Skip to main content
Home » content

Who knew? Good looking people get better jobs

A new study published in Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences finds that the attractiveness of interviewees can significantly bias outcome in hiring practices, showing a clear distinction between the attractive and average looking interviewees in terms of high and low status job packages offered.

“When someone is viewed as attractive, they are often assumed to have a number of positive social traits and greater intelligence,” say Carl Senior and Michael J.R. Butler, authors of the study. “This is known as the ‘halo effect’ and it has previously been shown to affect the outcome of job interviews.” The study explored the influence of the halo effect in a mock job negotiation scenario where male and female interviewers were shown pictures of attractive or average looking male and female job applicants.

Female interviewers were found to allocate attractive looking male interviewees more high status job packages than the average looking men. Female interviewers also gave more high status job packages to attractive men than to attractive women. Average looking men also received more low status job packages than average looking women. Male interviewers did not differ in the number of high or low status job packages that were given to attractive looking interviewees of either sex, though the male interviewers gave out more low status job packages overall, irrespective of the sex of the interviewee.

However, the male interviewers were not entirely without bias. The electrodermal response (EDR), a psycho-physiological response measured when emotions are used to make a preferential decision, of the interviewers was measured. When emotions are used to make a preferential decision, it is thought that the anticipatory EDR level increases. There was a highly significant increase in the anticipatory EDR when the male interviewers assigned the low status job packages to the attractive female candidates. The fact that this difference only occurred when assigning low status job packages ensures that the effect could not have been driven by interpersonal attraction, but rather by emotion. Female interviewers did not exhibit any significant EDR differences, suggesting their bias occurs on a cognitive level.

This study is the first application of EDR to examine the influential role of beauty, status and sex during job negotiations. “From a business point-of-view, there is a need for leaders/managers to be aware of their assumptions in decision-making processes, be they strategic or operational, and that they may be prone to emotion and bias,” say the authors.

From http://www.blackwellpublishing.com


December 6, 2007

Comments

looks are subjective

November 11, 2009 by Anonymous, 2 weeks 20 hours ago
Comment: 46125

looks are subjective

not true

October 18, 2009 by Anonymous, 5 weeks 4 days ago
Comment: 45557

being fat do not make you ugly.....

and some people don't get jobs cause others are jealous of them! or think you might take their job, this article is based on ignorance! my dad owns a shop, we've had the the most prettiest girls the the world looking for jobs but the where turned down straight away! and some people use A LOTTTTTTTTTT of make up to hide what they really actually look like, but this doesn't make them ugly!.

i apply online for job I've never been accepted, and stores but seriously i have bad maths gcse grades!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and you need maths! .. lol as for the Skinny part???!!!!! lolllllllllll i'm skinny, and slightly tall and i still can't get a job! being tall and skinny don't make you beautiful! only get looked at a lot when i were skirts! which i hate

oh yeah I am Ugly n I feel Ugly

good looking hard to predict

October 4, 2009 by Anonymous, 7 weeks 4 days ago
Comment: 45222

Well...these days what is good-looking is becoming more subjective, as globalization is under way. Who are the so called 'finest races'? With all the race mixing taking place, a simple stereotype won't do.

A better question for this

September 17, 2009 by Anonymous, 10 weeks 6 hours ago
Comment: 44819

A better question for this article would be, Who didn't know?

LOL. it seems true

July 3, 2009 by Anonymous, 20 weeks 6 days ago
Comment: 37693

I remember when i got my first job at fast food , when i got my first check i saw i was making more then everybody else at my level.

Most of the guys were paid 7.00 an hour, however i was paid 9.50 an hour. lol.

Brains stop being so blind

June 2, 2009 by Anonymous, 25 weeks 2 days ago
Comment: 36985

I'm a goodlooking guy also...

Athletic body and share ALOT of similarity with a young Mark Wahlberg...

I'm unemployed... sure I have zero certificates and qualifications... but

"Certification doesn't make you smarter than me."

...

Whilst the more attractive of us are getting biased treatment based on our looks...

We STILL have to actually get off our ass and GO LOOK for a job, APPLY for a job, look into the company history, sort out a speech, prepare the CV... yadda yadda...

We STILL have to do all the things the lesser attractive people have to do when looking and applying for a job...

Sure I can see why less attractive people are pissed when breasts are picked over brains... I'll say this though... how long you think that job will last for them? How long you think their looks will last them?

Women... upto around 30... downhill from there generally...
Men, ok Men get better looking with age if we look after ourselves...

My point being... Beauty over Brains...

Are you planning a career for the long term or short term?

Short term gain, long term pain
short term pain, long term gain...

Not rocket science... besides.,..would you really want to work in a corporation/business like that?

I know I wouldnt and I AM sexy!

I'm also intelligent... it actually sucks... I can see how much majority of Women and even Gays act like animals with their primal urges on the average intelligence levels!

Anyways fellow Brains, Beauties hurt more than anything we'll ever feel... "I don't understand" is probs the most self-depreciating thing you could ever say on a REGULAR basis!

P.S In the case of not being heavily dominated by brains or beauty and both are heavily in abundance in a person... and your losing a job to THEM... wake up... this is the World we're living it... learn some physchology and persuasion techniques already and stop moaning!

///////////SPOILER ALERT//////////////

It's ALL about confidence!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

K Thnx Bye.

A job board for attractive people!

April 19, 2009 by Anonymous, 31 weeks 4 days ago
Comment: 36257

Check it out! www.coolres.com. Normal jobs, but you upload your resume AND PHOTO. Finally, someone "gets" it. Hiring IS based (partially) on looks, so you SHOULD be able to leverage your looks (just like your intelligence, experience, skills, etc. etc.).

I read somewhere that a huge percentage of a hiring decision is based on first impressions (visual). So if you've got it, you'd be nuts not to flaunt it.

- Melissa

Been There...Heard that!

March 22, 2009 by Anonymous, 35 weeks 4 days ago
Comment: 35507

This is unfortunately, a very sad reality. No matter how good of a person or humble of a person the homely looking person tries to be, the good looking person always wins. The eye is glued to the attractive and these people are in a sense looked at as eye candy and are the first to be able to choose mates and reproduce. This is really terrible terrible reality of life. However, it is the personality in the end that counts. Wow... life.....

Good looking people get better jobs...

March 13, 2009 by Anonymous, 36 weeks 6 days ago
Comment: 35328

Well i'm a good looking male and have to ask, where are the better jobs..? And I say this with all honesty, I must be looking In the wrong bloody places.!

All right, Person above

November 9, 2008 by Anonymous, 1 year 2 weeks ago
Comment: 32780

All right,

Person above me,

You're psycho.

lol glad im good lookin

November 3, 2008 by Anonymous, 1 year 3 weeks ago
Comment: 32681

lol glad im good lookin

this is ridiculous

September 25, 2008 by Anonymous, 1 year 8 weeks ago
Comment: 32139

this is ridiculous

Yeah, who knew ;-)

December 13, 2007 by Anonymous, 1 year 49 weeks ago
Comment: 26433

I just hope the women of the Halo Race remember to take time off their successful careers to bless the rest of the population with more Halo babies.

Good looking people get better jobs

December 9, 2007 by Anonymous, 1 year 50 weeks ago
Comment: 26378

As it should be.

Genetically sound people are beautiful.

The finest races display beauty in greeater proportion than other groups.

Good breeding means selecting the most beautiful people to mate with.

Post new comment



About us

Science Blog was started in August 2002. It lives, breathes and eats press releases from research organizations around the globe. Most of what you read here are press releases from the outfits named in the stories themselves. Got a news story you think belongs here? Let's talk. The other half of the equation is blog posts from readers like you. So if you have an interest in science, please register and join others like you in an ongoing, vibrant dialog about what makes the world tick. Meantime, please take a minute to read our Privacy Policy and Site Disclaimer.




Premium Drupal Themes by Adaptivethemes