I’ve just found a disappointing study from the European Journal of Psychology that found that physically attractive people are more likely to be psychologically balanced and accepting than the rest of us.
The study asked 119 participants to complete the Personal Orientation Inventory, a measure of psychological characteristics such as self-acceptance, spontaneity and self-actualisation, while a photo of each was also rated on physical attractiveness by a six person panel.
The study revealed that participants in the high attractiveness group scored significantly higher on 7 of the 12 POI scales in comparison to the participants in the low attractiveness group: Inner-Directed, Self-Actualising Value, Feeling Reactivity, Spontaneity, Self-Regard, Self-Acceptance, and Capacity for Intimate Contact.
The researchers debate why more attractive people might, on average, end up being more psychologically accepting of themselves and others.
They suggest that it could be due to a self-fulfilling prophecy effect. Previous research has shown that good looking people are stereotyped as being more confident, warm, dominant, stable and socially skilled, among other things, and being treated this way could enourage exactly these sorts of behaviours and attitudes.
Personally, I have been trying to cultivate a shallow and empty persona in the hope that it would make me seem more physically attractive but I now realise I should have been saving to enhance my rack as a form of personal development.
Link to study.
12 Comments
Why don’t researchers debate why people who are more psychologically accepting of themselves and others, might, on average, end up being more more attractive?
I think it is because attractive people are freed from the exhausting and time consuming quest to become attractive. It frees them up to think about something other than themselves.
Now if you’ll excuse me I have to go colour my hair, put nail polish on and then pop out to the shops to find something to wear for an interview tomorrow that will disguise my upper arms and look at once professional and…
Nobody’s discouraging you from your ambitions.
Mens sana in corpore sano
Plastic surgery is the next to last measure to adhere to, imho.
Self-acceptance is undoubtedly easier when you’re physically attractive. Moreover, this feeling is reinforced when other people constantly reassure you of your own worth by their attentiveness.
However, I’m not convinced this actually makes attractive people less neurotic. Indeed, it probably makes them more self-centered and apt to value their own opinions more than is warranted.
Yes, but I have observed that great physical beauty can be just as distorting to the personality as its opposite, only in different ways.
Wouldn’t that depend on the person believing themselves to be physically attractive? I used to work in the modeling industry and know plenty who don’t see themselves that way. What about the person who is physically attractive but suffered some emotional trauma? There is plenty of that as well.
Because I believe there are many assumptions and expectations made concerning “attractive” people,
this may be ultimately harmful.
If a person is stereotyped as being more confident, warm, dominant, stable and socially skilled, how can it be assured that those who really are troubled will be taken seriously and receive the help they need?
I agree with Ney’s point above. That might be a more fruitful way of going about things.
“If a person is stereotyped as being more-confident, warm, dominant, stable and socially skilled, how can it be assured that those who really are troubled will be taken seriously and receive the help they need?”
I believe this precisely what’s happening with many individuals with traumatic brain injury “TBI”. These characteristics help them through life, but after injury superficially they appear “normal” and “look good”.
Healthcare professionals label those individuals in a negative light and they struggle for years with multiple brain symptoms solely because they weren’t taken seriously. These individuals are hoping someone is listening, but it doesn’t happen! They are only reporting their symptoms to help themselves and others get better.
By this the individual suffers and so does society because research is not directed to help TBI individuals. They are labeled as “chronic complainers” and worse. They just want to help others and get better themselves.
Is this surprising? Well balanced, emotionally capable people are more likely to treat themselves well, leading to health, leading to attractiveness…
I greatly enjoy this site and the entire idea of Mind Hacks. But I am sorry, I think there is something strange hypocritical about using the phrase: “a disappointing study” about this finding.
If a study had instead found that people with high mathematical skills often get better jobs with higher salaries and greater confidence, would we have called that “disappointing” too?
When scientists find (as it seems they often do) that “beautiful people” have certain traits, there is often a backlash against those results. Why? Of course we should be critical of any findings published. But when the facts are presented to us, applying a “mind over body” judgement seems to imply a certain value system.
Some people hack their minds, others hack their bodies – I dont see why it should surprise or disappoint that hacking bodies adds up to good results in a statistically significant number of cases.
Thanks for citing the research itself. I read it, and as a sociological study, it’s a disappointment. The participant sample and “judges” (modeling recruiters in London) were far too limited for the results to be considered generalizable.
To their credit, the researchers themselves admit the shortcomings of the project. But let’s not spread this stuff about being well-adjusted and attractive as “fact,” since it’s essentially just “fact” for a bunch of London undergrads.
I can see why. Attractive people get the fucking world handed to them no matter how much of a dick or bitch they are, while less attractive people, no matter how nice or sweet they are, will only get table scraps of humanity. This forces less attractive people to have a more realistic view of the world. and the realistic view is everything is guided my natural selection, the spoils of evolution. if your not attractive, you might as well be dead to the world. This tends to cause emotional rape. Why should less attractive people be nice and helpful when all they are going to get is shit in return?
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