The Psychology of Beauty

Ah, the beautiful woman. We all love to look at her, talk about her, wonder about her. She’s got it all, right? The great job, beautiful friends, a date every night, men falling over themselves to be noticed, and doors being opened for her – both literally and figuratively.To get more news about European and American Chinese subtitles wireless code video, you can visit our official website.

Let’s face it: when we meet someone new, a first impression is about looks; only later do things such as personality, brains and character start to take on meaning. (A side note about beauty is that weight isn’t much of a factor, unless the person is morbidly obese or anorexically skinny. The key to perceived beauty is the face.) Daniel Hamermesh,
author of Beauty Pays, is an economist. Collecting data from several countries and cultures, he has found that beauty is absolutely connected with success – well, at least financial success.

Companies that place a premium on hiring very attractive people had on average higher revenues than similar companies which did not. He says the public clearly rewards businesses with the beautiful faces. In The New York Times interview, Hamermesh found that for beautiful people in general, “Most of us, regardless of our professed attitudes, prefer as customers to buy from better-looking salespeople, as jurors to listen to better-looking attorneys, as voters to be led by better-looking politicians, as students to learn from better-looking professors.”

Beautiful women have it even better and get away with things ordinary people can’t. Try talking an officer out of a ticket, or walking in without a reservation and getting a table at that hot new restaurant, or talking that male co-worker into helping you move some furniture. Beauty does make a difference. Beautiful women get more smiles, more handsome lovers and better treatment, and perhaps they expect it. Sometimes the beautiful woman has a bigger-than-life persona; higher than normal self esteem coupled with the feeling that she is special and deserves the best can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The cycle is easy to see. The beautiful woman, constantly fawned upon, catered to, approached and presented with numerous options starts to see this as the norm. This sets up a powerful self image and expectations for the best. She starts expecting others to fawn, and expects things to be handed to her on a silver platter – a princess syndrome of sorts. She is the center of attention, and everyone else is of little importance. The power of positive thinking at work.

So, it’s all good right? Beauty is the bomb and those lucky enough to have it are the equivalent of genetic lottery winners. Nope, all that glitters is not beautiful. As with most things, there’s a downside. How some beautiful women view themselves can border on obsessive. They cherish their looks and play them to the hilt, but if they find a blemish, a wrinkle or a flaw, it can throw them into a panic. It can even have them inquiring around for a good plastic surgeon, new dietician or workout guru.

Low self esteem is more common in beautiful women than you would expect. Some just don’t believe they are attractive. They have a distorted self image and don’t believe others who tell them how stunning they are. Thus, in their mind everyone is a “liar” and not to be trusted. Some are dependent on the first impression reaction of others to define who they are, i.e. someone who has it all because of her beauty. So, she starts to see herself as someone with no talent, no intellect – no redeeming qualities other than her looks.

Then there are the beauties that are truly shy, or to protect themselves from constant harassment, they withdraw. Unfortunately, they can come across as aloof, stuck up, snooty and even arrogant. If we take the time to get to know her instead of condemn her, we might find out she’s really kind, conscientious, caring, and perhaps just a little bit shy. It’s almost as if we’re subconsciously – or for some maybe even consciously – looking for a reason to treat her as less than a person.