Skip to main content
Fachgebiete
Automobil + Motoren Bauwesen + Immobilien Business IT + Informatik Elektrotechnik + Elektronik Energie + Nachhaltigkeit Finance + Banking Management + Führung Marketing + Vertrieb Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe Versicherung + Risiko
DE
EN
Bücher
Zeitschriften
Themenseiten
Organisationspsychologie Projektmanagement Marketing Smart Manufacturing
Weitere Formate
Podcasts Webinare Technik Webinare Wirtschaft Kongresse Veranstaltungskalender Awards
Jetzt Einzelzugang starten
Zugang für Unternehmen
Referenzkunden
SLX-Digitalkonferenz: Zukunftswerkstatt 2024

Mehr Umsatz mit Top-Kontakten

Am 7. Mai erfahren Sie, wie Vertriebsteams Leadgenerierung, Leadnurturing und Leadstrategien effizient steuern können.
Erweiterte Suche
Anmelden
nach oben
Journal of Business and Psychology
Erschienen in: Journal of Business and Psychology 2/2018

16.02.2017 | Original Paper

Is There Really a Beauty Premium or an Ugliness Penalty on Earnings?

verfasst von: Satoshi Kanazawa, Mary C. Still

Erschienen in: Journal of Business and Psychology | Ausgabe 2/2018

Einloggen

Aktivieren Sie unsere intelligente Suche, um passende Fachinhalte oder Patente zu finden.

search-config
loading …

Abstract

Purpose

Economists have widely documented the “beauty premium” and “ugliness penalty” on earnings. Explanations based on employer and client discrimination would predict a monotonic association between physical attractiveness and earnings; explanations based on occupational self-selection would explain the beauty premium as a function of workers’ occupations; and explanations based on individual differences would predict that the beauty premium would disappear once appropriate individual differences are controlled. In this paper, we empirically tested the three competing hypotheses about the “beauty premium”.

Design/Methodology/Approach

We analyzed a nationally representative and prospectively longitudinal sample from the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health (Add Health).

Findings

The results contradicted the discrimination and self-selection explanations and strongly supported the individual differences explanation. Very unattractive respondents always earned significantly more than unattractive respondents, sometimes more than average-looking or attractive respondents. Multiple regression analyses showed that there was very weak evidence for the beauty premium, and it disappeared completely once individual differences, such as health, intelligence, and Big Five personality factors, were statistically controlled.

Implications

Past findings of beauty premium and ugliness penalty may possibly be due to the fact that: 1) “very unattractive” and “unattractive” categories are usually collapsed into “below average” category; and 2) health, intelligence (as opposed to education) and Big Five personality factors are not controlled. It appears that more beautiful workers earn more, not because they are beautiful, but because they are healthier, more intelligent, and have better (more Conscientious and Extraverted, and less Neurotic) personality.

Originality/Value

This is the first study to show that: 1) very unattractive workers have extremely high earnings and earn more than physically more attractive workers, suggesting evidence for the potential ugliness premium; and 2) the apparent beauty premium and ugliness penalty may be a function of unmeasured traits correlated with physical attractiveness, such as health, intelligence, and personality.
Vorheriger Artikel Differences in the Valuing of Power Among Team Members: a Contingency Approach Toward Examining the Effects of Power Values Diversity and Relationship Conflict
Nächster Artikel Incivility in Meetings: Predictors and Outcomes

Sie haben noch keine Lizenz? Dann Informieren Sie sich jetzt über unsere Produkte:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

  • über 102.000 Bücher
  • über 537 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

  • Automobil + Motoren
  • Bauwesen + Immobilien
  • Business IT + Informatik
  • Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
  • Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
  • Finance + Banking
  • Management + Führung
  • Marketing + Vertrieb
  • Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe
  • Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

Jetzt informieren

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

  • über 67.000 Bücher
  • über 340 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

  • Bauwesen + Immobilien
  • Business IT + Informatik
  • Finance + Banking
  • Management + Führung
  • Marketing + Vertrieb
  • Versicherung + Risiko




Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

Jetzt informieren
Literatur
Ackerman, P. L., & Heggestad, E. D. (1997). Intelligence, personality, and interests: evidence for overlapping traits. Psychological Bulletin, 121, 219–245.CrossRefPubMed
Al-Eisa, E., Egan, D., & Wassersub, R. (2004). Fluctuating asymmetry and low back pain. Evolution and Human Behavior, 25, 31–37.CrossRef
Bailit, H. L., Workman, P. L., Niswander, J. D., & Maclean, J. C. (1970). Dental asymmetry as an indicator of genetic and environmental conditions in human populations. Human Biology, 42, 626–638.PubMed
Batty, G. D., Deary, I. J., & Gottfredson, L. S. (2007). Premorbid (early life) IQ and later mortality risk: systematic review. Annals of Epidemiology, 17, 278–288.CrossRefPubMed
Bernstein, I. H., Lin, T.-D., & McClellan, P. (1982). Cross- vs. within-racial judgments of attractiveness. Perception and Psychophysics, 32, 495–503.CrossRefPubMed
Biddle, J. E., & Hamermesh, D. S. (1998). Beauty, productivity, and discrimination: lawyers’ looks and lucre. Journal of Labor Economics, 16, 172–201.CrossRef
Chamorro-Premuzic, T., & Furnham, A. (2006). Intellectual competence and the intelligent personality: a third way in differential psychology. Review of General Psychology, 10, 251–267.CrossRef
Cross, J. F., & Cross, J. (1971). Age, sex, race, and the perception of facial beauty. Developmental Psychology, 5, 433–439.CrossRef
Cunningham, M. R., Roberts, A. R., Barbee, A. P., Druen, P. B., & Wu, C.-H. (1995). “Their ideas of beauty are, on the whole, the same as ours”: consistency and variability in the cross-cultural perception of female physical attractiveness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68, 261–279.CrossRef
Deryugina, T., & Shurchkov, O. (2015). Does beauty matter in undergraduate education? Economic Inquiry, 53, 940–961.CrossRef
Donnellan, M. B., Oswald, F. L., Baird, B. M., & Lucas, R. E. (2006). The mini-IPIP scales: tiny-yet-effective measures of the Big Five factors of personality. Psychological Assessment, 18, 192–203.CrossRefPubMed
Fletcher, J. M. (2009). Beauty vs. brains: early labor market outcomes of high school graduates. Economics Letters, 105, 321–325.CrossRef
Frieze, I. H., Olson, J. E., & Russell, J. (1991). Attractiveness and income for men and women in management. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 21, 1039–1057.CrossRef
Gangestad, S. W., Thornhill, R., & Yeo, R. A. (1994). Facial attractiveness, developmental stability, and fluctuating asymmetry. Ethology and Sociobiology, 15, 73–85.CrossRef
Gao, W., & Smyth, R. (2010). Health human capital, height and wages in China. Journal of Development Studies, 46, 466–484.CrossRef
Gottfredson, L. S., & Deary, I. J. (2004). Intelligence predicts health and longevity, but why? Current Directions in Psychological Science, 13, 1–4.CrossRef
Grammer, K., & Thornhill, R. (1994). Human (Homo sapiens) facial attractiveness and sexual selection: the role of symmetry and averageness. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 108, 233–242.CrossRefPubMed
Hamermesh, D. S. (2011). Beauty pays: why attractive people are more successful. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Hamermesh, D. S., & Biddle, J. E. (1994). Beauty and labor market. American Economic Review, 84, 1174–1194.
Harper, B. (2000). Beauty, stature and the labour market: a British cohort study. Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 62, 771–800.CrossRef
Henderson, J. J. A., & Anglin, J. M. (2003). Facial attractiveness predicts longevity. Evolution and Human Behavior, 24, 351–356.CrossRef
Hönekopp, J., Bartholomé, T., & Jansen, G. (2004). Facial attractiveness, symmetry, and physical fitness in young women. Human Nature, 15, 147–167.CrossRefPubMed
Hosoda, M., Stone-Romero, E. F., & Coats, G. (2003). The effects of physical attractiveness on job-related outcomes: a meta-analysis of experimental studies. Personnel Psychology, 56, 431–462.CrossRef
James, L. R., Demaree, R. G., & Wolf, G. (1984). Estimating within-group interrater reliability with and without response bias. Journal of Applied Psychology, 69, 85–98.CrossRef
Jensen, A. R., & Sinha, S. N. (1993). Physical correlates of human intelligence. In P. A. Vernon (Ed.), Biological approaches to the study of human intelligence (pp. 139–242). Norwood: Ablex.
Jeronimus, B. F., Ormel, J., Aleman, A., Penninx, B. W. J. H., & Riese, H. (2013). Negative and positive life events are associated with small but lasting change in neuroticism. Psychological Medicine, 43, 2403–2415.CrossRefPubMed
Jeronimus, B. F., Riese, H., Sanderman, R., & Ormel, J. (2014). Mutual reinforcement between neuroticism and life experiences: a five-wave, 16-year study to test reciprocal causation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 107, 751–764.CrossRefPubMed
Jones, D. (1996). Physical attractiveness and the theory of sexual selection. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology.
Jones, D., & Hill, K. (1993). Criteria of physical attractiveness in five populations. Human Nature, 4, 271–296.CrossRefPubMed
Judge, T. A., Hurst, C., & Simon, L. S. (2009). Does it pay to be smart, attractive, or confident (or all three)? Relationships among general mental ability, physical attractiveness, core self-evaluations, and income. Journal of Applied Psychology, 94, 742–755.CrossRefPubMed
Kanazawa, S. (2010). Evolutionary psychology and intelligence research. American Psychologist, 65, 279–289.CrossRefPubMed
Kanazawa, S. (2011a). Intelligence and physical attractiveness. Intelligence, 39, 7–14.CrossRef
Kanazawa, S. (2011b). Evolutionary psychology and individual differences. In T. Chamorro-Premuzic, S. von Stumm, & A. Furnham (Eds.), The handbook of individual differences (pp. 353–376). Oxford: Blackwell-Wiley.
Kanazawa, S., & Kovar, J. L. (2004). Why beautiful people are more intelligent. Intelligence, 32, 227–243.CrossRef
Kanazawa, S., & Reyniers, D. J. (2009). The role of height in the sex difference in intelligence. American Journal of Psychology, 122, 527–536.PubMed
Langlois, J. H., Kalakanis, L., Rubenstein, A. J., Larson, A., Hallam, M., & Smoot, M. (2000). Maxims or myths of beauty?: a meta-analytic and theoretical review. Psychological Bulletin, 126, 390–423.CrossRefPubMed
LeBreton, J. M., & Senter, J. L. (2008). Answers to 20 questions about interrater reliability and interrater agreement. Organizational Research Methods, 11, 815–852.CrossRef
Lewis, D. M. G. (2015). Evolved individual differences: advancing a condition-dependent model of personality. Personality and Individual Differences, 84, 63–72.CrossRef
Lukaszewski, A. W., & Roney, J. R. (2011). The origins of extraversion: joint effects of facultative calibration and genetic polymorphism. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 37, 409–421.CrossRefPubMed
Maret, S. M., & Harling, C. A. (1985). Cross-cultural perceptions of physical attractiveness: ratings of photographs of whites by Cruzans and Americans. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 60, 163–166.CrossRef
Mobius, M. M., & Rosenblat, T. S. (2006). Why beauty matters. American Economic Review, 96, 222–235.CrossRef
Morse, S. J., & Gruzen, J. (1976). The eye of the beholder: a neglected variable in the study of physical attractiveness? Journal of Personality, 44, 209–225.CrossRef
Moutafi, J., Furnham, A., & Paltiel, L. (2004). Why is conscientiousness negatively associated with intelligence? Personality and Individual Differences, 37, 1013–1022.CrossRef
Parsons, P. A. (1990). Fluctuating asymmetry: an epigenetic measure of stress. Biological Review, 65, 131–145.CrossRef
Parsons, P. A. (1992). Fluctuating asymmetry: a biological monitor of environmental and genomic stress. Heredity, 68, 361–364.CrossRefPubMed
Persico, N., Postlewaite, A., & Silverman, D. (2004). The effect of adolescent experience on labor market outcomes: the case of height. Journal of Political Economy, 112, 1019–1053.CrossRef
Shackelford, T. K., & Larsen, R. J. (1999). Facial attractiveness and physical health. Evolution and Human Behavior, 20, 71–76.CrossRef
Thakerar, J. N., & Iwawaki, S. (1979). Cross-cultural comparisons in interpersonal attraction of females toward males. Journal of Social Psychology, 108, 121–122.CrossRefPubMed
Thornhill, R., & Gangestad, S. W. (1993). Human facial beauty: averageness, symmetry, and parasite resistance. Human Nature, 4, 237–269.CrossRefPubMed
Thornhill, R., & Møller, A. P. (1997). Developmental stability, disease and medicine. Biological Reviews, 72, 497–548.CrossRefPubMed
Wagatsuma, E., & Kleinke, C. L. (1979). Ratings of facial beauty by Asian-American and Caucasian females. Journal of Social Psychology, 109, 299–300.CrossRef
Metadaten
Titel
Is There Really a Beauty Premium or an Ugliness Penalty on Earnings?
verfasst von
Satoshi Kanazawa
Mary C. Still
Publikationsdatum
16.02.2017
Verlag
Springer US
Erschienen in
Journal of Business and Psychology / Ausgabe 2/2018
Print ISSN: 0889-3268
Elektronische ISSN: 1573-353X
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-017-9489-6

Weitere Artikel der Ausgabe 2/2018

Journal of Business and Psychology 2/2018 Zur Ausgabe

Original Paper

Incivility in Meetings: Predictors and Outcomes

Original Paper

Opposing Affective and Cognitive Effects of Prevention Focus on Counterproductive Work Behavior

Original Paper

Team Creative Environment as a Mediator Between CWX and R&D Team Performance and Moderating Boundary Conditions

Original Paper

Who Wants to Follow the Leader? Using Personality and Work Value Profiles to Predict Preferences for Charismatic, Ideological, and Pragmatic Styles of Leading

Original Paper

Differences in the Valuing of Power Among Team Members: a Contingency Approach Toward Examining the Effects of Power Values Diversity and Relationship Conflict

Original Paper

Popularity Procurement and Pay Off: Antecedents and Consequences of Popularity in the Workplace