14 DAY TRIAL // It’s by now common practice to say that someone landed a job or a job interview on their good looks alone, even if not justified all the time. A new study comes to point out that, should this be the case, good looks also helps when it comes to being appreciated at work, beautiful people earning more than those who are not as physically blessed. If they happen to be intelligent as well, the better for them, WebMD informs.
The study, conducted on data collected from the national Harvard Study of Health and Life Quality, established a very clear connection between good looks and higher salaries, with it being most obvious when intelligence was also a part of the equation. Researchers have determined that being beautiful has plenty of advantages at the workplace, not in the sense that it paves the way to favoritism and double standards, but in that beauty makes people more confident, therefore less financially stressed.
The 191 participants in the study, aged 25-75, were interviewed several times and were asked to answer questions such as financial strain, education and household income, while also being asked to rate their happiness or disappointment with their own personal achievements until that point in time, according to the aforementioned source. Once all this data was compiled together, researchers clearly observed that those participants who were good looking were also better educated, more confident and had higher salaries than those who were average looking. Nevertheless, it’s brains over beauty when it comes to salary, it has also been shown.
“We can be somewhat heartened by the fact that the effects of general intelligence on income were stronger than those of facial attractiveness. It turns out that the brainy are not necessarily at a disadvantage to the beautiful, and if one possesses intelligence and good looks, then all the better.” lead researcher Timothy Judge, PhD, management professor at the University of Florida, says, as quoted by WebMD.
Being considered good looking means a boost of confidence, which means certain limits are crossed when it comes to accomplishing more at the workplace, researchers explain – thus, the bigger salary. “Moreover, the effects of self-concept are particularly noteworthy. Its effects on income are stronger than those of attractiveness and nearly as strong as those of intelligence. The influence of core self-evaluations on both income and financial strain underlines the critical role it can play in both objective and subjective life success.” Judge further explains.