We Like Beautiful People
The link between likeability and beauty is no secret. We like beautiful people and we treat them differently, better.
The benefits of beauty begin at birth. Good looking infants are held more frequently and they are told by adults how attractive they are from the moment they’re born.
When attractive children are old enough to attend school, their beauty is further rewarded with better grades and more positive attention from the other students and their teachers. As young adults, good looking teenagers are asked out on more dates, they’re more popular in school and they generally have a much higher self esteem. And the benefits don’t stop there. Good looking adults are more likely to be elected to office, get a higher paying job and avoid jail time if they’re convicted of a crime.
Study after study shows that good looking people have a huge advantage over their average looking peers when it comes to social interaction. Because we expect good looking people to be smarter, healthier and funnier than the general population, they tend to live up to our expectations. It’s known as the Pygmalion Effect.
The Pygmalion Effect
The Pygmalion Effect is a form of self-fulfilling prophecy. When a person believes that he or she is smarter or more talented than the rest of the world, they tend to become smarter, and more talented. And since beautiful people are told throughout their lives that they are special, they tend to grow up believing that they are special, which has a very positive effect on everything they do.
But what if you were not blessed with great looks. Is there anything you can do to be seen as more attractive? Absolutely!
There are certain things that all human beings find physically attractive. They include mood, symmetry, youth and health. You may not be able to turn back the hands of time, but you can accentuate the positive at any age. Here are three things you can do immediately to make yourself more attractive, more beautiful.
Smile
Nothing expresses happiness and beauty quicker than a genuine smile. A smile transcends time, age, culture, race, religion and politics. It is recognized worldwide and appreciated by everyone who receives one. When you smile, the whole world does smile at you.
There are people in this world who convey love and kindness and happiness with their natural, beautiful smile, and it has nothing to do with their teeth. My grandpa had one of those smiles and he was able to give it with and without his dentures. It was beautiful and so was he.
You don’t need teeth to project your likeability and beauty. Just offer a genuine, natural smile.
Clothing
Mark Twain once said, “Clothes make the man. Naked people don’t get a lot of respect in this world.” It’s as true today as it was 150 years ago. Clothes do make the man and woman.
What you wear and how you wear it has an enormous impact on how attractive you look to others. I’m not a style consultant nor do I pretend to be. I leave that to the expert, my wife. She has a keen eye for style and she’s not afraid to use it on me.
When you look good you feel good, and when you feel good you look good. This is the kind of vicious circle that’s fun to get caught up in.
It’s just as easy to put on fashionable clean clothes in the morning as it is to dress in clothes that don’t fit properly and are a few decades out of date. Make the right choice and feel good about yourself all day long.
Walk Like A Man … Or Woman
Have you ever watched yourself walk from a perspective other than your own? The only way you can do that is by watching yourself in a mirror or on a video. The results may surprise you.
The way you walk says a lot about you. It can project confidence, health and pride or something far different.
A few years ago we had a couple visiting us from Scandinavia. Borg told me that one of the things he noticed about Americans was how we walked. He said that Americans tend to walk at a quicker pace than the rest of the world and that we walk with purpose. More importantly, our walk indicated that we were optimistic people and that we could overcome any obstacle that got in our way.
What I found interesting about Borg’s opinion of Americans was that is was based on his interpretation of how we walk. According to Borg, there is something very attractive about someone who walks like an American.
Make a point to watch people walk and pay attention to how you feel about them based on that criteria alone. Then, do your best to imitate the walk you like best until it becomes a part of your presence, your personality and your style.
Maybe you wern’t born beautiful, but you can become beautiful with a few simple adjustments. Pay attention to these three suggestions and see if you don’t feel better about yourself and about how others feel about you in return. You are beautiful!
Beauty | Bob Sommers | 
April 6, 2009 8:02 am
By Matthew, September 16, 2011 @ 4:01 pm
I’m not so sure beautiful people are “liked” more. Some, yes, but those people must also possess some of the other good qualities you mention. Beauty alone won’t cut it, especially if a person is obviously trying too hard to be beautiful. Many people are intimidated by beauty, and most find vanity a major turnoff. I’ve noticed that beauty can also inspire envy, which often goes with an underlying dislike – unfair, though that response may be.I notice that when I see a very “beautiful” person (a model, actor, say), I must also see a sense of genuine humility as well or I’m likely to like them less, actually, than a less “beautiful” person who has inner beauty and likeability. I hasten to add, however, that efforts made toward looking good bespeak a person’s level of self-care, and capacity for self-care is an essential part or likeability, as liking oneself enough to care for oneself is at the root of likeability.
By Isabella, April 28, 2012 @ 4:34 am
Unlike Matthew above, I am entirely sure beautiful people are liked more, I just think a lot of people deny it because it’s seen as unfair..
I once worked in a team which had a position open for an analyst (code for the bottom rung), usually a position like this would go to a graduate of a top university. In this case, despite other applicants having the qualifications and some experience, the job went to a young woman who was working part-time while finishing a degree by correspondence (and marks to date were fairly unimpressive). Why? She truely was stunningly beautiful.
It turned out (surprise, surprise) she was almost entirely incompetent, and she ‘resigned’ in less than a year. Years later, however, we all still like her and keep in touch on facebook.