W2: Attraction & Beauty Bias +
Goal: To examine the role bias, stereotypes, and discrimination play in interpersonal relationships.
Description:
These three short readings deal with the concept of beauty bias based on stereotypes and discrimination. Please take a moment to read the brief articles. Do you agree with the articles? Please share your thoughts on each of the articles and the impact (or lack thereof) of beauty bias.
Week 2 Discussion: Attraction and Beauty Bias
This week was very interesting and engaging. The articles that were shared were very realistic and rational. In today’s society, it is often believed that beauty and money can buy anything and everything. In short, today’s generation does not share the wisdom of “Do not judge a book by its cover”.
The three articles that were shared provide the society’s perception of beauty and looks from three different angles. These articles are especially interesting because they also include social experiments thereby focusing on the real-time status of human psychology.
The first article, “The Beauty Bias,” discusses the findings of a study by Ken Podratz of “Rice University,” which found that while beautiful women lost these positions to less attractive women, average-looking and attractive men were more frequently chosen for jobs like switchboard operator or tow-truck driver (Hendricks, 2022). I think it still holds true today since there is a notion that attractive women are more sensitive and should be employed in positions requiring less manual labor and physical exertion. Attractive guys should be in more demanding roles since they exude strength and authority.
A brief summary of a Greek tale is also included in the second article, “Beauty bias: We tend to think pretty people are morally superior”. This incident is used in the article to demonstrate how the idea that beauty is the best attribute has persisted throughout history. Additionally, this article makes reference to research that was just released in the “Journal of Nonverbal Behavior.” This study is particularly intriguing since the authors asked participants to examine pictures of faces and then rate how much the individual exhibited a certain quality, like sympathy or generosity, compared to the typical person (Maccarone, 2003). The study’s findings are highly stunning and unexpected since the participants chose the character characteristics and virtues of the person they chose based on their appearance and attractiveness.
The third piece, titled “The Appalling Responses to a Woman Who Wore a Fat Suit to Meet Her Tinder Dates,” caught my attention the most since it included a sociological experiment using a notion that is highly popular with the younger generation. We are already extremely familiar with the ideas behind dating applications. The majority of people place their dating confidence on Tinder and Bumble. However, there are situations where body shaving or privatization is used to highlight the attractiveness of the other side. The majority of the males declined the ladies who turned out to be further evaluated due to the thin photos given of them in their social media profiles, as stated in the article (Sieczkowski, 2014). The female experiences the same thing. The majority of women also reject letters from men who do not resemble them exactly, or who may appear smaller or heavier than they do in their profile photo. This demonstrates that for these people, beauty is the highest value and the only thing that counts, regardless of their personalities, actions, or general character. According to the essay, the only thing that may cause this rejection and the derogatory remarks is beauty.
References
Hendricks. S., (2022). Beauty bias: We tend to think pretty people are morally superior. Retrieved from https://bigthink.com/thinking/beauty-bias-moral/ (Retrieved on 3rd January, 2023)
Maccarone. D., (2003). The Beauty Bias: Good-looking women may actually have a harder time landing some jobs. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/articles/200301/the-beauty-bias (Retrieved on 3rd January, 2023)
Sieczkowski. C., (2014) The Appalling Responses To A Woman Who Wore A Fat Suit To Meet Her Tinder Dates. Retrieved from https://www.huffpost.com/entry/woman-fat-suit-tinder-date_n_5881330?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9lZGdlLmFwdXMuZWR1Lw&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAJvqz1sesdtWiW-Omnx4md7ruZxKPF5oJkZXgStMfCShjgQBwd8weJH3ohQMHEMAyCbqodksY-vXhvhGpk05epGm0uG7WlzOMXWw1wIo4tD5MRDGDSt-1DJ-0dUOw__6b8YJ_igSkm4fU08_DpRR1zfzKdNfGesCd_rEGH_bBe8U (Retrieved on 3rd January, 2023)
