A new study by four researchers from Brunel University has found that attractive men tend to be more selfish and advance inequality. The evolutionary psychology theory that was tested states that attractive people tend to win more - excel in competitions for social status, which makes inequality work in their favor.
Measurements of 125 male and female participants were obtained by a 3-D body scanner and attractiveness was judged on a 3-D image of the body shape, slenderness, grip (to test strength), waist-to-chest ratio (for men) and waist-to-hip ratio (for women). The participants also filled out questionnaires that measured their ideas of inequality and selfishness.
The subjects were also given real money during the study and told they could decide how much (if any) to share with someone else.
"We found that attractive men tended to be less egalitarian and less generous," explained lead investigator Michael Price. "But that wasn't the case with attractive women."
"Overall, women exhibited higher observed egalitarianism than men," the researchers wrote. "Using specific observed egalitarianism measures, the prediction that women would exhibit higher observed egalitarianism than men was tested three times, because there were three egalitarianism measures (Equity Sensitivity, Dictator Game Offer, and Socialism Preference)."
A second group, the "raters," were brought in to judge the 3-D scans and rate how generous and egalitarian they thought the people scanned would be in real life.
"We found that the 'raters' perceived better-looking men and women as being less altruistic and egalitarian," Price said. "Our results showed that in fact we may be justified in expecting more attractive men to behave in ways that are less favorable to economic and social equality. The results suggest that better-looking men may be biased towards being more selfish and less egalitarian."
Price thinks the bias could be beaten. "The best way to help people overcome a bias is to make them more conscious that they have it ... The correlation between attractiveness and selfishness was nowhere close to being perfect, and many very attractive men will also be very altruistic and egalitarian."
According to Price, studies have shown that wealthier people often care less about kindness and equality, "but our study suggests that attractiveness is at least as important as wealth in influencing these attitudes."
