3 ms·

Don't we sort ourselves this way in person too, though?

zhemao 11y ago
I think the issue is that physical attractiveness is one of many traits we judge potential partners by in person. But it's the primary trait used online because it's often the only piece of information we have.
roel_v 11y ago
Did you even skim the article?
- lsc 11y ago
  I thought that the parent comment was suggesting that we sort ourselves by physical attractiveness for social groupings in the general case, e.g. most people hang out with other people who are fairly similar in looks, style, ethnicity and income
  - the_mitsuhiko 11y ago
    > most people hang out with other people who are fairly similar in looks, style, ethnicity and income Physical attractiveness correlates pretty well with income. I don't think people pair much with ethnicity these days, more with cultural compatibility. Eg: Muslims and Christians are less likely to mate than Christians and Atheists. I can imagine though that people reject other ethnicities outright if they assume a certain cultural background.
    - lsc 11y ago
      (this is largely irrelevant to the discussion, but it's an interesting sidetrack, I think) >Physical attractiveness correlates pretty well with income. In the bit of the world where I live, there seems to be almost an inverse correlation between physical attractiveness and income, just because nearly all the high-income folks I know are serious computer types, which (at least before a few years back) correlated with not taking particularly good care of your body, in part because physical attractiveness mattered a lot less when getting a computer industry job than in nearly any other industry. When me and my friends or co-workers went out to lunch, the service staff was almost always way more attractive than we were. Now, there's some pretty obvious selection bias there, of course, and I don't doubt that you are mostly correct (if you correct for age, first) with a large enough and random enough sample size, but in the context of this website, the sample isn't particularly random.
  - exolymph 11y ago
    Yes, this is what I meant. Sorry if that was unclear.

I think the issue is that physical attractiveness is one of many traits we judge potential partners by in person. But it's the primary trait used online because it's often the only piece of information we have.

roel_v 11y ago

Did you even skim the article?

lsc 11y ago
I thought that the parent comment was suggesting that we sort ourselves by physical attractiveness for social groupings in the general case, e.g. most people hang out with other people who are fairly similar in looks, style, ethnicity and income
- the_mitsuhiko 11y ago
  > most people hang out with other people who are fairly similar in looks, style, ethnicity and income Physical attractiveness correlates pretty well with income. I don't think people pair much with ethnicity these days, more with cultural compatibility. Eg: Muslims and Christians are less likely to mate than Christians and Atheists. I can imagine though that people reject other ethnicities outright if they assume a certain cultural background.
  - lsc 11y ago
    (this is largely irrelevant to the discussion, but it's an interesting sidetrack, I think) >Physical attractiveness correlates pretty well with income. In the bit of the world where I live, there seems to be almost an inverse correlation between physical attractiveness and income, just because nearly all the high-income folks I know are serious computer types, which (at least before a few years back) correlated with not taking particularly good care of your body, in part because physical attractiveness mattered a lot less when getting a computer industry job than in nearly any other industry. When me and my friends or co-workers went out to lunch, the service staff was almost always way more attractive than we were. Now, there's some pretty obvious selection bias there, of course, and I don't doubt that you are mostly correct (if you correct for age, first) with a large enough and random enough sample size, but in the context of this website, the sample isn't particularly random.
- exolymph 11y ago
  Yes, this is what I meant. Sorry if that was unclear.