this is (not) psychology

Do beautiful people have more desirable traits?

Is the “beautiful is good” stereotype accurate? Do beautiful people indeed have desirable traits?

For centuries, those who considered themselves serious scientists thought so when they sought to identify physical traits (shifty eyes, a weak chin) that would predict criminal behavior.

Or, on the other hand, was Leo Tolstoy correct when he wrote that it’s “a strange illusion … to suppose that beauty is goodness”?

There is some truth to the stereotype. Attractive children and young adults are somewhat more relaxed, outgoing, and socially polished (Feingold, 1992b; Langlois & others, 2000). William Goldman and Philip Lewis (1977) demonstrated this by having 60 University of Georgia men call and talk for five minutes with each of three women students. Afterward the men and women rated the most attractive of their unseen telephone partners as somewhat more socially skillful and likable.

Physically attractive individuals tend also to be more popular, more outgoing, and more gender typed—more traditionally masculine if male, more feminine if female (Langlois & others, 1996).

These small average differences between attractive and unattractive people probably result from self-fulfilling prophecies. Attractive people are valued and favored, so many develop more social self-confidence.

By that analysis, what’s crucial to your social skill is not how you look but how people treat you and how you feel about yourself.

from: Social Psychology - David G. Myers