Belief Listing Project: Attractiveness

August 24th, 2011
attractiveness, current_beliefs
More attractive people are perceived as smarter and nicer. They are paid ~13% more, voted for ~2x often, and ~2x less likely to go to jail [1]. This is a cognitive bias called the "halo effect", where a positive view of someone in one dimension (they're hot!) leads unconsiously to positive views in other dimensions (they're nice!).

We need to get ourselves to stop doing this. If we notice that we find someone attractive we should note that we're probably overestimating their other good qualities. Other things appearing to you to be equal, the less attractive job candidate is probably better.

[1] These statistics are from robert cialdini's "influence: science and practice" (which I read a while ago) via a big blockquote on less wrong.

Referenced in: Who Counts?

Comment via: google plus, facebook

Recent posts on blogs I like:

Solution-Focused Brief Therapy

Look! A therapy technique people don't already know!

via Thing of Things May 14, 2025

Workshop House case study

Lauren Hoffman interviewed me about Workshop House and wrote this post about a community I’m working on building in DC.

via Home April 30, 2025

Impact, agency, and taste

understand + work backwards from the root goal • don’t rely too much on permission or encouragement • make success inevitable • find your angle • think real hard • reflect on your thinking

via benkuhn.net April 19, 2025

more     (via openring)