2012년 12월 1일 토요일

Lookism and Psychology

  

A popular TV variety show "무한도전" aired a special show named "못.친.소."
"못.친.소" is shorted for "못생긴 친구를 소개합니다". In English, it means "Let me introduce my ugly friend"


  He is one of the participant in the show whose name is "Chang Seok Go"

Usually, unattractive face and small height become laughing stock. However, the people who are being laughed suffer from stress. We want to investigate about Lookism and examples of psychology.


1. Definition

Lookism : term to refer to the positive stereotypes, prejudice, and preferential treatment given to physically attractive people & people whose appearance matches cultural preferences.


2. Importance of apperance

This graph shows the importance of appearance in conversation. In reality, the contents of the conversation is of little importance. Appearance occupies most.

3. The examples of the importance of looks
  • value for money of appearnce
Hamermesh et al., 1994 : an ugly man's disadvantage - annual 2600$
                                       a good-looking man's advantage - annual 1400$
Judge et al., 2004 : 183cm man's extra revenue compared with 165cm man is 165,000$
  • Social benefits of appearance
Efran & Patterson, 1976 : Voters' choices include the appearance of candidates.
                                        The chance of getting elected of more attractive person is 70%.

                             
These two people let us know the importance of appearance. In the election of members for National Assembly in Korea, left person "노회찬" and the other "홍정욱" runed for N.A. member of "노원구".
"노회찬"(left) was originally "노원"'s citizen. However, "홍정욱"(right) didn't prepare for "노원"'s election. In addition, he found a house for rent in 노원. Ridiculously, "홍정욱" was elected.

Hamermesh & Parker, 2005 : Course evaluation must be fair and truthful. However, the apperance can distort the result.


 4. The reasons
  • Halo effect

Halo effect : We recognize that one characteristic affects another independent characteristc.
However, it is a perceptional distortion.
  • Hereditary hypothesis
For example, let's suppose that handsome people are more intelligent.
The hereditary hypothesis is that smart man earn more money and he marries beautiful woman. The process will recur and the correlation between appearnace and intellect will be high.
  • Why lookism occurs?
In studies conducted at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers Itzhak Aharon, Nancy Etcoff, Dan Ariely, Christopher F. Chabris, Ethan O'Connor, and Hans C. Breiter have used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology to look at the activity in men's brains when they were shown pictures of beautiful women's faces. Breiter and his colleagues found that the same part of the brain lights up as when a hungry person sees food, or a gambler eyes cash, or a drug addict sees a fix. Essentially, beauty and addiction trigger the same areas in the brain.


 +Some researchers link this addictive pursuit of good looks to evolution. Anthropologist Helen Fisher, suggests that primitive man might have unconsciously thought that a pretty woman had a better chance of bearing healthy children.

5. PROBLEM