Are attractive people viewed as more kind? Study finds interesting connection between beauty and benevolence

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Don’t judge a book by its cover’ is a common adage that underlines the importance of avoiding harsh first impressions based solely on appearance. More often than not, knowing or unknowingly, appearance comes to the forefront when it comes to the quick evaluation of personality, attributing beautiful physical features to positive human qualities. A study published in the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization suggested that attractive people are often perceived to be more prosocial.

They are deemed more helpful, selfless, kind, and caring, according to the study's results. This perspective is twofold, as someone with prosocial qualities is also automatically considered attractive.

Bias towards beautiful people

Since beauty is considered 'good,' all positive behavioural traits that are 'good' tend to be aligned.

There’s an inherent cognitive bias toward beautiful people. Judgment formation is incredibly rapid and happens within seconds, all based on the person’s physical appearance. Researchers labelled this bias as ‘beauty premium,’ which denotes a bias in the favourable treatment of beautiful people. They are believed to be trustworthy, confident, and have great social skills.

Beauty’s connection with altruism

Beautiful people are more likely to be perceived as helpful and kind.

The study aimed to understand the connection between pro-social behaviour and physical attractiveness. The researchers conducted an interesting examination to further understand this connection.

The study included 249 participants who saw avatars of people who had played the "Dictator Game," where the players decided how much money to give to others. Participants were required to guess how generous each avatar was and then rate their attractiveness. The results revealed that attractive avatars were expected to have given more money, as well as generous avatars who donated money, were also rated and viewed as attractive.

It narrows down on the bi-directional relationship between the positive trait and features. The study also hints through the experiments that when someone engages in pro-social behaviour, they are perceived to be attractive. It's like two sides of a coin. One evaluation is based on superficial, skin-depth beauty, viewing beautiful people as kind, while on the other hand draws beauty by understanding the values of generosity and kindness. So all hope is not lost when it comes to pretty privilege.

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