Social science research shows that a person’s physical appearance has a meaningful impact on their life experiences and opportunities, but the story is more complicated than people might expect.
For the most part, attractive people enjoy a lot of perks. For example, a psychological concept called “the halo effect” that has strong ties to beauty; upon a first impression, highly attractive people are presumed by others to have a variety of positive personality traits, such as altruism, stability, and intelligence, compared to less attractive people, as though an invisible “halo” were shining down upon the beautiful. This helps to explain rampant appearance discrimination in the workplace, dating market, and even in our court system. In his book Beauty Pays, economist David Hamermesh shows that attractive people are more likely to be employed, are paid higher wages, are more likely to be approved for a loan, negotiate loans with better terms, and have better looking and higher-status spouses. Attractive criminals even receive lighter sentences for their crimes (and occasionally their mugshots go viral and they end up with fan-clubs and modeling contracts .
The research we described above paints a picture in which beauty predicts having a good life, but the story is more complicated that. In fact, I strongly caution anyone from investing too heavily in their own appearance. There are two reasons I say this. The first is a critique of the research and its implications, and the second is a more holistic way of understanding “success.”
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