonmoral component of warmth-and show how sociability exerts a countervailing positive effect on moral judgments. Likewise, we document findings suggesting that vanity and sociability mutually suppress the effects of attractiveness on each other and on moral judgments. Ultimately, this work provides a comprehensive process account of why beauty seems good but can also be perceived as less moral and more immoral, highlighting complex interrelations among different elements of person perception. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
... Y este estereotipo, en ocasiones, se cumple, siendo las personas más inteligentes valoradas como más atractivas ( Kanazawa, 2011). Respecto a esta correlación positiva, hay que referirse a la explicación más contundente, refundada en un teorema basado en cuatro supuestos (Kanazawa y Kovar, 2004). Los hombres más inteligentes son más propensos a alcanzar un estatus más alto en la sociedad. ...
Influencia del atractivo físico en la percepción de la inteligencia y de la extraversión. Physical attractiveness influence on the perception of the intelligence and extraversion. RESUMEN Antecedentes: El objetivo de la investigación es estudiar la influencia del atractivo físico en la construcción del prejuicio sobre la inteligencia y la extraversión. Método: La muestra fue incidental. Estuvo compuesta por 628 personas con edades comprendidas entre los 16 y los 80 años, y un 47,4% fueron mujeres. Como instrumentos de evaluación se han utilizado seis escalas de comparaciones binarias, las cuales se construyeron con 20 fotografías de estudiantes universitarios (10 de mujeres y 10 de hombres). Como condicionante del prejuicio se tuvo en cuenta la variable de atractivo físico. Resultados: Se pone de manifiesto que el atractivo físico influye en la percepción de las personas a la hora de estimar subjetivamente la inteligencia y la extraversión. Conclusiones: El atractivo físico puede llegar a ser relevante en aspectos importantes de la vida debido a su influencia a la hora de prejuzgar cualidades de las personas como la inteligencia y la extraversión, por lo que se confirma el estereotipo de Palabras clave Estereotipos, atractivo físico, inteligencia, extraversión. ABSTRACT Background: The goal of this investigation is to study the influence of physical attractiveness in the construction of prejudice about intelligence and extraversion. Method: The sample was incidental. It consisted of 628 people with ages between 16 to 80 years old, and 47,4% were women. The evaluation system included six binary comparison scales, which were developed using 20 college students' photographs (10 men and 10 women). As a judgement-conditioning fact the variable of physical attractiveness was taken into account. Results: The study shows that physical attractiveness influences the perception of intelligence and extraversion in people. Conclusions: Physical attractiveness can be relevant in some aspects of life due to its influence when first judging the intelligence and extraversion of a person. Therefore let the Spanish proverb 'Lo que es bello es bueno' (What is beautiful is good) be confirmed.
... Indeed, multiple research programs dedicated to understanding this beautiful-is-good belief (also referred to as "physical attractiveness stereotyping") have found that beautiful people are perceived to be more intelligent (Dion, Berscheid, and Walster 1972;Kanazawa and Kovar 2004) and more decisive and logical (Dipboye, Fromkin, and Wiback 1975). ...
Human beings have always coveted beautiful objects, but the desire to look good is touching new heights worldwide. Although the pursuit of beauty appears to be universal, industry evidence suggests that it is particularly strong in Asia. This research examines the effect of culture on the pursuit of beauty.
Three studies provide converging evidence that interdependent self-construal increases the likelihood of using appearance-enhancing products. Study 1 operationalizes culture through nationality and self-construal and shows that Easterners (more interdependent) are more likely to use appearance-enhancing products compared to Westerners (less interdependent). This is driven by interdependents’ tendency to conform to societal norms, which in turn leads to heightened self-discrepancy (Study 2). The use of appearance-enhancing tools helps to minimize this discrepancy. Lastly, Study 3 shows that the impact of interdependence on usage of appearance-enhancing tools is moderated by strength of norms. When norms are loosely defined and adherence is not strictly enforced, interdependents’ appearance enhancement tendency is reduced.
This research offers actionable insights into the pursuit of beauty, marketing of beauty brands, policymaking, and consumer well-being.
Keywords: Physical attractiveness, beauty, culture, conformity, norms
... However, there are also other explanations for the existence of the correlation of the intelligence and attractiveness that take into account also social factors. E.g., Kanazawa and Kovar (2004) suggest that physically more attractive individuals may on average be more intelligent because of the cross-trait assortative mating of intelligent men of high status and beautiful women. This thesis is based on the presumption, that more intelligent men are more likely to attain higher status, and therefore can marry more beautiful women. ...
The study concentrates on the assessment of the attractiveness of male and female faces with focus on the features of intelligence present in faces in different levels. It is based on the presumption of evolutionary psychology that intelligence favours the beholder in the fight for survival. Facial features of intelligence, therefore, serve as a signal of good and successful genes and due to the evolutionary mechanisms should be preferred in mate selection and considered as attractive. The study reveals the preference of intelligence features in human faces within the attractiveness assessment and studies the effects of age and gender of males and females on evaluation. Data are collected on a large sample of 2143 participants (41,4% of males) with mean age 24,22 years. Within the studied attractiveness assessment, results revealed a strong statistically significant preference for intelligent faces in both, male and female faces in both sexes of evaluators (sig. =,000). Consistent with evolutionary explanations, intelligent faces are preferred by younger participants more than by older ones.
... With reference to other studies (Clifford and Walster, 1973;Judge, Hurst and Simon, 2009) it is assumed that more attractive individuals have greater chances of higher education attainment, namely thanks to the fact that good-looking children attract more positive attention from teachers which leads to better grades and higher aspirations. The relationship between attractiveness and cognitive skills is similar (see Kanazawa and Kovar, 2004;Kanazawa 2011). However, at the same time, higher level of skills can also contribute to the cultivation of attractiveness as economically valuable capital. ...
The main objective of the study is threefold: first, to examine the role of attractiveness in the Czech labour market; second, to assess gender differences in returns of attractiveness; and third, to show that the positive association between attractiveness and earnings does not disappear even when cognitive skills, social background, occupational status and individual characteristics are controlled for. The study uses data from the first large-scale sociological survey focusing on attractiveness carried out in the Czech Republic. The results provide strong evidence for the hypothesis that, in general, more attractive people have a better chance of higher socioeconomic occupational status as well as higher incomes than less attractive individuals even when controlling for cognitive skills, social background, occupational status and personality. However, the analysis also shows that the relationships are different for men and women. The study finds that the income premium for attractiveness is markedly higher among prime-aged women than men. The authors conclude that there have been profound changes in the last 30–40 years in the Western world and that the importance of physical attractiveness and erotic capital has been increasing, especially for women.
... Y este estereotipo, en ocasiones, se cumple, siendo las personas más inteligentes valoradas como más atractivas ( Kanazawa, 2011). Respecto a esta correlación positiva, hay que referirse a la explicación más contundente, refundada en un teorema basado en cuatro supuestos (Kanazawa y Kovar, 2004). Los hombres más inteligentes son más propensos a alcanzar un estatus más alto en la sociedad. ...
RESUMENAntecedentes: El objetivo de la investigación es estudiar la influencia del atractivo físico en la construcción del prejuicio sobre la inteligencia y la extraversión. Método: La muestra fue incidental. Estuvo compuesta por 628 personas con edades comprendidas entre los 16 y los 80 años, y un 47,4% fueron mujeres. Como instrumentos de evaluación se han utilizado seis escalas de comparaciones binarias, las cuales se construyeron con 20 fotografías de estudiantes universitarios (10 de mujeres y 10 de hombres). Como condicionante del prejuicio se tuvo en cuenta la variable de atractivo físico. Resultados: Se pone de manifiesto que el atractivo físico influye en la percepción de las personas a la hora de estimar subjetivamente la inteligencia y la extraversión. Conclusiones: El atractivo físico puede llegar a ser relevante en aspectos importantes de la vida debido a su influencia a la hora de prejuzgar cualidades de las personas como la inteligencia y la extraversión, por lo que se confirma el estereotipo de “lo que es bello es bueno”.ABSTRACTBackground: The goal of this investigation is to study the influence of physical attractiveness in the construction of prejudice about intelligence and extraversion. Method: The sample was incidental. It consisted of 628 people with ages between 16 to 80 years old, and 47,4% were women. The evaluation system included six binary comparison scales, which were developed using 20 college students’ photographs (10 men and 10 women). As a judgement-conditioning fact the variable of physical attractiveness was taken into account. Results: The study shows that physical attractiveness influences the perception of intelligence and extraversion in people. Conclusions: Physical attractiveness can be relevant in some aspects of life due to its influence when first judging the intelligence and extraversion of a person. Therefore let the Spanish proverb ‘Lo que es bello es bueno’ (What is beautiful is good) be confirmed.
... This "halo effect" can be lever- aged in many ways. Attractive people are seen as more intelligent (Kanazawa, 2011;Kanazawa & Kovar, 2004), healthier ( Jones et al., 2001), more attractive to employers (Ruetzler, Taylor, Reynolds, Baker, & Killen, 2012;but see Johnson, Podratz, Dipboye, & Gibbons, 2010), more skilled socially (Hope & Mindell, 1994), and make better (and more distinct) first impressions (Lorenzo, Biesanz, & Human, 2010). But the benefits of physical beauty go far beyond romantic potential or career success. ...
In an increasingly visual society, beauty may seem only skin deep. This chapter considers the ethics of cosmetic surgery through the lens of posthumanism, a stance that suggests that defects of the body can be overcome through technology. Cosmetic surgery, with its reliance on prostheses and promise of reshaping the body, is, at its heart, a posthuman enterprise. Although many have engaged in cosmetic surgery, actress Heidi Montag became an exemplar of reshaping the body by undergoing ten different plastic surgery procedures in one day. Using Montag as foil, this chapter examines four ethical dimensions of cosmetic surgery: the ethics of the medical professionals who perform and advertise these procedures, the ethics of the individual making the decision, the ethics of the media structures that promote a homogenous ideal of beauty, and the ethics of those who tacitly approve of such procedures.
... Testovaný strukturní model je uveden v Diagramu 1. Jeho základní teoretické předpoklady lze shrnout následovně: 10 -Vzdělání, kompetence, zaměstnanecký status, příjem i samotná atraktivita jsou ve větší či menší míře ovlivněny sociálním původem. [Kanazawa, Kovar 2004]. Současně ale inteligence může, podobně jako vzdělání, přispívat k "pěstování" atraktivity jako ekonomicky zhodnotitelného kapitálu. ...
The main objective of the paper is threefold: first, to examine the role of physical attractiveness in the labour market in the broader context of economic and sociological theory; second, to assess gender differences in returns to beauty; and third, to show that the empirical evidence on gender differences in returns to beauty that has to date prevailingly come from North America cannot be applied to Europe without further examination. We use data from the fi rst large-scale sociological survey focusing on physical attractiveness carried out in Europe and in particular from the follow-up to the Czech national survey of adult competencies (PIAAC). First, using structural modelling to identify differences in how men and women transform family background, formal education, competencies, socio-economic status of occupation and physical attractiveness into income, we found strong evidence in support of the hypothesis that, in general, physically more attractive people have better chance of obtaining a higher socio-economic status occupations, and higher incomes than less attractive people, but the causalities are different for men and women. Second, replicating the linear regression models applied to North American data we assessed the differences in returns to beauty between Czech men and women and found that, unlike in North America,
in the Czech Republic the income premium for beauty is markedly higher among women than men, while men capitalise on their attractiveness more in the area of occupational status. We conclude that while returns to beauty are culturally universal, gender differences in these returns are culturally specific.
... Indeed, there is some evidence that appearance may be correlated with higher productivity. Kanazawa and Kovar (2004) and Kanazawa (2011) argue that assortative mating leads the fittest, most intelligent males to mate with the most beautiful women, thereby producing offspring that are both physically attractive and intelligent. Jackson et al. (1995) document that attractiveness is related not only to perceived competence but also to actual competence in children, though not in adults. ...
Studies have shown that attractive people have higher earnings. In this paper, we test the hypothesis that physical attractiveness proxies for unobserved productivity. We compare the impact of attractiveness on grades in college courses where instructors directly observe the student’s appearance to courses where they do not. We find that in traditional classrooms, appearance matters: both below- and above-average appearance female students earn lower grades. In regressions including student fixed effects, we find that students of above-average appearance earn significantly lower grades in online course environments compared to traditional courses, a finding driven mainly by courses taught by male instructors. Our empirical evidence provides little support for the hypothesis that appearance is a proxy for productive traits, but instead suggests that the return to appearance is due to discrimination.
... However, analyses looking at the covariation amongst subfactors have not reliably yielded results consistent with those predicted by a general fitness factor and mutationselection balance (e.g., Loehlin et al. 2015;Mitchem et al. 2015). Because a direct test of mutation-selection balance has yet to be developed the findings also do not rule out other possibilities like systematic assortative mating between the GFP and physical attractiveness (Kanazawa and Kovar 2004). ...
Personality traits covary to form a General Factor of Personality (GFP). Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), the associations between the GFP and both self-reported and rater-based physical attractiveness were examined. While it was predicted that the GFP would exhibit positive associations with each measure of physical attractiveness, it was also predicted that the nature of the associations would vary. Indeed, the GFP was positively correlated with both measures of physical attractiveness, yet each measure accounted for unique variance in the GFP. Additional tests examining the relative importance of the GFP (in comparison to the individual traits), in explaining variance in attractiveness suggested that the GFP is more important in explaining variance in rater-based than self-reported attractiveness. The differences in associations were buttressed by tests using the Add Health sibling subsample. The results of genetic analyses showed that the GFP covariation with the rater-based measure of physical attractiveness was exclusively due to additive genetic factors. Nonshared environment explained the majority of the covariation between the GFP and self-reported attractiveness. The results may shed light on the proximate and ultimate nature of the GFP.
... With reference to other studies [see for example Clifford, Walster 1973;Judge, Hurst Simon 2009] we at the same time assume the impact of the so-called Pygmalion effect [Rosenthal, Jacobson 1968], according to which more attractive individuals have a greater chance of attaining a higher level of education namely thanks to the fact that good-looking children attract more positive attention from teachers, which leads to better grades, higher aspirations etc. The relationship between attractiveness and skills (intelligence) is similar [Kanazawa, Kovar 2004]. However, at the same time, intelligence, like education, can contribute to the 'cultivation' of attractiveness as economically valuable capital. ...
... Beauty is socially coded as more desirable and researchers have long observed that a host of positive traits are associated with attractive people (Dion, Berscheid, & Walster, 1972;Nisbett & Wilson, 1977; but see Eagly, Ashmore, Makhijani, & Longo, 1991). This "halo effect" can be leveraged in many ways; attractive people are seen as more intelligent (Kanazawa, 2011;Kanazawa & Kovar, 2004), healthier (Jones et al., 2001), more attractive to employers (Ruetzler, Taylor, Reynolds, Baker, & Killen, 2012; but see Johnson, Podratz, Dipboye, & Gibbons, 2010), more skilled socially (Hope & Mindell, 1994), and make better (and more distinct) first impressions (Lorenzo, Biesanz, & Human, 2010). But the benefits of physical beauty go far beyond romantic potential or career success. ...
The promise of cosmetic surgery is that one can reshape his or her body to remove perceived defects
and thus have a perfect body. Although in practice this is not always the result, many continue to
pursue this potential. One extreme example of this impulse is actress Heidi Montag, who underwent
ten different plastic surgery procedures in one day. But the decision to undergo cosmetic surgery is
not made in a vacuum. Individuals are influenced by others, including the media, the surgeons, and
themselves. This essay uses Montag’s experience to explore four ethical considerations surrounding
cosmetic surgery—the surgeon, the patient, the media, and society—and concludes with a discussion
of potential correctives for ethical failures in each of these areas.
... Evolutionspsychologische Ansätze gehen davon aus, dass physische attraktive Personen ein höheres Maß an Fähigkeiten besitzen, bspw. Intelligenz, die Prozesse der sozialen Positionierung und Statuszuweisung beeinflussen; entweder weil physische Attraktivität mit Fähigkeiten korreliert (Kanazawa und Kovar 2004) oder weil physisch attraktive Personen von Interaktionspartnern anders behandelt werden als weniger attraktive, bspw. wenn Eltern attraktive Kinder bevorzugt behandeln, und es so zu einer größeren Aneignung von Fähigkeiten bei attraktiven Personen kommt (Langlois et al. 2000). ...
Zusammenfassung
Dieser Beitrag untersucht erstmals für den deutschsprachigen Raum mit repräsentativen Befragungsdaten, ob physische Attraktivität sozial ungleich verteilt ist. Eine Kopplung von sozialer Ungleichheit und physischer Attraktivität kann entstehen, wenn Selektionsmechanismen dazu führen, dass physisch attraktive Personen eine höhere sozio-ökonomische Positionierung erreichen (Jackson et al. 1995; Langlois et al. 2000; Rosar et al. 2014) oder wenn ungleich verteilte Ressourcen im Rahmen der sozialen Produktionsfunktion (Esser 1999; Lindenberg 1996) eingesetzt werden, um physische Attraktivität „zu produzieren“. Physische Attraktivität wird dabei in Anlehnung an das Konzept des erotischen Kapitals (Hakim 2010) nicht als ein angeborenes, askriptives, sondern als erlernbares und erwerbbares Merkmal angesehen. Der angenommene Zusammenhang zwischen sozio-ökonomischer Position und physischer Attraktivität wird mit Daten des ALLBUS unter Verwendung von Regressionsmodellen mit Interviewer Fixed Effects geprüft. Es zeigt sich, dass die sozio-ökonomische Position systematisch mit der eingeschätzten Attraktivität zusammenhängt. Dabei fallen klassische Dimensionen sozialer Ungleichheit mit der Stratifikation physischer Attraktivität zusammen: Befragte mit höheren Bildungsabschlüssen, einer höheren Klassenposition und einem höheren Haushaltseinkommen werden als attraktiver eingeschätzt. Diese Zusammenhänge zeigen sich gleichermaßen für Männer und Frauen. Zudem zeigt sich, dass Unterschiede zwischen physischer Attraktivität von Personen mit unterschiedlichen finanziellen Ressourcen im Lebenslauf zunehmen.
... Indeed, both adults (Langlois et al., 2000) and infants (e.g., Rubenstein et al., 1999) seem to show a preference for attractive rather than unattractive faces. Attractiveness, also, provides information relevant for reproduction, including mates' health (Boothroyd et al., 2013;Lee et al., 2013); mate quality (Pisanski and Feinberg, 2013;Doll et al., 2014); strength and dominance (e.g., Re et al., 2013); personality (e.g., Penton-Voak et al., 2006;Welling et al., 2009); intelligence (e.g., Kanazawa and Kovar, 2004;Denny, 2008); success (Lerner and Lerner, 1977); income (Frieze et al., 1991;Escasa et al., 2010) and emotional state (Adams and Kleck, 2003). Thus, being attractive seems to be advantageous to maximize reproductive success. ...
Little research has examined what happens to attention and memory as a whole when humans see someone attractive. Hence, we investigated whether attractive stimuli gather more attention and are better remembered than unattractive stimuli. Participants took part in an attention task - in which matrices containing attractive and unattractive male naturalistic photographs were presented to 54 females, and measures of eye-gaze location and fixation duration using an eye-tracker were taken - followed by a recognition task. Eye-gaze was higher for the attractive stimuli compared to unattractive stimuli. Also, attractive photographs produced more hits and false recognitions than unattractive photographs which may indicate that regardless of attention allocation, attractive photographs produce more correct but also more false recognitions. We present an evolutionary explanation for this, as attending to more attractive faces but not always remembering them accurately and differentially compared with unseen attractive faces, may help females secure mates with higher reproductive value.
... Beauty is socially coded as more desirable and researchers have long observed that a host of positive traits are associated with attractive people (Dion, Berscheid, & Walster, 1972;Nisbett & Wilson, 1977; but see Eagly, Ashmore, Makhijani, & Longo, 1991). This "halo effect" can be leveraged in many ways; attractive people are seen as more intelligent (Kanazawa, 2011;Kanazawa & Kovar, 2004), healthier (Jones et al., 2001), more attractive to employers (Ruetzler, Taylor, Reynolds, Baker, & Killen, 2012; but see Johnson, Podratz, Dipboye, & Gibbons, 2010), more skilled socially (Hope & Mindell, 1994), and make better (and more distinct) first impressions (Lorenzo, Biesanz, & Human, 2010). But the benefits of physical beauty go far beyond romantic potential or career success. ...
For many, cosmetic surgery holds the promise that one can reshape his or her body to remove perceived defects and thus have a more perfect body. However, the decision to undergo elective cosmetic surgery is not made in a vacuum, and it is easy to overlook the full range of ethical considerations surrounding cosmetic surgery. Many medical ethicists subscribe to an ethical code that centers mainly on the relationship between the doctor and patient, with a focus on respect for autonomy, nonmaleficence, beneficence, and justice. This chapter builds on this framework by extending the scope of actors to include not only the surgeon and the patient but also the media and the overall society. To illustrate this framework, the author uses the example of actress Heidi Montag, who underwent 10 different plastic surgery procedures in one day. The chapter concludes with a discussion of potential correctives for ethical failures in each of these areas.
... If more intelligent men are more likely to go against their evolutionary design and prefer to mate with some very unattractive women, then, because both general intelligence and physical attractiveness are highly heritable (Kanazawa and Kovar, 2004), their offspring are likely to be simultaneously more intelligent and very unattractive. This can potentially explain why very unattractive individuals in Kanazawa and Still (2018) were more intelligent and educated, thus earning more. ...
Kanazawa and Still (2018) showed that very unattractive workers earned more than unattractive workers, sometimes more than average-looking or attractive workers, because they had higher levels of intelligence and education, but they did not explain why very unattractive workers had higher intelligence and education. There are both theoretical and empirical reasons to expect that some intelligent men may prefer to marry very unattractive women. The analysis of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) shows that very unattractive women were significantly more likely to be married at Age 29 than unattractive or average-looking women, and their spouses or partners earned significantly more than those of unattractive or average-looking women. If intelligent men have historically preferred to marry very unattractive women generation after generation, then, because both general intelligence and physical attractiveness are highly heritable, this can explain why very unattractive workers are more intelligent and achieve higher education, thereby earning more. It can also explain why the positive correlation between intelligence and physical attractiveness is not larger despite assortative mating of intelligent men of higher status and physically attractive women over many generations.
... All that is required is that you look at the world differently, through the eyes of a seducer" (Greene: xxii). Even though beauty reflects various perspectives such as the seducer's psychological healthiness (Gupta et al., 2016), intelligence (Kanazawa & Kovar, 2004) and individual present and future value (Viviani, 2011), seduction is primarily achieved by emotional communication, regardless of the good looks of the male seducer (Greene, 2001). Its ultimate purpose is "gaining access to their [the seducees'] emotions by creating moments of pleasure and confusion; going deeper by working on their unconscious, stirring up repressed desires; and finally, inducing physical surrender" (Greene: 164; also see Baudrillard, 2001;Olivier, 2006;Ardisson, 2014). ...
After working as a personal assistant during the Second World War to John Godfrey, the Director of Naval Intelligence of the Royal Navy, Ian Fleming designed James Bond as a prominent fictional British agent from the novel Casino Royale (1953) onward. Bond completes the assignments while simultaneously enjoying the bachelor lifestyle and this has always intrigued many readers and spectators. His life is also enriched by consumerism and more essentially, effortless seduction to limitless sex. Meanwhile his sexual encounters stress his freedom from commitment as well as his embodied British national power, his interactions with most of the Bond Girls since the first Bond movie Dr No (1962) however lack mutual comfort and connection. My dissertation analyses four generations of James Bond movies: Thunderball (1965), Moonraker (1979), GoldenEye (1995) and Casino Royale (2006). These four sources substantiate that the legendary womaniser Bond is instead very much incapable of seducing most of his Bond Girls. As each of the Girl provides a certain extent of intelligence leading to the antagonists, the deficient Bondian seduction therefore hinders both his capacity in national security maintenance as well as his possibility of relishing splendid sexual life.
... l'attractivité du visage augmente l'attractivité vocale, et inversement,Hughes & Miller, 2016 ;Zuckerman & Driver, 1988). De même, les individus ont naturellement tendance à attribuer aux personnes qu'ils jugent attractives d'autres qualités positives, comme l'intelligence ou la confiance en soi(Brand, Bonatsos, D'Orazio, & DeShong, 2012 ;Kanazawa, 2004).V.5. ConclusionPeud'hypothèses évolutives ont été formulées afin expliquer l'évolution du dimorphisme vocal. ...
Il a été suggéré que la voix grave des hommes résulterait de l’action de la compétition intrasexuelle pour signaler aux compétiteurs la dominance, la menace et la masculinité, tandis que la voix relativement aiguë des femmes serait le produit de la compétition intersexuelle pour signaler la fertilité et la féminité. En effet, au-delà du message linguistique, la voix humaine révèle de précieuses informations biologiques et sociales sur la qualité et la condition des locuteurs telles que le sexe, l’âge, la dimension corporelle, la personnalité et possiblement le statut social. Ces indices prennent toutes leur importance lorsqu’il s’agit d’évaluer des compétiteurs et d’éventuels partenaires sexuels. Au cours de cette thèse, nous avons ainsi étudié le rôle fonctionnel de la voix humaine sous l’angle de la sélection sexuelle. Premièrement, nos travaux suggèrent que les préférences vocales ne sont pas universelles et qu’elles dépendent de l’environnement culturel en question, puisque plusieurs de nos résultats dans une population de locuteurs francophones montrent que les hommes sont attirés par des voix relativement graves chez les femmes, contrairement à ce qui est majoritairement observée dans les populations anglophones. De même, la plupart des études se sont focalisées sur la hauteur et le timbre, mais nos résultats suggèrent que la qualité phénotypique peut être exprimée par d’autres éléments de la qualité vocale tels que la raucité, le souffle et divers éléments prosodiques. Deuxièmement, les interprétations évolutives jusque-là évoquées dans la littérature pour expliquer ces préférences restent insatisfaisantes. En effet, nos résultats montrent d’une part que la voix des hommes n’est pas corrélée au taux de testostérone, remettant en question l’idée d’un signal « honnête » de l’immunocompétence et, d’autre part, que la modulation vocale, correspondant à un pattern dynamique de la voix en contexte interactionnel, souligne l’importance d’étudier la voix dans des situations écologiquement valides. Enfin, nous avons montré via le principe du symbolisme phonétique que le dimorphisme sexuel de la voix humaine se traduit également au niveau de la composition sonore des prénoms et de leur attribution en fonction du sexe. Pour conclure, notre travail offre de nouvelles pistes de réflexion et établit la sélection sexuelle comme un paradigme de choix pour étudier la voix humaine.
... Indeed, multiple research programs dedicated to understanding this beautiful-is-good belief (also referred to as "physical attractiveness stereotyping") have found that beautiful people are perceived as more intelligent (Dion, Berscheid, and Walster 1972;Kanazawa and Kovar 2004) and more decisive and logical (Dipboye, Fromkin, and Wiback 1975). A beauty premium even exists in the labor market, with attractive candidates being more likely to be hired, to be considered more talented, to have better leadership skills, to command higher salaries, to elicit greater cooperation, and to be rewarded more often (Hamermesh 2011). ...
Human beings have always coveted beautiful objects, but the desire to look good is reaching new heights worldwide. Although the pursuit of beauty appears universal, industry evidence suggests that it is particularly strong in Asia. This research examines the effect of culture on the pursuit of beauty. Three studies provide converging evidence that interdependent self-construal increases the likelihood of using appearance-enhancing products. Study 1 operationalizes culture through nationality and self-construal and shows that Easterners (more interdependent) are more likely to use appearance-enhancing products than Westerners (less interdependent). This use is driven by interdependents' tendency to conform to societal norms, which in turn leads to heightened self-discrepancy (Study 2). The use of appearance-enhancing tools helps minimize this discrepancy. Study 3 shows that strength of norms moderates the impact of interdependence on the use of appearance-enhancing tools. When norms are loosely defined and adherence is not strictly enforced, interdependents' appearance enhancement tendency is reduced. This research offers actionable insights into the pursuit of beauty, marketing of beauty brands, policy making, and consumer well-being. a American Marketing Association 2018.
... The role that attractiveness judgments play in candidate evaluation is less clear. Previous studies have found a "halo effect" for attractive people, in which individuals perceived as attractive are also more likely to be ascribed positive traits (Dion, Berscheid, and Walster 1972;Kanazawa and Kovar 2004), and ample evidence shows that attractive candidates may do better than unattractive candidates in political scenarios (Riggle et al. 1997;Rosenberg et al. 1986;Rosenberg, Kahn, and Tran 1991). However, there is reason to believe that the link between spontaneous attractiveness judgments and election outcomes is more nuanced and perhaps contextual. ...
Studies show that automatic trait inferences can predict outcomes of actual elections, but these studies generally include male candidates only. Substantial evidence also shows that female candidates are subject to gender-based stereotypes, which can lead to differences in how men and women candidates are evaluated. This article combines these two literatures to compare the effects of competence, threat, and attractiveness inferences in elections that include women. We use experimental data in which candidate pairs from state and local US elections were judged on these three traits and examine whether those ratings are predictive of election outcomes. We find that although competence matters most for elections involving only men, attractiveness predicts winners in women-only elections. In mixed-gender races, competence inferences predict success when the female candidate is perceived as more competent than the male candidate. Finally, unlike men, women benefit from being perceived as physically threatening in mixed-gender races.
... O "prêmio de beleza" está presente em diversos contextos, tais como no rendimento dos trabalhadores (BIDDLE, HAMERMESH, 1998;SALA, et al., 2013); no pagamento de gorjetas aos garçons em restaurantes (PARRETT, 2015); em campanhas eleitorais BERGGREN, JORDAHL, POUTVAARA, 2010); e no contexto universitário (DERYUGINA, SHURCHKOV, 2015a), além de ser associado com a saúde ( KALICK et al., 1998), com a felicidade (HAMERMESH, ABREVAYA, 2013) e a inteligência (KANAZAWA, KOVAR, 2004). ...
p class="Resumo-Texto"> Neste artigo, busca-se investigar se existe relação entre a beleza dos professores e a avaliação docente realizada pelos alunos, atribuindo vantagens aos professores percebidos como mais atrativos. Por meio de uma revisão de literatura, foram analisadas publicações que tratam do tema, buscando identificar se existe manifestação do “prêmio de beleza” em sala de aula e se ocorre maior incidência para um determinado gênero. Os resultados demonstraram que o nível de atratividade percebido nos professores impacta significativamente nas avaliações de ensino. Além disso, os artigos estudados revelam que, de modo geral, há maior incidência do “prêmio de beleza” para os homens, tendo as professoras mulheres recebido avaliações significativamente menores. </p
... Šiuolaikiniai evoliucinės krypties tyrėjai daro išvadas, kad statinės patrauklumo fizinės savybės yra partnerio kokybės ir vertės požymiai, nes fizinis patrauklumas informuoja apie jaunystę ir reprodukcinę gerovę (Langlois et al., 2000;Gangestad and Scheyd, 2005). Vyrų, ypač aukštesnio statuso, elgesys su moterimis priklauso nuo moters patrauklumo (Kanazawa and Kovar, 2004), todėl moterims savo patrauklumo vertinimas labai svarbus savęs suvokimui, savo vertės pajautimui (Langlois et al., 2000;Furman and Thompson, 2002). Statiniai patrauklumo požymiai greičiau pastebimi, skirtingų kultūrų atstovai tokius požymius vertina labai panašiai (Jones, 1998). ...
Straipsnyje pristatomi 73 asmenų prieš ortognatinę operaciją penkių kategorijų – fizinio Aš (išvaizdos, sveikatos, grožio, atvaizdo), santykių, žinių ir supratimo, profesijos, laisvalaikio – pasitikėjimo / nepasitikėjimo savimi, lyginimosi ir perfekcionistinių siekių Aš reprezentacijų duomenys, gauti pusiau struktūruoto interviu metodu. Aš reprezentacijų kategorijos išskirtos atlikus kokybinę empirinės medžiagos analizę. Lygintos tiriamųjų grupės suskirstytos remiantis objektyvia (amžius, išsilavinimas) ir subjektyvia (pagal santykių su tėvais ir patyčių patyrimą) informacija. Prieš operaciją visi tiriamieji yra susirūpinę santykiais – nepasitiki ir neigiamai lygina save su bendraamžiais, o po operacijos labiausiai tikisi atitikti dabarties patrauklios išvaizdos ir geros sveikatos standartus.
Pagrindiniai žodžiai: sąkandžio anomalijos, veido patrauklumas, pasitikėjimas savimi, savęs lyginimas, ortognatinė chirurgija.
MANIFESTATIONS OF SELF-CONFIDENCE, COMPARISONS AND PERFECTIONISTIC ASPIRATIONS BEFORE ORTHOGNATIC SURGERY
Ilona Makauskienė
Summary
An interest to psychological factors involved in malocclusion appeared thirty years ago. The most frequent aspect of research is self-evaluation. However, up to date, there is no empiric half-structured interview investigations with subjects of this group, in which manifestations of confidence, comparison and perfectionistic aspirations would be explored wider and in more detail. No studies with orthognatic subjects were conducted in Lithuania, so we hope the data of our research will help to fill this gap.
Seventy-three subjects with some kind of malocclusion were involved. The research lasted from 2006 to 2010. Self-representations were investigated by means of a half-structured interview based on self-in-relation theory. Self-representations of the past, presents and future were explored, three significant others (mother, father, and best friend) were distinguished.
A qualitative analysis of self-representations was conducted, and six categories were singled out. Self- representations of comparison were estimated considering the ideal and standards of the self, peer, father, mother or partner. The assessments were divided into positive and negative. The subjects were grouped and compared according to parents’ relationship experience, age group, education, taunting experience.
The data suggest that in subjects just before the surgery statistically significant changes occurred according to taunting experience; positive comparison representations diminished, more of statistically significant differences between the standpoints of mother and father self-representations showed up, unconfident representations increased. Based on the research results, we can predicate that the biggest risk pre-operative group comprised subjects with taunting experience and subjects with the experience of violence in the family, as these subjects expressed most negative self-representations of distrust and comparison. These subjects expressed statistically significantly more adolescent and actual distrust in mother representations. Comparison of data according to subjects’ age has revealed that subjects of the oldest group most of all seek to meet health, appearance, and profession perfectionist standards. Subjects of the youngest group most often compare themselves with standards of peers and father. Subjects aged 26–30 years after the surgery statistically significantly expect to be more satisfies with one’s own appearance. While comparing subjects according to education, appearance, self-representations of knowledge and comprehension diverged. Self- representations of confidence / distrust and perfectionistic aspirations were most expressed in adolescent and actual time spans, while manifestations of comparison were expressed in all life time spans.
Key words: malocclusion, face attractiveness, self-confidence, self-comparison, orthognatic surgery.
... Over the last decades in Western societies, thinness has been established as the ideal female body image and linked to success, beauty, status, power and happiness (e.g. [28,29]). ...
Purpose
Recent literature has documented the relationship between fears of compassion and disordered eating attitudes and behaviours. However, research on the processes underlying this association is still in the early stages. As such, this study tested a mediator model where insecure striving and inflexible eating (i.e. psychological inflexibility focused on eating) were hypothesized to mediate the impact of fears of compassion on the severity of disordered eating, while controlling for the effects of body mass index and age.
Methods
The study’s sample comprised 310 Portuguese women from the general population, aged between 18 and 65 years, who completed an online survey.
Results
Path analysis results revealed that the impact of fear of compassion for self and for others on disordered eating was fully mediated by insecure striving and inflexible eating, whereas the impact of fear of compassion from others was only partly mediated by these processes. The tested model accounted for 48% of disordered eating’s variance and presented excellent fit indices.
Conclusions
These results suggest that fears of experiencing compassion may preclude the experience of social safeness, hindering the activation of social mentalities other than rank-focused mentality. Maladaptive competitive strategies may ensue (insecure striving), such as inflexible eating, which is linked to the development of disordered eating. In terms of clinical implications, these findings stress the need to effectively assess and address fears of compassion, as they not only seem to be involved in the development of disordered eating, but also have been reported to be significant predictors of poor treatment outcomes.
Level of evidence
Level V, cross-sectional descriptive study.
... All that is required is that you look at the world differently, through the eyes of a seducer" (Greene: xxii). Even though beauty reflects various perspectives such as the seducer's psychological healthiness (Gupta et al., 2016), intelligence (Kanazawa & Kovar, 2004) and individual present and future value (Viviani, 2011), seduction is primarily achieved by emotional communication, regardless of the good looks of the male seducer (Greene, 2001). Its ultimate purpose is "gaining access to their [the seducees'] emotions by creating moments of pleasure and confusion; going deeper by working on their unconscious, stirring up repressed desires; and finally, inducing physical surrender" (Greene: 164; also see Baudrillard, 2001;Olivier, 2006;Ardisson, 2014). ...
After working as a personal assistant during the Second World War to John Godfrey, the Director of Naval Intelligence of the Royal Navy, Ian Fleming designed James Bond as a prominent fictional British agent from the novel Casino Royale (1953) onward. Bond completes the assignments while simultaneously enjoying the bachelor lifestyle and this has always intrigued many readers and spectators. His life is also enriched by consumerism and more essentially, effortless seduction to limitless sex. Meanwhile his sexual encounters stress his freedom from commitment as well as his embodied British national power, his interactions with most of the Bond Girls since the first Bond movie Dr No (1962) however lack mutual comfort and connection. My dissertation analyses four generations of James Bond movies: Thunderball (1965), Moonraker (1979), GoldenEye (1995) and Casino Royale (2006). These four sources substantiate that the legendary womaniser Bond is instead very much incapable of seducing most of his Bond Girls. As each of the Girl provides a certain extent of intelligence leading to the antagonists, the deficient Bondian seduction therefore hinders both his capacity in national security maintenance as well as his possibility of relishing splendid sexual life.
... Female newsreaders tend to be taken less seriously and this might actually be damaging for their careers as it pigeonholes them into a certain type of feminity and one that tends to be relational to men (Matheson, 2005: 80). This confirms some of the suggestions that although, physical attractiveness is sometimes positively correlated with intelligence (Haas & Gregory, 2005;Kanazawa &Kovar, 2004), sexualisation has a negative correlation with intelligence. ...
News presentation is the heart of news stations. Newsreaders or casters are trained to present news to heterogeneous audience. Many of television stations use young beautiful female newsreaders to cast their news. The physical appearance of the female newsreader may either attract viewers' attention to the news or not. The appearance of the female newsreader is viewed with different perceptions by millions of various viewing audiences. This study examines viewers' perception of female newsreaders' appearance on television and its influence on news attention. The study was anchored on social perception theory, which explains how people form impressions of and make inferences about other people. In order to determine this, two research approaches were adopted: research assistants rating scale and viewers' rating scale (VRS). The categories studied on female newsreader physical appearance were dress or attire, hairstyle, makeup/facial expression and voice quality. Three cable television stations were viewed. They were the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA); Channels Television and African Independent Television (AIT). The Krejcie Robert and Morgan Daryle sample size of 384 was adopted. However, 382 of the sample size were retrieved. Results showed that female newsreaders' appearance affects viewers' attention to news at the first few minutes of the news. While the female viewers are attracted to the general physical appearance, male viewers are attracted to facial beauty. The import of this is that physical appearance of a female newsreader distracts attention from the news if sexual appealing looks were applied. A moderate appearance was recommended for female newsreader.
... There has been an interesting exchange of ideas and empirical evidences amongst scholars over the question whether beautiful people are also more intelligent and perform better than others. In response to the study by Kanazawa and Kovar (2004) -stating that there is a positive correlation between beauty and intelligence -other scholars followed with empirical research and counter-arguments to reject those results (Denny, 2008). In this paper, we are not interested in studying the link between physical attractiveness and intelligence or performance. ...
This study explores the determinants of popularity within friendship and advice networks. We involved almost 200 college students in an experiment to predict how personality traits, self-monitoring, creativity, intelligence, energy, and beauty influence the development of friendship and advice networks. Our results indicate that physical attractiveness is a key to develop both friendship and task-related interactions, whereas perceived intelligence and creativity play an important role in the advice network. Our findings seem to support the idea that there might be a kernel of truth in the stereotype that attractiveness correlates with positive social traits and successful outcomes.
For many, cosmetic surgery holds the promise that one can reshape his or her body to remove perceived defects and thus have a more perfect body. However, the decision to undergo elective cosmetic surgery is not made in a vacuum, and it is easy to overlook the full range of ethical considerations surrounding cosmetic surgery. Many medical ethicists subscribe to an ethical code that centers mainly on the relationship between the doctor and patient, with a focus on respect for autonomy, nonmaleficence, beneficence, and justice. This chapter builds on this framework by extending the scope of actors to include not only the surgeon and the patient but also the media and the overall society. To illustrate this framework, the author uses the example of actress Heidi Montag, who underwent 10 different plastic surgery procedures in one day. The chapter concludes with a discussion of potential correctives for ethical failures in each of these areas.
The article addressed the problem of the links between the intellectual giftedness (General Intelligence), on the one hand, and social development, on the other. Analysis of experimental data gives a very contradictory picture. While some studies indicate a certain integrity of mental and social development of a gifted child and his/her well-being in social terms, the other part of researchers numerates facts of significant difficulties for gifted children and adults in situations of social contacts. The article discusses the reasons for such conflicts, and the main one is the existence of two different variants (types) of age-related development of intellectually gifted children. If in one case we observe "over full-fledged" children with a very harmonious type of development (from the point of view of social skills) in another case we confront with problematic children, who display a distinct asynchrony of development, manifesting the dramatic lag of their emotional and social development from mental one
This study explores the determinants of popularity within friendship and advice networks. We involved almost 200 college students in an experiment to predict how personality traits, self-monitoring, creativity, intelligence, energy, and beauty influence the development of friendship and advice networks. Our results indicate that physical attractiveness is a key to develop both friendship and task-related interactions, whereas perceived intelligence and creativity play an important role in the advice network. Our findings seem to support the idea that there might be a kernel of truth in the stereotype that attractiveness correlates with positive social traits and successful outcomes.
There is a significant positive correlation between intelligence and brain size, whether measured directly by neuroimaging or indirectly by cranial volume. Both intelligence and brain size are highly heritable, indicating the importance of genes. Aside from the cranium, other external anatomy could correlate with intelligence. Although some of these structures may appear to have no association with the brain (and intelligence), they in fact share a common developmental and genetic origin. It is possible that these non-obvious traits are differentially distributed across groups as well as individuals. Given the widespread effects of genes and hormones on phenotypic development, it is possible that there are a number of non-obvious human structures that correlate with brain structure and cognitive ability.
Marketing messages socialise individuals into believing that (amongst other practices) consuming cosmetics is the key to beauty and such messages are now being targeted directly to pre-adolescents. Research shows marketing portrayals of beauty ideals are associated with body disillusionment; however, there is a lack of knowledge on how tweens' enculturation of the necessity to consume beauty products influences their personal development and perspectives of others. The present study examines tweens perceptions of girls who own makeup; 111 girls between 6 and 12 years drew and described a child who owned makeup and a child who did not own makeup, resulting in 222 drawings. The drawings and descriptive words were coded inductively using emerging themes and differences between the two drawings were analysed using SPSS and chi square analysis. Findings revealed girls who owned makeup were perceived to be more attractive, happy, and popular than girls who did not wear makeup, however, they were also perceived to be ‘nastier' than girls who did not own makeup. The findings revealed tweens are enculturated into contemporary beauty ideals and hold strong stereotypes regarding owning makeup. Interpreted through the lens of sociocultural theory and the Halo Effect, findings are discussed in terms of how such ideals shape tweens expectations of others and ultimately may shape their own personal behaviour with regards to social interactions, roles and activities engaged in. We argue that the beauty ideal stereotypes associated with tween cosmetic ownership may be in reality, less than ideal. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
The emphasis on the need to achieve and be successful, and the contextual competitive dynamics in Western societies, may explain the increase of distinct forms of psychopathology. This study examined sex differences relative to the expression and consequences of feeling under pressure to compete to avoid a threatening social position. Also, we tested whether insecure striving moderates the impact of a low social rank on drive for thinness, in women. In this cross-sectional study self-report measures of insecure striving and secure non-striving, social comparison, depression, anxiety and stress, and eating disorders symptomatology were completed by a sample of 245 male and 429 female students. For both men and women, the need to strive is associated with general psychopathological symptoms (depression, anxiety and stress). Furthermore, insecure striving was a significant moderator between a low social rank and the endorsement of the importance of thinness and dieting behaviours in women. These findings support the hypothesis that drive for thinness arises as a competitive weapon to assure a secure place in the social world.
This chapter is an interdisciplinary consensual overview of intelligence as a behavioral disposition displayed by some animals, including humans. Topics discussed include animal intelligence, human intelligence, intelligence varieties and brain correlates; concept formation, transitive responding, and mental rotation; intelligence development and intelligence evolution.
Der Mensch unterliegt in seinen Wahrnehmungs- und Denkprozessen diversen Heuristiken und Verzerrungen, die bewusst wie unbewusst das Erleben und Entscheidungsverhalten beeinflussen. Unter der Bezeichnung Behavioral Economics und Nudging werden diese psychologischen Effekte im wirtschaftlichen wie gesellschaftlichen Kontext systematisch aufgearbeitet und in potenziellen Anwendungsfeldern reflektiert. Die dadurch entstehenden asymmetrischen Machtverhältnisse erfordern eine Typologisierung in transparente wie intransparente Beeinflussungs- und Manipulationsmöglichkeiten sowie eine ethische Diskussion, welche in diesem Beitrag vorgenommen werden. Es wird ein Überblick über 180 verschiedene Effekte der psychologischen Beeinflussung als auch eine Detailvorstellung von 50 ausgewählten Behavior Patterns mit Anwendungsbeispielen im Eventkontext gegeben. Damit sollen konstruktive Einsatzmöglichkeiten zur effizienteren Zielerreichung von Veranstaltern und Dienstleistern, wie der Erhöhung der Kunden- und Besucherzufriedenheit, aufgezeigt werden. Ein verhaltensökonomisches Verständnis soll darüber hinaus ermöglichen, auch die eigenen Wahrnehmungs- und Verhaltensweisen kritisch zu reflektieren.
Sappiamo tutti che è meglio essere attraenti piuttosto che non attraenti ma non tutti conoscono i meccanismi psicologici implicati nella percezione della bellezza. La ricerca scientifica negli ultimi anni ha fatto molti progressi nel cercare di svelare i segreti della bellezza e della sua enorme influenza nei nostri rapporti sociali. Questo libro riporta lo stato dell'arte di tale ricerca. Quali sono le caratteristiche di un volto o di un corpo attraente? In che modo l'essere attraenti differisce fra maschi e femmine? Come evolve la percezione della bellezza nell'arco di vita? La bellezza ha avuto un valore adattivo nella nostra storia evolutiva? Poiché lo studio della bellezza è intimamente legato a quello dell'estetica e dell'arte, vengono anche esposti i risultati delle ricerche sulle tecniche utilizzate dagli artisti per rappresentare in modo più attraente i loro soggetti. La psicologia della bellezza, inoltre, non si limita agli aspetti visivi di corpo e volto, ma si interessa anche di temi come la bellezza della postura, dei movimenti corporei, della voce, dell'odore personale. Il volume prende anche in esame gli aspetti ''applicativi'', cioè le conseguenze che la bellezza ha nei rapporti sociali, nell'educazione, negli ambiti lavorativi, nella politica e nella giustizia e i risvolti legati alle ''patologie della bellezza'' come il narcisismo e i disturbi dell'immagine corporea.
Research on social stereotypes has enjoyed a long history in psychology and related fields. Although many definitions of a stereotype exist, researchers generally believe that ‘stereotypes are qualities perceived to be associated with particular groups or categories of people’ (Schneider, 2004: 24). Many have used stereotypes to understand the impact of attractiveness on social situations or personality (Eagly, Ashmore, Makhijani, & Longo, 1991;Feingold, 1992). The overwhelming majority of research on the attractiveness stereotype has focused on how individuals perceive attractive people or how well attractiveness correlates with a range of traits or behaviours. However, the social processes that contribute to attractiveness stereotyping are of equal theoretical importance.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the cultural differences in female consumers’ motivation to purchase appearance-enhancing products, particularly anti-aging creams.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a qualitative research design to collect the data. Focus group discussions were used. The participants were selected from Thai and Australian females, 25-45 years old in Melbourne representing the most frequent users of anti-aging products.
Findings
The results indicated variations among participants in their motivation to seek a better appearance. The motivation ranged from a combination of striving to achieve an ideal self and a high level of social acceptability through maintaining youthful appearance and improving on the perceived declining youthful appearance. Using anti-aging products turned out to be a means for taking care of oneself, achieving better social acceptability and improving self-image. These key motivations are inspired by the individual’s social condition and from the reactions they receive from others. These motivations are shared by all participants, but within different cultural perspectives.
Research limitations/implications
The main limitation is in relation to the true expression of attitudes by respondents, particularly in regard to the discussion of privately held beliefs about self-image, social acceptability and personal appearance. Additionally, the variations between cultural perceptions are only indicative of real differences between collectivist and individualistic cultures.
Practical implications
Managers can adopt a cultural framework for understanding their consumers’ motivations to enhance their appearance, formulate more accurately their marketing strategy and activate and satisfy their consumers’ demand and better inform their new product developments.
Originality/value
The analysis explains and compares the differences and similarities in female consumers’ motivations for anti-aging product consumption of two fundamentally different cultural value systems.
The manner in which our ancestors and ancestor species negotiated their physical and social environments has had consequences for how we engage with artefacts today. Like language, the ability to attribute significance and meaning to artefacts is evolved and consists of a suite of interconnected adaptations. A model is articulated which, it is claimed, accommodates all the possible ways in which humans attribute significance and meaning to artefacts. It consists of two halves. Each element is considered in turn and accounts of their evolutionary origins are constructed. This sequence moves from the oldest to the most recently evolved: thus the first half - the sensory-kinetic-affective mode - includes ancient, reflexive, sensory (including the physical and kinetic) and perceptual responses originating in our ancestor species’ negotiation of their organic and inorganic environment; and the affective responses such as technical and aesthetic pleasures arising from such responses. The second half – the symbolic-narrative mode - embraces the attribution of symbolic or narrative meanings to artefacts which, I propose, prefigured, or co-evolved with the emergence of language and, like language, is an expression of symbolic thought. I argue that where symbolic meaning is intentionally ascribed to an artefact, some account will be taken of the data delivered by the sensory-kinetic- affective mode, such that those intending the meaning will often seek consonance between that data and the meaning intended, in order to strengthen the power of the artefact to act as an agent of social mediation. A central role is ascribed to a sensibility towards style, as the mechanism by which the two halves are united. This sensibility is highly attuned to physical characteristics, with the objective of intuiting something of the character, make-up and therefore, likely future behaviour of the maker, owner, or other with whom the artefact is associated. I call this resultant data tacit social intelligence. It is argued that practices which evolved during the 100,000 years or so in which Homo sapiens created artefacts by hand, using simple tools, despite the changed circumstances of manufacture, economics, technology and social and political organisation, have persisted into historical times and remain active today . In particular , artefacts continue physically to represent accumulations of behaviour. Thus, in creating or choosing to be associated with an artefact, we are conscious that others will interrogate it for signs of the behavioural values we are seen to esteem.
Perceptions of intelligence based on facial features can have a profound impact on many social situations, but findings have been mixed as to whether these judgements are accurate. Even if such perceptions were accurate, the underlying mechanism is unclear. Several possibilities have been proposed, including evolutionary explanations where certain morphological facial features are associated with fitness-related traits (including cognitive development), or that intelligence judgements are over-generalisation of cues of transitory states that can influence cognition (e.g., tiredness). Here, we attempt to identify the morphological signals that individuals use to make intelligence judgements from facial photographs. In a genetically informative sample of 1660 twins and their siblings, we measured IQ and also perceptions of intelligence based on facial photographs. We found that intelligence judgements were associated with both stable morphological facial traits (face height, interpupillary distance, and nose size) and more transitory facial cues (eyelid openness, and mouth curvature). There was a significant association between perceived intelligence and measured IQ, but of the specific facial attributes only interpupillary distance (i.e., wide-set eyes) significantly mediated this relationship. We also found evidence that perceived intelligence and measured IQ share a familial component, though we could not distinguish between genetic and shared environmental sources.
Using the Young Finns Study (YFS) combined with the Finnish Linked Employer-Employee Data (FLEED) we show that quantities of creatine measured in 1980 prior to labour market entry affect labour market outcomes over the period 1990-2010. Those with higher levels of creatine (proxied by urine creatinine) prior to labour market entry spend more time in the labour market in the subsequent two decades and earn more. The associations between creatine and labour market outcomes are robust to controlling for other biomarkers, educational attainment and parental background. Creatine is a naturally occurring nitrogenous organic acid which supplies energy to body cells, including muscles. Our findings are consistent with high energy levels, induced by creatine, leading to productivity-enhancing traits such as a high propensity for effort, perseverance, and high-commitment.
The attractiveness of service employees can have a significant impact on customer attitudes and behaviors. While frontline employees can reduce the risk of the COVID-19 transmission and infection by wearing facemasks, doing so can also influence customers’ perceptions of employees’ attractiveness and thus affect customer satisfaction. Based on the Gestalt theory, this study explores the impact of hotel employees’ facemask-wearing on customer satisfaction through two experimental studies. The results indicate that average-looking frontline employees who wear facemasks induce high levels of customer satisfaction. However, while the impact of wearing facemasks on customer satisfaction is not significant for attractive-looking male frontline employees, attractive-looking female frontline employees who wear facemasks induce lower customer satisfaction. Customers’ perception of employees’ physical attractiveness fully mediates the effects of wearing facemasks on customer satisfaction in the case of average-looking employees. Customers’ self-perceived physical attractiveness moderates the mediated effects. Implications that can help hotel managers improve customers’ service evaluations during the COVID-19 pandemic are provided.
A newer version of the Polish text which has been published (in somewhat shortened form) as two English-language papers: "Facial attractiveness: General patterns of facial preferences" and "Facial attractiveness: Variation, adaptiveness and consequences of facial preferences".
The consistency of physical attractiveness ratings across cultural groups was examined. In Study 1, recently arrived native Asian and Hispanic students and White Americans rated the attractiveness of Asian, Hispanic, Black, and White photographed women. The mean correlation between groups in attractiveness ratings was
r = .93. Asians, Hispanics, and Whites were equally influenced by many facial features, but Asians were less influenced by some sexual maturity and expressive features. In Study 2, Taiwanese attractiveness ratings correlated with prior Asian, Hispanic, and American ratings, mean
r = .91. Supporting Study 1, the Taiwanese also were less positively influenced by certain sexual maturity and expressive features. Exposure to Western media did not influence attractiveness ratings in either study. In Study 3, Black and White American men rated the attractiveness of Black female facial photos and body types. Mean facial attractiveness ratings were highly correlated (
r = .94), but as predicted Blacks and Whites varied in judging bodies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Physical attractiveness has been linked to mental health, intelligence, ability and performance. Most of the studies on attractiveness have been experimental in nature and focused on perceptions of mental health and achievement rather than actual mental health and achievement. Operating within a status characteristics framework, we analyze the impact of attractiveness on the actual achievement and mental health of individuals in a national sample. We find consistently significant and monotonic relationships of attractiveness with four measures of achievement and eight measures of psychological well-being. Based on these analyses, we conclude that survey research findings corroborate experimental findings on attractiveness; that one's attractiveness does impinge on achievement and psychological well-being; and that status characteristics theory can be used to explain the effects of attractiveness on well-being and achievement.
It is hypothesized that human faces judged to be attractive by people possess two features-averageness and symmetry-that promoted adaptive mate selection in human evolutionary history by way of production of offspring with parasite resistance. Facial composites made by combining individual faces are judged to be attractive, and more attractive than the majority of individual faces. The composites possess both symmetry and averageness of features. Facial averageness may reflect high individual protein heterozygosity and thus an array of proteins to which parasites must adapt. Heterozygosity may be an important defense of long-lived hosts against parasites when it occurs in portions of the genome that do not code for the essential features of complex adaptations. In this case heterozygosity can create a hostile microenvironment for parasites without disrupting adaptation. Facial bilateral symmetry is hypothesized to affect positive beauty judgments because symmetry is a certification of overall phenotypic quality and developmental health, which may be importantly influenced by parasites. Certain secondary sexual traits are influenced by testosterone, a hormone that reduces immunocompetence. Symmetry and size of the secondary sexual traits of the face (e.g., cheek bones) are expected to correlate positively and advertise immunocompetence honestly and therefore to affect positive beauty judgments. Facial attractiveness is predicted to correlate with attractive, nonfacial secondary sexual traits; other predictions from the view that parasite-driven selection led to the evolution of psychological adaptations of human beauty perception are discussed. The view that human physical attractiveness and judgments about human physical attractiveness evolved in the context of parasite-driven selection leads to the hypothesis that both adults and children have a species-typical adaptation to the problem of identifying and favoring healthy individuals and avoiding parasite-susceptible individuals. It is proposed that this adaptation guides human decisions about nepotism and reciprocity in relation to physical attractiveness.
It has been suggested that an important factor influencing human mate selection is a social norm that the male should be taller than the female. With the aim of providing empirical evidence concerning the possibility of such a male-taller norm, height data were collected from bank account application forms of 720 couples. According to probability theory, the chance expectation for the occurrence of couples with females taller was 2/100. The actual value found was only 1/720, which was seen as supporting the notion of a male-taller norm.
The authors investigated accuracy of judging intelligence from facial photos of strangers across the lifespan, facial qualities contributing to accuracy, and developmental paths producing correlations between facial qualities and IQ scores. Judgments were more accurate than chance in childhood and puberty, marginally more accurate in middle adulthood, but not more accurate than chance in adolescence or late adulthood. Reliance on the valid cue of facial attractiveness could explain judges’ accuracy. Multiple developmental paths contributed to relationships between facial attractiveness and IQ: biological, environmental, influences of intelligence on attractiveness, influences of attractiveness on intelligence. The findings provide a caveat to evolutionary psychologists’ assumption that relationships between attractiveness and intelligence or other traits reflect an influence of “good genes” on both, as well as to social and developmental psychologists’ assumption that such relationships reflect self-fulfilling prophecy effects. Each of these mechanisms failed to explain some observed correlations.
The role of perceived physical attractiveness in everyday exchange is addressed using a laboratory paradigm that examines both play-versus-not-play and cooperate-versus-defect choices in an ecology of available prisoner's dilemma games. The analysis considers the actions of both subject and other in encounters where exchange relationships are possible and include perceptions of others' and own physical attractiveness. Results indicate that subjects are more likely to enter play and to cooperate with others they find attractive. Men who see themselves as more attractive more often cooperate than other men, while women who see themselves as more attractive less often cooperate than other women. In addition, subjects who rate themselves as highly attractive are more likely to cooperate with others they see as also highly attractive. Subjects expect others whom they see as attractive to cooperate more often. At the same time, the effect of perceived attractiveness on choice is independent of these expectations, supporting the hypothesis that attractiveness is a "taste" or "benefit" for actors in exchange relationships.
Physical attractiveness (beauty) affects both cognitions about individuals and their interaction patterns. Our proposed theoretical explanation for these phenomena links attractiveness effects to other cases of status generalization such as those produced by race or sex. Many effects of attractiveness can be explained by viewing it as a status characteristic and applying a theory of status charactersitics and expectation states proposed and elaborated by Joseph Berger and others. A test of the proposed explanation shows that (1) attractiveness produces predicted differences in both general and specific expectations; (2) attractiveness effects can be modified in combination with additional status characteristics; and (3) neither of the two above results is affected by sex of stimulus individuals or respondents, a differentiation of this explanation from one that relies on sexual or romatinc appeal.
Previous research has documented that more facially attractive people are perceived by others to be physically healthier. Using self-reports, observer ratings, daily diary methodology, and psychophysiological assessments, this study provides limited empirical evidence that more facially attractive people (N = 100) may be physically healthier than unattractive people. Discussion suggests the value of an evolutionary psychological perspective for understanding the relationship between facial attractiveness and physical health.
Personnel selection research provides much evidence that intelligence (g) is an important predictor of performance in training and on the job, especially in higher level work. This article provides evidence that g has pervasive utility in work settings because it is essentially the ability to deal with cognitive complexity, in particular, with complex information processing. The more complex a work task, the greater the advantages that higher g confers in performing it well. Everyday tasks, like job duties, also differ in their level of complexity. The importance of intelligence therefore differs systematically across different arenas of social life as well as economic endeavor. Data from the National Adult Literacy Survey are used to show how higher levels of cognitive ability systematically improve individual's odds of dealing successfully with the ordinary demands of modern life (such as banking, using maps and transportation schedules, reading and understanding forms, interpreting news articles). These and other data are summarized to illustrate how the advantages of higher g, even when they are small, cumulate to affect the overall life chances of individuals at different ranges of the IQ bell curve. The article concludes by suggesting ways to reduce the risks for low-IQ individuals of being left behind by an increasingly complex postindustrial economy.
A new hypothesis is proposed to explain the perennially enlarged breasts of human females. The nubility hypothesis proposes that hominid females evolved protruding breasts because the size and shape of breasts function as an honest signal of residual reproductive value. Hominid females with greater residual reproductive value were preferred by males once reliable cues to ovulation were lost and long-term bonding evolved. This adaptation was favored because female-female competition for investing males increased once hominid males began to provide valuable resources.
This review demonstrates that the physical attractiveness stereotype established by studies of person perception is not as strong or general as suggested by the often-used summary phrase what is beautiful is good. Although subjects in these studies ascribed more favorable personality traits and more successful life outcomes to attractive than unattractive targets, the average magnitude of this beauty-is-good effect was moderate, and the strength of the effect varied considerably from study to study. Consistent with our implicit personality theory framework, a substantial portion of this variation was explained by the specific content of the inferences that subjects were asked to make: The differences in subjects' perception of attractive and unattractive targets were largest for indexes of social competence; intermediate for potency, adjustment, and intellectual competence; and near zero for integrity and concern for others. The strength of the physical attractiveness stereotype also varied as a function of other attributes of the studies, including the presence of individuating information.
Reports for the first time that a parasite, the haematophagous tropical fowl mite Ornithonyssus bursa (Macronyssidae, Gamasida), directly affects the degree of fluctuating asymmetry in a secondary sexual character of its host, the elongated tail of the swallow Hirundo rustica (Hirundinidae). The author manipulated the mite load of swallow nests during one season by either increasing or reducing the number of mites, or keeping nests as controls. The degree of fluctuating asymmetry was measured in the subsequent year after the swallows had grown new tail ornaments under the altered parasite regime. The degree of fluctuating asymmetry was larger at increasing levels of parasites for male tail length, but not for the length of the shortest tail feather or wing length or for tail and wing length in females. Results suggest that the degree of fluctuating asymmetry in tail ornaments, but not in other feather traits, reliably reveals the level of parasite infestation. This has important implications for the ability of conspecifics to use the size and the expression of ornaments in assessment of phenotypic quality and thus in sexual selection. -from Author
Two studies, one with 2- to 3-month-olds and one with 6- to 8-month-olds, were conducted to examine infant preferences for attractive faces. A standard visual preference technique was used in which infants were shown pairs of color slides of the faces of adult women previously rated by other adults for attractiveness. The results showed that both the older and younger infants looked longer at attractive faces when the faces were presented in contrasting pairs of attractiveness (attractive/unattractive). When the faces were presented in pairs of similar levels of attractiveness (attractive/attractive vs. unattractive/unattractive) the older but not the younger infants looked longer at attractive faces. The results challenge the commonly held assumption that standards of attractiveness are learned through gradual exposure to the current cultural standard of beauty and are merely "in the eye of the beholder.".
A study of a U.S. national sample of females ages 25 through 40 reveals a moderate association of education, and a weaker association of physical attractiveness, with husbands' occupational prestige. Consistent with earlier findings reported by Elder, the contribution of education to females' status attainment through marriage seems to vary positively with level of origins and the contribution of attractiveness seems to vary inversely, except that the apparent effects for farmers' daughters resemble those for high-origin rather than low-origin females. The contribution of attractiveness seems almost nil for both farmers' daughters and high-origin females and does not seem to vary systematically by age. Among daughters of low-manual workers, education and attractiveness seem to interact, so that each enhances the utility of the other. It is concluded that the exchange involved in mate selection must be very complex and that the major exchange theories of mate selection probably underestimate the influence of highly variable needs, preferences and tastes.
The Limits of Family Influence: Genes, Experience, and Behavior. David C. Rowe. New York: Guilford Press. 1994. 232 pp. ISBN 0-89862-132-1. $30 cloth. In The Limits of Family Influence, David Rowe carefully delineates the basic view of genetic and environmental effects on children's characteristics espoused by behavior geneticists such as Scarr, Plomin, Loehlin, and Willerman. The thesis of this quite readable book is that variations in shared family environment have little influence on individual trait development. The book challenges many long-held assumptions about socialization, arguing that variables such as social class, single parenthood, parental warmth, and divorce have little effect on personality. Perhaps more than any other treatment of the "nature-nurture" war, The Limits of Family Influence attempts to drive home the distinction between experiences that family members share (operating to make them alike) and experiences that are unique to each family member. In doing so, the book also tries to establish the point that it is not the much-maligned heritability estimate that social policy makers should concern themselves with in making decisions about programs for children and families; rather, it is the proportion of variance attributable to shared family environments--not h sup 2 but c sup 2 . Rowe begins his assault on the bulk of social science research by identifying weaknesses in the psychological theories that undergirded many research efforts--namely, Freudianism, early behaviorism, and social learning theory. He then carefully sets out the behavior genetics research paradigm. The chapter, "Separating Nature and Nurture," is probably as lucid a treatment of this paradigm as can be found anywhere. What follows are extensive treatments of the behavior genetics research on personality factors and intelligence. An entire chapter is devoted to showing how differences in children, previously identified as having been caused by environmental variables such as social class, ethnicity, and parental warmth, may reflect underlying genetic differences in those individuals. Although Rowe does an excellent job of explicating the behavior geneticist's position on environmental influences, The Limits of Family Influence has limitations. First, it offers little that is new. Thus, it is not likely to persuade those whose views of environmental action correspond more closely to the views of Gottlieb or Lerner or Sameroff or Wachs, and so forth. Second, the view of environmental action attacked by Rowe is no longer the dominant view of "environmentalists." Most environmentalists now describe environmental action as complex and dynamic, one in which the child is constantly active. …
This study considered the relationship between physical attractiveness and income attainment based on evidence from a national sample of employed Canadians. The findings suggest that attractive respondents earned higher annual salaries than less attractive respondents. Controls on a variety of other variables suggest that this relationship held for men, older respondents, and those engaged in occupations primarily filled by men. Women, younger respondents, and those working in jobs largely performed by women tended not to gain any significant economic return from greater physical attractiveness.
The theory of sexual selection suggests several possible explanations for the development of standards of physical attractiveness in humans. Asymmetry and departures from average proportions may be markers of the breakdown of developmental stability. Supernormal traits may present age- and sex-typical features in exaggerated form. Evidence from social psychology suggests that both average proportions and (in females) "neotenous" facial traits are indeed more attractive. Using facial photographs from three populations (United States, Brazil, Paraguayan Indians), rated by members of the same three populations, plus Russians and Venezuelan Indians, we show that age, average features, and (in females) feminine/neotenous features all play a role in facial attractiveness.
During the last three years, cognitive data have been reported for 4,639 pairings using the family design, 2,540 pairings using the adoption design, and 2,164 pairs of twins. Together, these extensive data point to less heritable influence on IQ than is indicated by the widely cited older data. The difference between the newer and older data could be due to environmental or genetic secular changes in the population or to methodological differences. Contrary to usual assumptions, the newer data also suggest that more of the environmental influences for parents and offspring and for older siblings operate within families (making family members different from one another) than between families (making family members similar to one another).
The first section reviews how much and what kind of assortative mating occurs. It considers the genetic consequences of any departure from random mating, then discusses the effects of consanguinity or inbreeding on the offspring. Suffice it to say here that these effects are generally unfavorable, so that one may say that forgenetic reasons a high similarity between spouses is not favored. The next section discusses the social consequences of marital choice in terms of theories and research related to mate selection and marital adjustment. At this point, we may summarize two opposing views of what makes for a good marriage: (1) psychological similarity and (2) complementariness of needs of husband and wife. We will see that most of the evidence tends to support the first view, so we can say that for social reasons similarity between spouses is favored. Another topic touched on is whether marriage leads to an increase in similarity over time, or, in genetic terms, to a partial convergence of phenotypes, which could lead to an overestimation of the degree of genotypic similarity. Next, the theory is discussed that homogamy for socioeconomic status is responsible for the observed correlations between abilities and between beauty and brains. The final section summarizes some research on factors influencing the personal preferences for personality and physical type which govern the selection of potential mates.
In the heterosexual marketplace, men and women bring their valued attributes to exchange for equally valued attributes of the opposite sex. So say both traditional wisdom and contemporary social exchange theory. Certain attributes are valued about equally by all in the market, while others are valued idiosyncratically by different individuals. Those valued by everyone (e.g., the economic potential of males) confer status, while those having idiosyncratic value for particular individuals (e.g., particular psychological traits) provide psychic satisfaction unrelated to status. This research note focuses on attributes known to have universal exchange value. It examines the exchange of physical attractiveness of women for economic status of men. More specifically, it examines the relationship between women's education and their attractiveness as vehicles for achieving status mobility by marriage, a relationship previously reported in papers by Elder (1969) and by Taylor and Glenn (1976). Both papers have shown that attractiveness is related to the occupational status of the husband. Both concluded that attractiveness was more valuable for the woman of lowstatus origin than for the woman of high-status origin, whereas education was more important than attractiveness for those of high-status origin. Taylor and Glenn sought to identify an interaction between education and attractiveness which suggests that some women use an "education strategy" and some rely on attractiveness rather than education in obtaining a mate of high status. The present study examines data from samples of black and white married women which enable us to address the main points made in the previ
Little is known about the importance of genetic effects on individual differences in cognitive abilities late in life. We present the first report from the Swedish Adoption/Twin Study of Aging (SATSA) for cognitive data, including general cognitive ability and 13 tests of specific cognitive abilities. The adoption/twin design consists of identical twins separated at an early age and reared apart (46 pairs), identical twins reared together (67 pairs), fraternal twins reared apart (100 pairs), and fraternal twins reared together (89 pairs); average age was 65 years. Heritability of general cognitive ability in these twins was much higher (about 80%) than estimates typically found earlier in life (about 50%). Consistent with the literature, heritabilities of specific cognitive abilities were lower than the heritability of general cognitive ability but nonetheless substantial. Average heritabilities for verbal, spatial, perceptual speed, and memory tests were, respectively, 58%, 46%, 58%, and 38%.
Associations between selected family and child rearing factors and intelligence among children aged 4 to 6 years living in urban areas of Taiyuan, China, are described. Intelligence was tested by means of the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence. Family information was acquired through the use of a parent questionnaire. Intelligence was significantly related to parent education, parent occupation, child caretakers and location of education.
Meta-analysis was used to test hypotheses about the relationship between physical attractiveness and intellectual competence. In support of status generalization theory and implicit personality theory, attractive people were perceived as more competent than less attractive people. Attractiveness effects were stronger for males than for females, and stronger when explicit information about competence was absent than when it was present, in keeping with status generalization theory. In partial support of status generalization theory and expectancy theory, attractiveness was related to actual competence in children, but not in adults. Direct measures of competence were influenced strongly more by attractiveness than were indirect measures, as predicted by status generalization theory. Implications for theory, organizational policy, and future research are discussed.
A comparison was made between the sexes as to satisfaction or dissatisfaction with body and facial features. A questionnaire was used along with a rating scale to describe body types presented on slides. The results indicate that males are dissatisfied with body dimensions from the waist up. Females desire changes from the waist down. Females are less satisfied with facial features than males. Other interesting findings are reported.
Symmetry may act as a marker of phenotypic and genetic quality and is preferred during mate selection in a variety of species. Measures of human body symmetry correlate with attractiveness, but studies manipulating human face images report a preference for asymmetry. These results may reflect unnatural feature shapes and changes in skin textures introduced by image processing. When the shape of facial features is varied (with skin textures held constant), increasing symmetry of face shape increases ratings of attractiveness for both male and female faces. These findings imply facial symmetry may have a positive impact on mate selection in humans.
We reported in this journal (Langlois & Roggman, 1990) findings showing that attractive faces are those that represent the mathematical average of faces in a population These findings were intriguing because they provided a parsimonious definition of facial attractiveness and because they supported explanations of attractiveness from the point of view of both evolutionary and cognitive-prototype theory Since our 1990 report, several alternative explanations of our findings have been offered In this article, we show that none of these alternatives explains our results adequately
Scientists and philosophers have searched for centuries for a parsimonious answer to the question of what constitutes beauty. We approached this problem from both an evolutionary and information-processing rationale and predicted that faces representing the average value of the population would be consistently judged as attractive. To evaluate this hypothesis, we digitized samples of male and female faces, mathematically averaged them, and had adults judge the attractiveness of both the individual faces and the computer-generated composite images. Both male (three samples) and female (three samples) composite faces were judged as more attractive than almost all the individual faces comprising the composites. A strong linear trend also revealed that the composite faces became more attractive as more faces were entered. These data showing that attractive faces are only average are consistent with evolutionary pressures that favor characteristics close to the mean of the population and with cognitive processes that favor prototypical category members.
Inspired by the evolutionary conjecture that sexually selected traits function as indicators of pathogen resistance in animals and humans, we examined the notion that human facial attractiveness provides evidence of health. Using photos of 164 males and 169 females in late adolescence and health data on these individuals in adolescence, middle adulthood, and later adulthood, we found that adolescent facial attractiveness was unrelated to adolescent health for either males or females, and was not predictive of health at the later times. We also asked raters to guess the health of each stimulus person from his or her photo. Relatively attractive stimulus persons were mistakenly rated as healthier than their peers. The correlation between perceived health and medically assessed health increased when attractiveness was statistically controlled, which implies that attractiveness suppressed the accurate recognition of health. These findings may have important implications for evolutionary models.
Examined whether physically attractive stimulus persons, both male and female, are (a) assumed to possess more socially desirable personality traits than physically unattractive stimulus persons, and (b) expected to lead better lives (e.g., be more competent husbands and wives and more successful occupationally) than unattractive stimulus persons. Sex of Subject * Sex of Stimulus Person interactions along these dimensions also were investigated. Results with 30 male and 30 female undergraduates indicate a "what is beautiful is good" stereotype along the physical attractiveness dimension with no Sex of Judge * Sex of Stimulus interaction. Implications of such a stereotype on self-concept development and the course of social interaction are discussed.