3 ms·

The question to ask is this: How much does beauty correlate with strength, health, intelligence, conscientiousness, honesty etc. If the correlation is high, the

The question to ask is this: How much does beauty correlate with strength, health, intelligence, conscientiousness, honesty etc. If the correlation is high, then maybe judging others on beauty is something that can be justified under time and resource constraints everything else being the same... http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/explainer/2012/01/are_smart_people_ugly_the_explainer_s_2011_question_of_the_year_.html http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/explainer/2... Here the data were less clear, but several reviews of the literature have concluded that there is indeed a small, positive relationship between beauty and brains... In the U.K., for example, attractive children have an additional 12.4 points of IQ, on average. The relationship held even when he controlled for family background, race, and body size. From this, Kanazawa concluded that the famous halo effect is not a cognitive illusion, as so many academics had assumed, but rather an accurate reading of the world: We assume that beautiful people are smart, he argues, because they are.

argonaut 14y ago
The article does cover the fact that children who are more attractive are given more attention, and that teachers pay more attention to those children, which may very well explain the effect.
- cscurmudgeon 14y ago
  That does not say much. It raises more questions: 1. How much of intelligence is inherited? I am not up to date on this, but I remember that researchers don't have a consensus on this. Also, once you are an adult does G get fixed? 2. Teachers also pay more attention to intelligent, hardworking and industrious students. Also, grown up intelligent people are usually better at taking care of themselves and end up looking better than others. Of course, this is just one factor.
  - argonaut 14y ago
    Simply put, babies fixate on more symmetrical faces. It is not difficult to deduce that teachers would give more attention to more attractive students, all else being equal.

argonaut 14y ago

The article does cover the fact that children who are more attractive are given more attention, and that teachers pay more attention to those children, which may very well explain the effect.

cscurmudgeon 14y ago
That does not say much. It raises more questions: 1. How much of intelligence is inherited? I am not up to date on this, but I remember that researchers don't have a consensus on this. Also, once you are an adult does G get fixed? 2. Teachers also pay more attention to intelligent, hardworking and industrious students. Also, grown up intelligent people are usually better at taking care of themselves and end up looking better than others. Of course, this is just one factor.
- argonaut 14y ago
  Simply put, babies fixate on more symmetrical faces. It is not difficult to deduce that teachers would give more attention to more attractive students, all else being equal.