We have all heard the phrase, “money doesn’t buy happiness,” but no one’s ever said the same about beauty. A recent study has found that beauty buys both money and happiness. The study gauged happiness and attractiveness among more than 25,000 people worldwide and found that beautifully people are generally happier than the plain Jane or even the ugly Joe. However, almost half of that extra happiness comes more from the economic benefits that come about as a result of being beautiful. So, are beautiful people actually happier people?
Think about all of the successful, wealthy people you know. Are they beautiful? Are their husbands beautiful? Reading this article I was a little skeptical about how beauty was being defined. Wouldn’t it be subjective to have different people judge beauty? Furthermore, is it ethical to judge someone on their looks? (How would you feel being classified into the ‘ugly’ category? L ) Also, it is important to take into mind that each culture considers beauty to be a different thing. What is beautiful for an American woman is not necessarily beautiful for a Chinese woman.
However, I am not rebutting the general, proven hypothesis that beautiful people are happier people. Besides having a slight edge above, what are some other reasons why beautiful people are happier people? Can it be not only from the economic benefits, as the article talked about, but also from the higher levels of confidence and self-esteem? Is this to say there is no hope for the plain Jane’s and average Joe’s of the world? What do you think?
Some of the conclusions that this article draws definitely reminds me of the concept that "what is beautiful is good" (in our development unit, maybe?), when teachers ranked the best-behaving children from seeing photos only. Coincidentally, the perceived "good" children were also the most attractive. And just judging by that, I'm not surprised at all that the more beautiful one is deemed by society, the more successful they are. Happiness can definitely be derived from this; in goal-driven, individualistic societies such as Canada, Britain, and the US (those surveyed), success results in self-esteem and strong feelings of self-worth. There's a lot of speculation about why pretty people get all of the benefits. Personally, I think the survey may have gotten things backwards. What is beautiful, especially in the (primarily Western) cultures surveyed? In my opinion, it's important to recognize that self-confidence can be perceived as attractive by many people, rather than attractiveness leading to self-confidence and happiness. Standing up straight, eye contact, a smile, and a slight self-assured assertiveness in behaviors and thoughts are definitely more personable than looking downward, expressions of defeat or weakness, and more. Maybe this is a confounding variable -- those who are happier and more successful could likely be ranked as more attractive. However it is defined, beauty itself definitely isn't the key to success. Drive towards fulfilling goals, temperament, and experience can lead to a person's satisfaction and happiness.
ReplyDeleteI do necessarily think that beauty is the key to happiness. Many people today define beauty in different ways. So, as Alyssa said, how do we define beauty? I know in places on the other side of our world, beautiful people aren’t tall, skinny, but rather fatter. Beauty doesn’t have to be what’s on a person’s face, but rather how they appear (great self respect, self worth, etc.) This is how I would define beauty. But everyone has different definitions of a single, common word- beauty. Although I feel we shouldn’t judge someone on their looks, many in our society do because they, as the article states, want wealthy, success and money. People shouldn’t change the way they are by surgery. Women should look to using what they have to get what they want.
ReplyDeleteI do believe to a certain extent that beautiful people are happier because they come from a well brought up family, have friends, stable, college degree, leading up to finding the right man who is wealthy, job, and later in life to creating children who will bring more happiness. Its parts of the puzzle that fit in at the perfect time to flush out the bad problems in a relationship/ life and draw out the happiness. In the situation given, many people have different things that make them happy. Maybe not having a job that makes a lot of money makes someone happy. That person may rather get happiness by doing something they love. I think there is hope for the plain Jane and average Joe. Everyone will find their happiness in life. Maybe some ones happiness will come later in life. Overall, I don’t think someone should judge a person by their looks. This goes along with never judge a book by its cover. The personality of a person is far more important than looks. I think a man wants to marry a “good looking” woman because it fits into society’s stereotype of the perfect family. If they married a not so good looking woman, maybe other couples/ families will look down upon them? We should focus on the little things that make us happy.
I definitely think that being ‘beautiful’ will make a person both happier and more successful; however, many of the terms involved in this study are very subjective. How can we clearly define words such as ‘beautiful,’ ‘happy,’ or ‘successful’ if their meanings vary across cultures? I agree with Alyssa’s point that what is beautiful in one place may not be considered attractive in another. For example, Latin American countries generally tend to embrace being curvy and sexy, while many European countries find stick-thin women to be the ideal. This is not to say that a plain Jane will slip into a severe state of depression, but I think it is important to consider how outward appearance alone can contribute to a person’s success and overall happiness.
ReplyDeleteIf two people are looking to be hired for a receptionist position, (one which involves sitting at a front desk and conversing with people all day long) who would we hire? Let’s say that the one potential employee is a 50 year old male, a tad overweight, not well put together, and not cleanly shaven. The other potential employee is a 25 year old woman, thin, hair is neatly slicked back, dressed very professionally. Even if both of these people have the same résumé, chances are the woman would get the job, simply for her good looks. As much as we are told not to judge a book by its cover, we are doing so more and more in today’s society. What is beautiful is not always good, but that doesn’t seem to stop us from judging people based on appearance.
I think what also needs to be considered is the fact that people who are considered beautiful by our standards most likely have higher levels of self-esteem and self-confidence. When we look good, we feel good; and when we feel good, we tend to be far more friendly and inviting. When we are more friendly and inviting, we get people to like us – and that makes us feel good. So yes, I do believe that beautiful people are happier, but the plain Jane’s and average Joe’s are not a lost cause. Also to be considered is… what happens when those beautiful people get older and lose their good looks?
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ReplyDeleteI am sure many people heave heard the saying "good looks don't get you far in life." However, this study proves this saying wrong. This recent study has found that beauty actually does buy both money and happiness. I actually wasn't surprised to learn this information. I feel like people are more likely to choose prettier people for everything from being their friend, to being their employee. I was not surprised to hear of this information, I was just surprised they were able to prove that beautiful people are happy because how do you define beauty? How do you define happy?
ReplyDeleteI think beautiful people have many reasons to be happy. They have confidence which will get them so far in life. Many people, especially women, are unhappy with their body and their looks, which causes them to feel insecure. However, beautiful people, who are confident about themselves and not cocky, have confidence which also gives them a slight edge on people along with their looks. I think everyone strives to be beautiful, but once they are actually identified as beautiful by other people, they develop a strong sense of confidence in themselves.
As for the plain Jane's and average Joe's of the world, there is hope! They will soon find someone who loves them for who they are and see them as beautiful in their eyes. From what I hear about falling in love, it seems to me that when a person falls in love with another person, they see their partner as beautiful. So maybe Jane hasn't met her husband who thinks she is happy yet, and Joe hasn't met his wife who thinks he is handsome yet, but it's never too late!
When I first read the synopsis of the article, I immediately thought of the advertisement for the new show "The Voice." On the program, contestants sing while the judges have their backs turned. When a judge decides that they think that the contestant is good, they turn to face them. This is supposed to eliminate confounding variables such as beauty, age, style, etc. and focus on simply the talent. The fact that this show is being aired highlights the author's point. That beauty does in fact give people an advantage. Many other reality shows are often criticized for giving away titles and prizes to those who are recognized as more beautiful over those who who are thought to be more talented. So to a certain degree, I can see why the findings of the study could be valid. On the other hand, the over generalization hurts this study. Beauty is subjective. Youtube "Eye of the Beholder" twilight zone episode to see this point illustrated. I think it's also important to understand that beauty can be tied to self-esteem. Those who are reassured that they are beautiful are more likely to have a higher self-esteem than someone in a similar situation financially, socially, etc. but who is perceived to be less attractive. I would be interested in reading about the trends in happiness in America in correlation with the evolution of media. I would predict that women in particular are less happier nowadays in connection with the fact that media is popular and focuses heavily on beauty.
ReplyDeleteI was not very surprised by this article. Pretty people definitely have a leg up in a lot of aspects in life. It is easier for them to make friends and get involved in a relationship. Also beautiful people have an advantage when at a job interview, because first impressions are a big part of them. I do not think this is right, but it is definitely true. We do judge books by their covers. I was not surprise by the study, but I was confused as to how the people who ran it operationally defined beauty, success, and happiness? Because of this the study was very subjective. “Beautiful” definitely have higher levels of self-esteem which lead them to be happier. Because of the high self-esteem they are more confident. And people who are not as pretty do not have as much confidence which can lead them to be not as successful as the beautiful people. It does make sense that people with more confidence will go over there goals and become successful; and it tends to be that pretty people are the ones with more confidence so they will in turn have success and happiness. Even though I believe all the things I said above, I still believe that there is hope for the plain Jane’s and the average Joe’s. I think that everyone finds their happiness in life whether or not they are beautiful and successful.
ReplyDeleteI think this article is very relevant to society and that it makes some interesting points. The "beautiful" people in society usually seem to get hired for certain jobs and in turn make more money. People who have money (and are beautiful to begin with) can spend more time on other unnecessary, costly things that enhance their beauty. It is like a sort of cycle. An example of this would be a person getting their hair colored or highlighted. Now I know many people get their hair colored, but it is a costly thing and many people who do not have too much extra money to spend will not waste what they have on getting their hair colored.
ReplyDeleteI think this statement, "Numerous studies, including his earlier research, have concluded that beauty helps the budget by providing greater wealth in several ways: Better-looking people generally earn more money and marry those who are better-looking and higher-earning" is very true and relevant to society today. Generally speaking one beautiful person is going to be attracted to another beautiful person, and if both of these people make a lot of money because of their jobs, then they will have a large amount of wealth to their name. Again, it is like a cycle.
One thing that really stuck out to me in Gabby's response to the article is "Is it ethical to judge people based on their looks?"... Although I believe it is unethical to do so, I think that there are people who do hire others because of their looks. For example I feel that this would be prevalent when hiring a salesman. A boss is going to want a salesman to be an attracting man/woman as opposed to someone who smells or is not "pretty." Can you blame them? On one hand yes, and on the other no. Yes--- because judging based on someones looks is "judging a book by its cover" and we all know that doing this is unfair and not right. But the no is because the boss needs to make money off his business. And if he knows that people are more likely to give time out of their day if it is to talk/interact with someone attractive.
I think that there is hope for the plain Jane’s and the average Joe’s in this world. We are all individual people and by pursuing things that make us happy in life will make us enjoy everything around us.
These are the kinds of research findings that make me worry about the society that we live in. It's crazy to think that people's high self esteem and confidence in their own beauty can be so reinforced in the select "beautiful people" that their lives are actually more satisfying and successful. There is nothing biological about beautiful people being happy; it's all social psychology and how we tend to relate to the people we find most attractive (which is extremely relative to begin with). I think that situations and research like this are sources that really show the strength of social relationships and interactions.
ReplyDeleteSomething that I found interesting about this article was that it explained how beauty affects a woman's happiness more than a man's happiness. I think that would have been my guess, but I never stopped to think about why that is. The lead researcher said that women's success is more directly related to her beauty than a man's success is because a beautiful man will attract a beautiful woman who gets the benefits that supposedly accompany beauty. I think that is an interesting conclusion to make because it could bring up issues of sexism in the workplace or gender stereotypes. I'm not completely convinced by the little information in this article, but I'd definitely be interested to hear more evidence on this subject.
I agree with Nicole's observation that, although we all automatically acknowledge that it's not right to judge people based on their looks, we all do it anyway. We just read Death of a Salesman in English class...Willy Loman, not an attractive man, was a horrible salesperson. Was he horrible at this job BECAUSE he was not attractive, or was he horrible at his job AND he was unattractive? Would he have been a better salesman and found more success in the business world if he had been more handsome and therefore more self-assured and therefore more confident and therefore a more skilled businessman?
This was a very interesting and almost disturbing article to read. I do agree that happiness and beauty are closely related to one another. If you think about it, those people who believe they are “prettier” than others tend to have a much higher level of self-confidence. If someone has a high level of self-confidence then they are not easily put down by others which is why they seem to be happier than those who believe they are not as pretty. However, I think the most important part of my last two sentences is the part that says “believe they are prettier.” It is so hard for people to define what beauty really is because there are so many different opinions that people have about it. It is such a subjective concept which brings up the idea of beauty buying money. During the study mentioned, how is beauty being judged? I think it is very difficult to make a worldwide standard for beauty. Especially for the different cultures, there are many different opinions on beauty. While the US emphasizes the need to be skinny, other countries might find larger women to be more attractive. This is why I find it difficult to believe this study is completely accurate. As you can see, in my response I have been only talking about women because I think this idea of beauty buying happiness is much more relevant for women rather than men. Women are way more concerned about their looks than men are. Even though men probably experience this a little bit, women’s lives almost revolve around this theory.
ReplyDeleteLooking at things from a broad point of view, I can see the practical ways in which beauty could buy money. Yet I can't seem to see how beauty could buy happiness. Even if beauty can give you the things you want in life, these things may not necessarily make you happy. I practically just read in the textbook about how once you have a certain amount of money, getting more money on top of that will not make you happier. So if you argue that beauty buys money which in turn leads to happiness, that simply does not add up.
ReplyDeleteFurther, just looking at real-world examples, I can think of many cases of both beautiful and wealthy people (like celebrities) who are clearly unhappy. Are these rare cases, or are they the norm? I'm inclined to believe that they're more of a norm -- it seems to be a misconception that "pretty people don't have problems." That said, I can also understand what the study says about attractive people having an easier time getting ahead in society. It's an (unfortunate) fact of life that people often are judged based on looks. I think it's interesting to note, though, that this unfair judgment can go the other way too: for example, more attractive people may have a harder time being taken seriously in very intellectually driven professions. I'd like to see the extent to which this has been studied.
Another thing -- like Gabby brought up, what is it that this study defined as "beautiful?" Apparently it has something to do with facial symmetry, as briefly mentioned in the article. Further, the article said that "buying better clothes, hair, and cosmetics" will not enable one to "cash in" like beauty will. I find this hard to believe for all cases -- for example, I think a well-dressed, put together unattractive person would present just as well if not better than a badly dressed, disheveled attractive person at a job interview. Though the interviewer may be predisposed to see an attractive person as "better," it would seem logical that overall physical presentation would have equal weight; unlike beauty (or lack thereof), the way a person presents him/herself may actually say something about who he/she is.
I think this argument can go either way. I've seen people who I consider to be beautiful, and then I find out later that they're miserable. And I've known people who are not typically considered beautiful, and they're some of the happiest people I've seen. So I feel like it really depends on the person. However, I do think that beautiful people have an easier time, on the whole. They're the ones who get coffee for free, or the door held open for them, or a whistle from a random guy when they walk down the street. And those can definitely be self-esteem boosters.
ReplyDeleteIt is definitely important to acknowledge that different cultures have different definitions of being beautiful. In Africa, a beautiful woman is someone with curves. However, in America, the ideal woman is a size 0 or 2. If a woman who was considered beautiful in Africa came to America, we'd probably consider her fat. And if a woman considered beautiful in America went to Africa, they'd probably think she was sick or famished, and stay away from her. So, this is a very important aspect to pay attention to.
Of course, it is not ethical to judge someone purely on your own definition of beauty. However, it is simply the world we live in. We constantly compare ourselves to others and silently (or not so silently) judge them.
I completely agree with your beauty is subjective point. It is also extremely culturally driven. Actually, its even time period driven. What was attractive in the 80s is definitely not considered attractive now. "Beauty" is volatile.
ReplyDeleteI guess I can see where they are coming from in terms of the self esteem point. Self esteem is definitely correlated with happiness and one's idea about their beauty is a big part of self esteem especially in our culture. But again beauty is completely subjective so its hard to develop this theory. Because of this I really feel uncomfortable backing this theory up in any way.
I think its this theory is basically built upon one's own self image. Remember Anne Hathaway's part in the Devil Wears Prada in the beginning of the movie? In society's standards she was not "beautiful" but she was perfectly content with who she was. Happiness is associated with the positive energy you give off, and if you love yourself regardless of how you look, that energy with draw people to you forever.
I don’t think that beauty can buy happiness or that having plastic surgery will make people happy. However, I think beauty does play a role in monetary success and happiness in individualistic cultures. I think in America society’s definition of beauty impacts how we perceive people. Going along with what Hope what saying, I heard something the other day about how American Idol is really not about how talented the singer is because many audience members vote based on the person’s gender and appearance. In this way, beautiful people (as defined by society) are awarded more opportunities to do what they love. This also goes along with people who are attractive being more likely to be hired at any job. I think in some ways though, being beautiful doesn’t cause happiness, it only increases self esteem which increases happiness. This is why women, who are typically more concerned with their appearance than men, have a higher correlation between being beautiful and being happy. I think that this study may have also been skewed because maybe the participants were vain so being beautiful by their own standard made them feel happy, even if it was a superficial happy and not real happiness. In this case I think the “average people” will be fine if they don’t get caught up in appearances and are able to find true happiness.
ReplyDeleteI think it's interesting that society usually classifies poeople into good and bad categories, normally based upon his or her looks. Whether that is a fair judgment of character or not is not primarily taken into account. This being said, although looks may buy you that initial "good reputation", those same looks will not buy happiness. I think when someone is attractive, they are also put under a lot of pressure to be that "good" student or "great" kid, whatever.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to continue at that speed all the time though. First impressions are everything, especially in this society, and I think a lot of times impressions are based on the way people look, rather than if he or she has the content of a good person. As we learned in class, first classes are really hard to get passed because it's hard to accept that our initial inclination about a person was incorrect. I think it's important to note, though, that "pretty people" are not always "good" people. Be careful in college everybody--make good friends! :)
I think that this is true. Beautiful people seem to be happier and more successful. Let's face it, the country we live in promotes materialism and over confidence. The people that are heard are usually rich, attractive, and cocky. I would love to one day do a study on the link between success and beauty although I'm sure it's been done. In order to be successful in the workforce, one must be confident and even a little egocentric. If you don't think you're the best at what you do, why would anyone else? In order to have these qualities however, it is important that a person has a high self - esteem. Living in a country run on competition, those that have an edge will come out on top. The more attention a person gets, the more self esteem they will acquire. The more self esteem, the better possibility of success. It's all about standing out, being different. Some will argue that being beautiful in this world and being different have come to be two different things but for the sake of this argument that is irrelevant. If a stunning blonde is standing next to an "average Jane" at a job interview, who is most likely to draw the attention of the employer first? When looking at pictures of your friends, who sticks out more than others? When walking in the mall, whose eyes do you seem to catch? Pretty people triumph over average and therefore have more opportunities to be noticed.
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