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<\/a>www.playbuzz.com<\/p><\/div>\n
Have you ever noticed how in Disney movies, the good guys are always attractive and the villains are\u2026 well, not? It seems like Disney tends to make the characters we like attractive, and the characters we dislike unattractive (or maybe it is the fact that they are attractive or unattractive that causes us to like or dislike them, but I\u2019ll get to that in a minute). Take a look at Ursula from The Little Mermaid<\/em>, Shan Yu from Mulan, <\/em>or even Scar from The Lion King<\/em>. What adjectives come to mind when you see these characters? Do you think of them as evil, immoral, or downright terrifying? It takes little effort to be repulsed by these characters, and perhaps it is their\u2014 shall we say unsightly? \u2014 physical appearance that prompts us to make quick judgements about them. Think of Frozen<\/em>, for instance, which serves as an exception to the rule that the villain is always unattractive. Did any of you predict that Prince Hans was the villain? I definitely didn\u2019t see it coming. Why was Anna\u2014and why were we, the viewers\u2014so trusting of Prince Hans? The answer may lie in the Halo Effect.<\/p>\n The Halo Effect is the idea that what is beautiful is good. In other words, if we find someone physically attractive, we make other positive judgements on their character, unconsciously perceiving them as intelligent, trustworthy, kind, responsible, and successful. We find interactions with attractive people more rewarding and we hold attractive people in a higher regard. Similarly, if we find someone to be physically unattractive, we unconsciously perceive them as less intelligent, less trustworthy, less kind, and the list goes on. This alternative is known as the Horn Effect.<\/p>\n Why is this important? The Halo Effect can have a lasting impact on success. For example, when attractive and unattractive schoolchildren exhibited the same bad behavior, the more beautiful children\u2019s bad behavior was perceived by teachers as less severe than the identical behavior displayed by the less attractive children (Dion, 1972). This illustrates that we have a tendency to find attractive people less wrongdoing than unattractive people, even when behavior is held constant. This is particularly interesting because it has lasting implications: if more attractive children are favored by teachers, this can lead to more opportunities for learning and growth for attractive children. Dion\u2019s study can be found here<\/a> if you are interested in reading more.\u00a0<\/strong>In addition, the Halo Effect acts similarly on the opposite end of the spectrum: attractive elders are perceived as being better-behaved and more cooperative than their less attractive cohorts, leading doctors in nursing homes to devote\u00a0more attention to the attractive patients and potentially improving the quality of life of the attractive elders more than the less attractive ones (Katz, 1995). It\u2019s fascinating that none of us escape the Halo Effect, young and old alike!<\/p>\n In addition, more attractive people are expected to have greater success in life, which is not an inconceivable idea considering Dion\u2019s study on the significance of physical appearance in schoolchildren. When presented with photos of attractive, average, and less attractive people, participants were asked to make judgements on their personalities as well as to rate the likelihood that they would have certain life experiences that suggest personal success, such as getting married, having a prestigious job, or being a good parent (Dion, Berscheid, Walster, 1972). Overall, the participants predicted that the attractive people had more favorable personalities (meaning that they rated them higher on traits including friendliness, altruism, sincerity, warmth, and trustworthiness) and that they would enjoy greater life success and be happier in general. Interestingly, the one area in which attractive people scored lower than average people was in the category of parental competence. Apart from this exception, it is evident that attractive people are perceived as more likely to be successful in life. In fact, attractive people might not just be perceived as being more successful, but they might actually be more successful, as attractive people can earn up to three to four percent more than their less attractive colleagues at work (Hamermesh, 2013). Again, what is beautiful is good (Dion, Berscheid, Walster, 1972). If you are interested in reading more about this study, which provides a great foundation on the Halo Effect, you can do so here<\/a>.<\/p>\n www.sciencedirect.com<\/p><\/div>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Why do we find certain faces more attractive in the first place? Originally, it was suggested that we find symmetrical faces more attractive because they are easier for us to recognize. This would follow the idea that we process faces both analytically and holistically, meaning that we look both at individual facial features as well the overall configuration of the face when we process facial stimuli. Perhaps a symmetrical face would allow for easier holistic processing, or processing of the whole face, leading us to find symmetrical faces more attractive. However, this idea was disproven and has been replaced with the idea that symmetrical faces are perceived as more attractive because they are indicative of good genes and good health, not because they are easier for facial recognition (Jones et al., 2001). When photos of normal (asymmetrical) faces were digitally edited to be more symmetrical, the symmetrical faces were deemed more healthy-looking and therefore more attractive than the asymmetrical faces. I recommend reading more about this fascinating study here<\/a>.<\/p>\n The reason that we believe in the benevolence of attractive people may lie in cognitive categorization. In the prototype model, which is one theory that attempts to explain how we categorize information, it is suggested that we have an abstract mental representation of a category, meaning that when we think of a category, we think about all of the typical characteristics that a member of that category contains, and more frequently occurring characteristics are given more weight. This essentially provides us with a mental shortcut that is based on our experience in the world. Perhaps, then, when we think of our prototype of successful people, one heavily-weighted characteristic that many successful people have is attractiveness\u2014think of singers, politicians, and actors, for instance. Indeed, being well-dressed and being well-groomed were found to be more prototypical characteristics of leaders than of non-leaders (Lord, Foti, de Vader, 1984). (You can read more about this study here<\/a>.)\u00a0So, when we see someone attractive and unconsciously perceive them as intelligent, successful, or trustworthy, it might be because attractiveness is a prototypical characteristic of intelligent, successful, and trustworthy people because that is what we have been\u00a0exposed to in our world.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/a>