Halo Effect Of Attractiveness On Altruistic Behaviors

“We all know that appearance matters, but the price of prejudice can be steeper than we often assume” (Washington1.) Published originally in the Washington Post on May 23,2010 by Deborah L. Rhode. Rhode the Professor of law and legal director at Stanford University in her essay “Why Looks Are The Last Bastion Of Discrimination,” argues that an individual's physical appearance is one of the few qualities of their personal identity that other people are legally within their rights to discriminate against. Rhode states her thesis clearly explaining the forthcoming reasons she will offer to uphold her position. Rhode believes that discriminating against individuals based on their appearance is wrong, and is often overlooked in many environments such as the workforce. Many think it is crucial that discrimination on looks is banned in workplaces, schools, and most other organizations.

In people’s perspective, attractiveness possess a wide variety of positive personal qualities compared to unattractive people. Result from the study on physical attractiveness stereotypes show the attractive people had the most positive ratings. For example, they are judged as less disturbed, rated as happier and more successful, and more likely to be hired after a job interview. Thus, the concept of attractiveness having a correlation between an individual’s physical appearance and his/her achievements, abilities, psychological well-being and/or other status characteristics to create a perception is

Stereotypes rob people from seeing them as a whole. There is a constant struggle with stereotyping others before there is a real connections between one another. In Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s “ The Most Handsome Drowned Man In The World” there are many examples of these kinds of stereotypes. In “ The Most Handsome Drowned Man in the World” it talks about the stereotypes made by the woman of the dreary town “ They thought he was the most magnificent man in the village. His wife would be the happiest woman.”(Marquez) They took all of these predictions based on the looks of the man. On e can not based the entire perception of a person entirely on physical appearance. The woman's stereotypes did not cause peace among the village as well. In the text is states “the men exhausted from tortuous inquiries from the past night, all the wanted to do was to be rid of the intruder who before the sun arose.” By the woman gawking over a man they never even knew caused tension to build up within the families of the town.

Judging someone based on how they look on the outside does not represent how they may

While I’m no Beyonce or Jennifer Lopez I’m not completely unfortunate looking and have always gotten attention for my looks both good and bad. That is something in our society that is garnered just as much scrutiny as the stereotype. As a female I’ve been approached by men or been stereotyped as something I’m not based on my figure. I’m sure any person could use their imagination as to what those things could possibly be. Most attractive or at least semi-attractive women have been sexualized or approached based on their looks or physique by a man or even a woman

B efore marriage, love or even dating, there is attraction, the unexpected force that draws two people together. Physical attractiveness is the physical traits which are perceived and believed to be aesthetically pleasing or beautiful. There are multiple factors which influence one person to be attracted to another. These factors can vary between many cultures, cultural and social aspects, and individual subjective preferences (Gangestad & Scyheyd, 2005). An individuals perceived attractiveness can have a significant effect on how they are judged in terms of employment or social opportunities, friendship, sexual behavior, and marriage (Townsend & Levy, 1990).

The first impression people get of each other is the way one looks. If someone has tattoos, is overweight, or just plain unattractive they are deemed as some sort of monster. Our perceptions of others and stereotypes that are used impact everyone’s social identities today. When we stop hiding from the fact that we as a society are based off of appearances, we can come together to change these social misinterpretations. David Kirby and Deborah Rhode introduced us to the topic of discrimination and stereotypes that we face based upon our appearance and physical attributes. They assist by showing us how this discrimination should be changing into something more thoughtful and positive. Social perceptions of one’s appearance leads to stereotypes and discrimination that should be legally changed to help people for the better.

“A personality for the incredibly beautiful can be a pointless cargo...” (Brand 97). Regardless of a beautiful person’s actual ability, they are generally considered to be more able in almost every aspect than less attractive people. According to Benjamin Karney, professor of social psychology and co-director of the Relationship Institute at UCLA, people often treat others differently based on their perceived attractiveness (Soderburg 1). In this case, an ugly person can be defined as one who does not possess the general physical characteristics that most people would associate with beauty. Ugly people get the short-end-of-the-stick when it comes to both their looks and how well they are treated by strangers. Whether it be on purpose or inadvertently, beautiful people are almost always

.Physical attraction stereotype which is feeling that if someone is beautiful that he also has to be smart and nice

Myth: People with high self-esteem are smarter, more likeable, and more physically attractive than people with low self-esteem. Fact: There is strong correlation between self-esteem and being smart, likable, popular, and physically attractive, but this is true only for self-ratings. There is no correlation between self-esteem and others’ rating of how likable, popular, and physically attractive a person is, or with objective measures of intelligence. What’s going on? People with high self-esteem believe all these things about themselves, but they are not true by objective standards. In fact, people high in low in self-esteem are equally likable and equal in physical attractiveness and intelligence. My two-cents: I am skeptical of the true

Altruistic behaviors in their quintessential form are selflessly motivated prosocial actions; they influence virtually all human interactions. In America, altruism is ostensibly embodied in the giving patterns of wealthy philanthropists who have a history of creating endowments and donating assets to higher education and other charitable programs. However, in reality, the lower and middle classes account for most of the charitable giving in America. Furthermore, altruism is identified with prosocial behavior, or actions that benefit society as a whole, in sociological interactions. Individuals who come from lower socioeconomic backgrounds are more altruistic because their increased empathy for human welfare and intrinsic self-transcendent value systems motivate them to give more readily.

A theory that precisely relates to what we are researching is the Implicit Bias theory. The Implicit Bias theory was discovered by Anthony Greenwald and Mahzarin Banaji in 1995. The theory refers to our automatic attitudes that is influenced by how we perceive the world around us. Unconscious opinions and stereotypes that we use to label others are aspects of an implicit bias. For our research to understand the relation between physical appearance and the perception of intelligence, we used four articles to collect information on how one’s appearance can change and impact one’s first impressions of another person. Nosek, Greenwald, and Rivara (2009) discusses how implicit bias is being used within the medical field when it comes to a doctor’s

Recently, UNICEF released a video to promote their campaign for needy children, however it presents a stereotype against the physical appearance rather than the campaign. In the video, a 6-year-old girl who dressed pretty and neatly stood alone on a street and many people asked her whether she was all right. Later, when the same girl had changed her appearance in dirty clothes and stood alone again in the same street, nobody asked her whether she was okay. The attitudes that people showed depended on the child’s physical appearance. I have a similar experience. The experience that I realized how people are offended by others who judge people based on the physical appearances was when I waited the delayed airplane to go to Korea, a manager ignored me since I didn’t dress up neatly, however he changed his attitude politely as soon as he noticed I was a VIP in his company.

In order to consider the reciprocity someone is due people create implicit theories based off of a few key facts. Will this person provide help? Do they deserve my help? Despite the belief that helping is a good deed or the moral thing to do, it is not completely selfless. The resources available influence the motivation to provide help to another. The consideration of what has been done in the past ensures a system of checks and balances. In situations where the likelihood of reciprocal behavior is ambiguous, participants are likely to create and consult implicit theories when making the decision to help. The stronger good characteristics like fairness and kindness are the more likely they are to engage in helping behaviors.

The Halo Effect is the cognitive bias that generalizes that if an individual has one outstanding favorable character trait, the rest of that individual’s trait will be favorable. Specific to physical attractiveness, this is known as the “Attractiveness Halo.” Attractiveness plays an important role in determining social interactions. In fact, the physical attractiveness of an individual is a vital social cue utilized by others to evaluate other aspects of that individual’s abilities (Kenealy, Frude, & Shaw, 2001). Because of the attractiveness halo, attractive applicants trying to enter the workforce tend to