4 ms·

The Look of a Winner

25 points by robg 18y ago

ggchappell 18y ago
Nice article. Thanks for posting it. By the way, the "print" link is broken. Here is the correct link: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-look-of-a-winner&print=TRUE http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-look-of...
jmathes 18y ago
Scientific study shows that appearance is _correlated_ with winning elections. Journalist _opines_ that it's a causal relationship. Here's another possibility (just to illustrate the fallacy): maybe being better qualified and having better ideas gets people to vote for you AND it causes your appearance to change.
kvh 18y ago
see http://www.stat.columbia.edu/~cook/movabletype/archives/2009/02/no_no_noooooooo_1.html http://www.stat.columbia.edu/~cook/movabletype/archives/2009.... "one possibility is that the more serious candidates (the ones we know are going to win anyway) are more attractive. Maybe you have some goofy-looking people who decide to run in districts where they don't have a chance, whereas the politicians who really have a shot at being in congress take the time to get their hair cut, etc."
jquery 18y ago
If someone is incapable of caring for themselves, there's a good chance they won't be able to care for me. Likewise, when I see a disheveled, unshaven, sloppy looking candidate, I'll (quite rationally) ask myself whether that's the same level of care he or she will apply to good governance. Not that there's anything wrong with being disheveled or unshaven, but if you want to play a part, you can at least make the effort to look the part.
fuzzythinker 18y ago
Good counter example: Bush vs. Gore
rjprins 18y ago
Well, so far I count 4 out of 5 comments immediately trying to reject the conclusion of the article (people base their vote on superficial features of the candidates). That represents wishful thinking, we would all very much like to believe it's just correlation, that good looks are a result of capability, that Gore actually looks more competent then Bush (he doesn't: http://tinyurl.com/d6hur2 http://tinyurl.com/d6hur2). But really, you have to realize this is true, people are hardwired to judge on looks. First judgements tend to stick, because people want to see their suspicions confirmed and when you start looking for something (especially during political campaigns) you will find it. Wouldn't it be nice to just try to have elections where the candidates are anonymous? Everyone will be told the education and work history of the candidates and ofcourse all their standpoints. They'll have discussions purely in text, by newspaper or blogs. Unimaginable, I'm sure, but how would the voters react?
- Ardit20 18y ago
  Well we have evolved as social being and at times perhaps depended on judging their character. There is no reason to not think that we instinctly know the character of the person by their looks. Further, there is no reason to not believe that beauty and looks go together. Is it not possible that these people who so happened to be good looking and further went on to win the race are also more competent?
  - rjprins 18y ago
    Heck no!! I mean, well yes, it is possible that the political views you happen to hold go together with the good looks of some candidate.. Also competence may even correlate with looks, but even then correlation does not make any assumption safe! No, never judge by looks, remain sceptical on words and judge on their actions. Because ultimately only the actions count.

25 points by robg 18y ago

Nice article. Thanks for posting it. By the way, the "print" link is broken. Here is the correct link: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-look-of-a-winner&print=TRUE http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-look-of...

jmathes 18y ago

Scientific study shows that appearance is _correlated_ with winning elections. Journalist _opines_ that it's a causal relationship. Here's another possibility (just to illustrate the fallacy): maybe being better qualified and having better ideas gets people to vote for you AND it causes your appearance to change.

kvh 18y ago

see http://www.stat.columbia.edu/~cook/movabletype/archives/2009/02/no_no_noooooooo_1.html http://www.stat.columbia.edu/~cook/movabletype/archives/2009.... "one possibility is that the more serious candidates (the ones we know are going to win anyway) are more attractive. Maybe you have some goofy-looking people who decide to run in districts where they don't have a chance, whereas the politicians who really have a shot at being in congress take the time to get their hair cut, etc."

jquery 18y ago

If someone is incapable of caring for themselves, there's a good chance they won't be able to care for me. Likewise, when I see a disheveled, unshaven, sloppy looking candidate, I'll (quite rationally) ask myself whether that's the same level of care he or she will apply to good governance. Not that there's anything wrong with being disheveled or unshaven, but if you want to play a part, you can at least make the effort to look the part.

fuzzythinker 18y ago

Good counter example: Bush vs. Gore

rjprins 18y ago

Well, so far I count 4 out of 5 comments immediately trying to reject the conclusion of the article (people base their vote on superficial features of the candidates). That represents wishful thinking, we would all very much like to believe it's just correlation, that good looks are a result of capability, that Gore actually looks more competent then Bush (he doesn't: http://tinyurl.com/d6hur2 http://tinyurl.com/d6hur2). But really, you have to realize this is true, people are hardwired to judge on looks. First judgements tend to stick, because people want to see their suspicions confirmed and when you start looking for something (especially during political campaigns) you will find it. Wouldn't it be nice to just try to have elections where the candidates are anonymous? Everyone will be told the education and work history of the candidates and ofcourse all their standpoints. They'll have discussions purely in text, by newspaper or blogs. Unimaginable, I'm sure, but how would the voters react?

Ardit20 18y ago
Well we have evolved as social being and at times perhaps depended on judging their character. There is no reason to not think that we instinctly know the character of the person by their looks. Further, there is no reason to not believe that beauty and looks go together. Is it not possible that these people who so happened to be good looking and further went on to win the race are also more competent?
- rjprins 18y ago
  Heck no!! I mean, well yes, it is possible that the political views you happen to hold go together with the good looks of some candidate.. Also competence may even correlate with looks, but even then correlation does not make any assumption safe! No, never judge by looks, remain sceptical on words and judge on their actions. Because ultimately only the actions count.