Members in the Media
From: Scientific American

Is Kindness Physically Attractive?

Scientific American:

One of the most robust findings in social psychology is the beauty-is-good stereotype:physically attractive people are perceived and treated more positively than physically unattractive people [1]. But here’s the thing: I have definitely met attractive people who went from hot to not the second they opened their mouths! Vice-versa, some people are so kind and awesome that you can’t help but be attracted to them, regardless of their score on hornotnot.com.

Which has me wonderingI know beautiful is often perceived as good, but isn’t good also beautiful? I mean, I know we are an extremely looks obsessed culture, and research does show that the people we initially perceive as physically attractive tend to follow a very predictable pattern: they are average, symmetrical, and have hormone-dependent features [2]. But don’t things like character and goodness also factor into our perceptions of physical attractiveness?

Read the whole story: Scientific American

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