The benefits of attractiveness.
In a groundbreaking study, researchers from the University of Mannheim and Zurich have analyzed language models in 68 languages, aiming to understand the intersection of beauty and success across different cultures. The findings suggest that the "beauty premium" - advantages for attractive people in careers, partner selection, and social environments - exists worldwide, but its strength and association with positive traits vary significantly across nations.
The study, led by behavioral economist Wladislaw Mill, reveals that cultural differences in beauty standards, social values, and economic contexts lead to distinct "beauty premiums" in various societies. For instance, in Western European countries like France, Italy, and Finland, beauty is most frequently associated with positive traits such as competence, intelligence, or trustworthiness. However, in contrast, beauty is less often linked to such "status-oriented" traits in countries like Romania and some Asian nations, such as Vietnam.
The research team, which includes Mill's colleague, Benjamin Kohler, has developed a cross-country index to reveal how terms like "beautiful" and "pretty" are linked to qualities like "successful." Their method allows for the automatic and comparative capture of cultural patterns in the perception of beauty for the first time.
The implications for the economy, society, and equality are significant. The distribution of societal opportunities, such as in job interviews and salary negotiations, may be affected if attractiveness is linked to vastly different social signals in different cultures. Culturally shaped beauty norms could be an underestimated factor in societal power structures.
The study also delves into psychological and evolutionary aspects, highlighting that while universal traits like visual attractiveness may influence success, cultural variations modify which traits are valued and how much they contribute to success. Early social comparisons to beauty standards influence self-perception differently across cultures, impacting body image and success outcomes.
Wladislaw Mill explains the key finding of their research: "Beauty is almost always associated with something positive rather than negative, but not always. In some cultures, beauty may be seen as a sign of health, giving more attractive people better survival and reproduction prospects. However, in others, people seem to hold negative views of beauty, associating it with incompetence, mistrust, and failure."
For further information, Christoph Müller from the University of Mannheim can be reached at 0711 66601-182 or via email at c.mueller@our website. Understanding the complex variability in the beauty-success relationship across nations requires recognizing how cultural awareness shapes beauty’s social and economic implications.
- The study of Mill and Kohler reveals that the link between beauty and positive traits, such as success, varies significantly among municipalities, with Western European countries like France, Italy, and Finland associating beauty with competence, intelligence, or trustworthiness, but Asian countries like Vietnam having a less strong connection between beauty and status-oriented traits.
- The cross-country index developed by the research team allows for the comparison of how words like "beautiful" and "pretty" are linked to qualities like "successful" across different municipalities, providing insights into the cultural patterns that shape beauty standards and their societal implications, including education-and-self-development.
