Thursday 2 January 2014

The Halo Effect - looks truly can help you to succeed!

The "Halo" effect is a distortion of thinking that leads us to judge a person's particular characteristics based on our overall impression of that person.  For example, people rated as attractive are also more likely to be perceived as trustworthy and friendly. 
The role of attractiveness in our judgement of other characteristics such as warmth, trustworthiness and intelligence has been greatly researched....here are a few examples!!


How smart is Miranda!?


Attractive Students get Higher Grades!!
A study by Gordon, Crosnoe and Wang (2014) looked followed a sample of 9000 American students from high school through to their 30s and showed that students who were rated as above average in attractiveness received better grades by teachers and were more likely to go on to university studies.

Jurors may be Biased by Physical Attractiveness!!
A study by Efran (1974) showed that participants in a simulated jury task were more lenient in sentencing attractive individuals than unattractive ones even when the same crime was committed. This has been attributed to people with a high level of attractiveness being seen as more likely to have brighter futures in society thanks to socially desirable traits they are believed to possess.

Good Looking People Earn Higher Salaries....but hold on, intelligence also helps! *Phew*
A study by Judge (2009)  interviewed 191 men and women between the ages of 25 and 75.  Each participant was interviewed three times, six months apart, commencing in 1995.  
The participants were asked to answer questions about their income, education and job and achievement satisfaction.  They then completed several intelligence tests and had photographs taken to assess their physical attractiveness.  
Findings of the study showed that physical attractiveness had a significant impact on how much people got paid, as well as their education level and how they evaluated themselves....good news is though...a person's intelligence affected their income more so than looks!!!

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