dissertation on attractiveness

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Peer-reviewed

Research Article

Blinded by Beauty: Attractiveness Bias and Accurate Perceptions of Academic Performance

* E-mail: [email protected]

Affiliation School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, United Kingdom

• Sean N. Talamas, 
• Kenneth I. Mavor, 
• David I. Perrett

• Published: February 17, 2016
• https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0148284
• Reader Comments

Despite the old adage not to ‘judge a book by its cover’, facial cues often guide first impressions and these first impressions guide our decisions. Literature suggests there are valid facial cues that assist us in assessing someone’s health or intelligence, but such cues are overshadowed by an ‘attractiveness halo’ whereby desirable attributions are preferentially ascribed to attractive people. The impact of the attractiveness halo effect on perceptions of academic performance in the classroom is concerning as this has shown to influence students’ future performance. We investigated the limiting effects of the attractiveness halo on perceptions of actual academic performance in faces of 100 university students. Given the ambiguity and various perspectives on the definition of intelligence and the growing consensus on the importance of conscientiousness over intelligence in predicting actual academic performance, we also investigated whether perceived conscientiousness was a more accurate predictor of academic performance than perceived intelligence. Perceived conscientiousness was found to be a better predictor of actual academic performance when compared to perceived intelligence and perceived academic performance, and accuracy was improved when controlling for the influence of attractiveness on judgments. These findings emphasize the misleading effect of attractiveness on the accuracy of first impressions of competence, which can have serious consequences in areas such as education and hiring. The findings also have implications for future research investigating impression accuracy based on facial stimuli.

Citation: Talamas SN, Mavor KI, Perrett DI (2016) Blinded by Beauty: Attractiveness Bias and Accurate Perceptions of Academic Performance. PLoS ONE 11(2): e0148284. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0148284

Editor: Kun Guo, University of Lincoln, UNITED KINGDOM

Received: September 4, 2015; Accepted: January 15, 2016; Published: February 17, 2016

Copyright: © 2016 Talamas et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Data Availability: All relevant data are available at http://dx.doi.org/10.17630/d1ca60af-18ff-4b03-83c5-35d9aa6335c0 .

Funding: These authors have no support or funding to report.

Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Introduction

A review by Langlois et al. [ 1 ] suggested that people regularly make judgements based on appearance and argued that “if humans were not biased to judge others on their appearance, they would not need to remind their children not to judge books by their covers” (p. 408). While frequently warned against ‘judging a book by its cover’, the field of face perception is filled with evidence that suggests that the face does contain a substantial amount of information for evaluators to infer traits. For instance, Kramer and Ward [ 2 ] found that four of the Big Five personality traits, as well as physical health, were perceived with some limited accuracy from internal facial features alone and three of the Big Five traits were accurately perceived (just above chance) from just one side of the face. Similarly, Penton-Voak, Pound, Little, and Perrett [ 3 ] found that there was some limited accuracy in perceptions of extraversion, emotional stability, and openness to experience when presented with images of composite faces (combining the faces of people with the same personality). Also, research by Little, Burt, Penton-Voak and Perrett [ 4 ] found that evaluators were differentially attracted to faces depending on personality traits desired in a partner; that is, “if a trait is desired then faces perceived to possess that trait are found more attractive than faces which do not possess that trait” (p. 1107). Such research highlights potential accuracy in face perception and the relationship between limited accuracy in perceived traits and attractiveness.

Indeed, when investigating the accuracy of perceived intelligence [ 5 ] and of perceived health [ 6 ] in faces it was found that accuracy was improved to a level above chance when controlling for attractiveness bias. The ‘attractiveness halo effect’ in which desired personality traits are ascribed to attractive people over unattractive people [ 7 ] seems to influence the use of attractiveness as a cue when attempting to accurately perceive health or intelligence in faces and is in turn, limiting people’s accuracy. The relationship seems to reflect a suppression effect , in which the suppressor (perceived attractiveness) is correlated with the other predictor variable (perceived health or intelligence), but is not related to the dependent variable (actual health or intelligence), so when this noise (relationship between attractiveness and perceived health or intelligence) is controlled for the accuracy in perceptions of actual health or intelligence is increased [ 8 – 12 ].

Accurate Perceptions of Intelligence and Attractiveness Halo

Kleisner, Chvatalova, and Flegr [ 5 ] reported accurate perceptions of intelligence in men’s but not women’s faces. It is important to note that a significant relationship between perceived and actual intelligence was only evident after statistically controlling for perceived attractiveness, though perceived attractiveness itself was not found to be a valid cue to actual intelligence. Kleisner et al. [ 5 ] argue that one of the reasons accurate estimations of intelligence are demonstrated in men but not women may be due to the stronger effect of the attractiveness halo in perceptions of female intelligence. These findings highlight the pervasive and detrimental influence of attractiveness on accuracy in attributions.

For decades researchers have debated the accuracy in perceived intelligence and whether attractiveness is a valid cue to actual intelligence [ 1 , 5 , 13 – 15 ]. A study by Zebrowitz, Hall, Murphy, and Rhodes [ 16 ] found that judgments of intelligence from faces were more accurate than chance for images from childhood, puberty, and middle adulthood, but not more accurate than chance in adolescence or late adulthood. Zebrowitz et al. [ 16 ] discussed how facial attractiveness might relate to actual intelligence based on various potential paths: (a) biological, with good genes being inherited; (b) environmental, including the impact of nutrition and healthcare; (c) influence of intelligence on grooming and health decisions; (d) and a self-fulfilling prophecy, in which attractive people are expected to be smarter and given greater opportunities to become smarter. A later study by Zebrowitz and Rhodes [ 17 ] investigated the relationship between facial attractiveness and actual intelligence in the upper and lower halves of the attractiveness distribution and reported that, consistent with the ‘bad genes hypothesis’, facial attractiveness was a valid cue to actual intelligence only in the lower half of the attractiveness distribution. Consistent with the ‘anomalous face overgeneralization hypothesis’, attractiveness was used (spuriously) as a cue to intelligence across the entire attractiveness distribution [ 17 ]. Thus, participants were accurate in judging intelligence based on attractiveness, but only because faces perceived as unattractive were judged as having low intelligence. These findings are consistent with the ‘bad genes’ hypothesis, which implies that faces perceived as very unusual or unattractive may be an indicator of poor genetic fitness.

A more recent study by Mitchem et al. [ 18 ] highlights several problems in previous research investigating attractiveness and intelligence, namely publication bias, inconsistencies in definitions of intelligence and attractiveness, research design flaws, and small sample sizes. They conducted research on the largest sample to date, utilizing a twin dataset and independently collected measures of facial attractiveness and general intelligence. They found no support for a relationship between actual intelligence and perceived facial attractiveness.

Attractiveness and Academic Performance

Research has also investigated the potential relationship between perceived attractiveness and actual academic performance, with no clear consensus. Some investigations have showed that students who are perceived as more attractive achieve higher grades and higher scores on standardized achievements tests (e.g. [ 19 – 21 ]). Other studies failed to find any relationship (e.g. [ 22 , 23 ]).

Nonetheless, the relationship between perceived attractiveness and perceptions of academic performance is clear. A meta-analysis conducted by Dusek and Joseph [ 24 ] scrutinized fourteen studies investigating physical attractiveness and its relation to teacher expectancy. The review concluded that perceived facial attractiveness is significantly correlated with teacher expectations of academic performance and positive personality attributes. For example, a cornerstone study by Clifford and Walster [ 25 ] indicated a significant correlation between physical appearance and teacher expectations. A similar study also suggested a positive correlation between teachers’ ratings of attractiveness and expectations of children’s skills [ 26 ] showing that teachers judged children rated as more attractive as more social, confident, popular, academically strong, and more likely to become leaders than students who were rated as less attractive.

Another meta-analytic review by Ritts, Patterson, and Tubbs [ 27 ] found that students perceived as attractive are more likely than students perceived as unattractive to be ascribed positive educational traits. Specifically, students perceived as attractive were judged as more intelligent, having more academic potential, and having better grades. It was also noted that other variables such as gender, race, and knowledge of past performance also influenced expectations, but were not significant moderators to the attractiveness influence [ 27 ]. Consequently, while there is little consensus and weak supporting evidence for a relationship between perceived attractiveness and actual intelligence or academic performance, there is convincing research documenting the relationship between perceived attractiveness and perceived intelligence or academic performance.

Accuracy in Face Perception

Research suggests extroversion can be accurately perceived after only a 50-ms exposure to a face [ 28 ], strength can be accurately estimated from faces independent of height, weight, and age [ 29 ] and the dark triad of personality (Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy) can be accurately perceived in composites of expression-neutral facial images [ 30 ]. Note here that accuracy does not imply a large effect size; accuracy may be significant, but with performance only slightly above chance. Nonetheless, this limited accuracy is still somewhat impressive given the lack of conventional information (i.e. information about behaviour) that we typically think affects such judgements; thus, the effects may be small but they are still noteworthy. Todorov, Olivola, Dotsch, and Mende-Siedlecki [ 31 ] suggests that little time is needed to arrive at a consensus on social attributions from faces, however many studies overstate the validity of these attributions. There are various perspectives on why and how such social attributions from faces are made that explain the potential both for accuracy and for limitations in accuracy.

Biological cues may shed light on how people are rating social judgements at above-chance accuracy from neutral-expression facial images alone. For instance, research suggests the shape of a face is related to the current [ 32 – 34 ] and prenatal [ 35 ] levels of testosterone. Research has also suggested that facial adiposity is closely associated with circulating testosterone [ 36 ] and that facial adiposity has been shown to be related to perceived health and attractiveness, as well as measures of actual cardiovascular health and proneness to respiratory illness [ 37 ]. Further, facial symmetry, and sex typicality in face shape has been shown to be related to disease resistance [ 38 ]. Similarly, an average face shape may signal health, as abnormalities that make a face look slightly different from the average may be caused by genetic or environmental stress [ 17 ]. Carotenoid coloration in the face has also been found to signify quality of current diet [ 39 ]. The face can also provide clues to recent sleep history, with those who are sleep deprived having less eyelid-openness and more downward mouth curvature than those that are well rested [ 40 ].

Health, Attractiveness and Over-generalization

Clearly, the face provides a variety of cues to hormones, health, and sleep status. One thing all of these cues have in common is their relationship to attractiveness. Namely, research investigating attractiveness and the ‘good genes’ theory has argued that facial symmetry [ 41 ], averageness [ 42 ], sexual typicality [ 43 ], eyelid-openness and mouth-curvature [ 44 ], carotenoid coloration in the face [ 39 ], and adiposity [ 37 ] may be attractive because of their relationship to health [ 45 – 47 ].

The link between potential cues to health in the face and perceived attractiveness is one explanation for the ‘attractiveness halo effect’. Research suggests this preference for attractive (or healthy looking) individuals appears early in infancy, with infants as young as two-months old gazing longer at attractive faces over unattractive or unusual looking faces [ 48 , 49 ]. It is unknown whether or not such preferential looking reflects early learning [ 50 – 52 ]. Further, Langlois, Roggman, and Reiser-Danner [ 53 ] found that twelve-month-old infants would play longer, have more involvement, experience less distress and withdrawal, and seem to exhibit more pleasure when interacting with attractive people as compared to unattractive people. Also noteworthy is the degree of agreement regarding facial attractiveness. Specifically, studies have shown consistency between men and women regarding opinions of facial attractiveness [ 45 ]. Surprisingly, agreement on facial attractiveness is apparent even across different countries [ 1 , 54 ].

In an attempt to investigate whether facial attractiveness provides evidence of actual health, which may partially explain this positive bias towards attractive people, Kalick, Zebrowitz, Langlois and Johnson [ 6 ] found that evaluators’ perceptions of attractiveness are actually poor predictors of current or future actual health. While attractive faces were mistakenly rated as healthier than their peers, the correlation between perceived health and actual health increased when attractiveness was statically controlled, implying that attractiveness suppresses the accurate recognition of health.

This improvement in accuracy of health judgments after controlling for attractiveness is similar to the improved accuracy of intelligence judgments when the attractiveness halo is statistically controlled [ 5 ]. Indeed there is evidence to suggest a relationship between various health factors and cognitive or intellectual performance. Specifically, it has been found that phobic anxiety [ 55 ], trait anxiety [ 56 , 57 ], drug use [ 58 ], diabetes [ 59 , 60 ], poor sleep [ 61 ], and frailty [ 62 ] have been negatively associated with both health and cognitive function in older individuals. Similarly, exposure to chronic aircraft noise [ 63 ], infection with parasitic worms [ 64 ] and food insufficiency [ 65 ] have been found to negatively impact health and cognitive performance in children. Given the close relationship between actual health, actual cognitive performance, and perceived attractiveness, facial cues to health might also be cues to both attractiveness and cognitive ability, leading to correlations between attractiveness and perceived competence. Such correlation might lead to overgeneralization and inaccurate perceptions of academic ability in healthy individuals based spuriously on attractiveness. Hence we explore whether or not the ‘blinded by beauty’ phenomenon found in perceptions of health [ 6 ] and intelligence [ 5 ] also applies to the perception of academic performance from first impressions of neutral-expression static facial images.

Theories of Intelligence and Academic Performance

Given the controversy over definitions of intelligence and differences in theories of intelligence [ 66 ] it is likely that, in addition to being limited by the attractiveness halo, accurate perceptions of intelligence are also limited by variation in understanding on the meaning of the term ‘intelligence’. While someone who agrees with a fixed theory of intelligence believes there is little a person can do to change their actual intelligence, someone with a growth theory of intelligence argues that intelligence can change over time with the appropriate environment [ 67 – 69 ].

Perceptions of academic performance from faces are likely to suffer similar inconsistences in evaluator perspectives of what factors most influence academic performance. While research has consistently shown that intelligence predicts academic performance [ 70 ], it is well documented that the personality trait of conscientiousness is a stronger predictor of academic performance than intelligence [ 70 , 71 ]. Hence, it could be argued that asking evaluators to assess academic performance from faces would yield just as much ambiguity as attributions of intelligence, as consensus would be adversely affected both by disagreement in fixed vs. growth theories of intelligence, and by different perspectives on how much academic performance relies on intelligence versus conscientiousness.

Research on the Intelligence Competence Theory (ICT) further undermines consensus of perceived academic performance by suggesting that people who are less intelligent compensate by becoming more conscientious to reach their goals [ 72 , 73 ]. Thus, some might think a person with a less intelligent looking face is more academically able because the person may work harder to get better grades. Previous studies have highlighted consensus and accuracy of perceptions of most of the big five personality traits from face, yet conscientiousness is sometimes [ 74 ], but not always correctly detected [ 3 , 75 ]. Given the relationship between actual conscientiousness and academic performance (compared to intelligence), we explore whether perceptions of conscientiousness are more likely to predict actual academic performance than perceptions of intelligence.

Research Questions

Research investigating perceptions of academic performance has primarily been concerned with exploring the potential of attractiveness to be a valid predictor of academic performance [ 19 – 23 , 76 ] and exploring the effects of perceived academic performance on students’ actual performance in the future [ 24 – 27 ]. No research that we are aware of has investigated the potential accuracy of perceptions of actual academic performance from faces when controlling for the attractiveness halo. Given the different perspectives and theories of the term ‘intelligence’ [ 66 , 67 , 77 ] and the varying perspectives on how much intelligence predicts academic performance compared to conscientiousness [ 72 , 73 ], we hypothesize that evaluators will be more accurate in perceiving actual academic performance when specifically asked to rate conscientiousness than when asked to rate the more ambiguous terms ‘intelligence’ or ‘academic performance’.

Further, it is possible that attractiveness detracts from accuracy in perceptions of academic performance much as attractiveness can detract from accuracy in perceptions of health and intelligence. While there are various seemingly logical explanations for why attractiveness could be a valid cue to academic performance, the empirical evidence for a link between the two is extremely weak and perhaps only existing in the lower half of the distribution (i.e. driven by potential outliers with genetic or developmental problems affecting both appearance and cognitive ability). We hypothesise an ‘attractiveness halo’ in which attractiveness is not linked to actual academic performance but is significantly correlated with perceptions of academic performance. Further, we hypothesise that controlling for the misperceptions about attractiveness may improve accuracy in perceptions of academic performance.

We argue that this effect of controlling for attractiveness takes the form of a classic type of suppression (see [ 8 – 12 ]). In classical suppression, the suppressor is unrelated to the variable of interest but is related to the predictor, and therefore the shared variance between the predictor (in this case, perceived conscientiousness, intelligence or academic performance) and the suppressor (attractiveness) is unrelated to the outcome measure ( actual academic performance). By controlling for this irrelevant variance in the predictor, the strength of the association between the predictor and outcome variable increases. In other words, controlling for attractiveness may reveal a ‘blinded by beauty’ phenomenon similar to that found in health [ 6 ] and intelligence [ 5 ] judgments.

All data collection was approved by UTREC and the School of Psychology and Neuroscience ethics committee (PS1087), University of St Andrews. All participants provided informed written consent and were debriefed accordingly. The individuals in this manuscript have also given written informed consent to blend their facial photographs to create average faces and publish these case details. Written consent was recorded via both electronic submission and on hard copies. The ethics committee approved this consent procedure.

Facial Stimuli

Students from the University of St Andrews were recruited to take part in an experiment called “Influences in the perception of intelligence in faces” as part of a larger data collection. One-hundred of the most standardized (e.g. clean shaven, neutral expression and head posture) Caucasian faces between the ages of 18 and 24 ( M age = 20.85, SD = 2.15; 67 females, 33 males) were chosen as stimuli. The original image collection contained more women than men and removal of males with beards enhanced the gender bias. Nonetheless, we maximised the number of stimuli available for judgments to maintain power in the analysis. Selection of standardized faces was done blind to their academic performance. Todorov and Porter [ 78 ] highlight significant differences in person impressions within multiple facial photos of the same person due to random variation and discuss how this can influence accuracy of personality inferences based on faces. Thus, it was important to select the most standardized stimuli. All of the stimuli photographs of participants used were taken under standardized lighting conditions and camera set-up; individuals had their hair pulled back, did not wear any kind of make-up or jewellery, and were instructed to pose with a neutral facial expression. Face images were aligned on left and right pupils. Images were then resized and cropped (1608 x 2584 pixels) so that an equal proportion of hair and neck was exposed in each.

Academic Performance Measures

All participants consented to releasing their academic performance records for the purpose of this research. Academic records were accessed via the Universities database. Academic performance at the University of St Andrews is marked on a 20-point scale reported to one decimal place for final module grades. An average academic performance was calculated by taking the Grade Point Average (GPA) across every year weighted by every module credit completed by the student. Participants varied in their course of study and the number of modules completed based on their year and semester of study (63 in Sciences, 37 in Arts; 44 first and second year undergraduates, 39 third and fourth year undergraduates, and 17 in postgraduate courses). Accordingly, methods of evaluation (e.g. exam, essay, and dissertation) varied.

Face Ratings

Four separate groups of participants were recruited and paid via Amazon Mechanical Turk to obtain ratings of perceived attractiveness, intelligence, conscientiousness, and academic performance (no other face ratings obtained for this study). Table 1 shows the demographics of each participant group. Differences in sample sizes were based on differences in the number of participants completing the task while the link was live on Amazon Mechanical Turk and number of exclusions. Participants who reported their ethnicity as different from ‘white Caucasian’ were excluded when calculating the average ratings of perceived attractiveness, intelligence, conscientiousness, and academic performance, as stimuli presented were Caucasian and judgments of other ethnicities may be more susceptible to stereotypes [ 79 ]. Analysis was re-run with all participants and there were no differences in the pattern of findings; i.e., all significant results remain significant, and all non-significant results remain non-significant.

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0148284.t001

Evaluators first previewed all stimuli with each image displayed for one second. The stimuli were then re-presented so that participants could rate the face on the focal trait for each sample: perceived attractiveness, intelligence, consciousness, or academic performance. Faces were presented in random order. To ensure the paid participants were not quickly and hastily clicking through images, images were presented for at least one second before participants were allowed to continue to the next image, but no maximum response time was enforced. Evaluators then completed a questionnaire inquiring about their age, gender, and ethnicity.

Facial ratings were done on a 7-point scale with endpoints according to the face rating task: attractiveness endpoints were not at all attractive to very attractive ; perceived intelligence endpoints were not at all intelligent to very intelligent ; perceived conscientiousness endpoints were not at all conscientious to very conscientious .; and perceived academic performance endpoints were very low academic performance to very high academic performance .

Participants who rated perceived academic performance were presented with a statement at the top of each facial image presented asking “Please rate how well you think this person does in University compared to the other people presented”. Participants who rated perceived conscientiousness were presented with a statement at the top of each facial image presented that read “Conscientiousness is the personality trait of being thorough, careful, or vigilant–with the desire to do a task well. Based on the definition of conscientiousness provided–how conscientious do you perceive this face to be compared to the other faces presented”.

An average score of perceived attractiveness, intelligence, academic performance and conscientiousness was calculated for each of the 100 faces based on the average of all the evaluator ratings. Table 2 gives the zero order correlations between ratings and academic performance and demographic variables. There was a significant correlation between older age and higher actual academic performance and female faces were perceived as more attractive (see Table 2 ).

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0148284.t002

As predicted, there was no relationship between attractiveness and actual academic performance ( r = 0.03), but a strong positive correlation between attractiveness and perceived intelligence ( r = 0.81), attractiveness and perceived academic performance ( r = 0.74) and attractiveness and perceived conscientiousness ( r = 0.81).

Given the high correlations between rated attributes (perceived attractiveness, perceived conscientiousness, perceived intelligence and perceived academic performance), we wanted to ensure that any statistical controls were based on sufficiently reliable measures and discriminability valid constructs. Cronbach’s alphas were calculated for perceived attractiveness (32 ratings; α = 0.94), intelligence (25 ratings; α = 0.86), academic performance (20 ratings; α = 0.73), and conscientiousness (47 ratings; α = 0.91). After correcting for attenuation due to measurement error [ 80 , 81 ] the relationships between attractiveness and perceived intelligence ( r = 0.90), between attractiveness and perceived academic performance ( r = 0.89), and between attractiveness and perceived conscientiousness ( r = 0.88) were all marginally higher but do not indicate redundancy.

We explored any potential issues with multi-collinearity, as research has suggested high VIF calculations may raise concerns over interpretations [ 82 ]. The test to see if the data met the assumption of collinearity indicated that multi-collinearity was not a concern (VIF scores over 10 are seen as problematic; [ 82 ]). In this study none of the VIF values were a concern: perceived attractiveness, tolerance = .243, VIF = 4.11; perceived academic performance, tolerance = .236, VIF = 4.24; perceived intelligence, tolerance = .152, VIF = 6.58; perceived consciousness, tolerance = .193 VIF = 5.18).

Partial correlations were conducted in which the influence of age of face, sex of face, and perceived attractiveness were controlled for. Partial correlations revealed (see Fig 1 ) a significant correlation between perceived conscientiousness and actual academic performance ( r = 0.22, p = 0.035). The partial correlations reveal no relationship between actual academic performance and perceived academic performance ( r = 0.13, p = 0.191) or perceived intelligence ( r = 0.06, p = 0.544). Findings do not change when controlling for only attractiveness in the partial correlation. Nor do they change when controlling for the combination of attractiveness and age or the combination of attractiveness and sex of face.

This bar graph shows the increased accuracy of the different perceived competence variables when controlling for perceived attractiveness. The same pattern emerges when controlling for the additional variables of sex and age of face.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0148284.g001

We investigated the predictive power of perceived conscientiousness over attractiveness and the other perceived competence variables with a multiple linear regression model. In a simple regression model perceived conscientiousness significantly predicted actual academic performance (B = 1.59, SE = 0.712, 95% CI [0.18, 3.00], p = 0.027, β = 0.48), but perceived academic performance (B = -0.03, SE = 0.843, 95% CI [-1.70, 1.64], p = 0.969, β = -0.01), perceived attractiveness (B = -0.89, SE = 0.51, 95% CI [-1.89, 0.11], p = 0.082, β = -0.34), and perceived intelligence (B = -0.07, SE = 0.849, 95% CI [-1.75, 1.62], p = 0.939, β = -0.02) did not significantly predict actual academic performance (overall model: adjusted R 2 = 0.08, F(4, 106) = 2.13, p = 0.082).

In a multi-step hierarchical model (1st step independent variables: perceived attractiveness, perceived intelligence, perceived academic performance, 2nd step independent variable: perceived conscientiousness) predicting actual academic performance, the second step in the model (perceived conscientiousness) showed a significant increase in variance explained (R 2 change = 0.45 p = 0.027).

Facial Averages

Facial averages of faces were created to help the reader visualize perceptions of conscientiousness and the attractiveness halo. All face images were manually delineated with 188 points. The averaging (a) computes the average coordinate values for 188 facial landmarks within the set of face images, (b) warps each shape of each facial image into these average coordinates, and then blends the warped component images [ 83 , 84 ]. Facial averages (see Fig 2 ) were synthesized from the top 25% male and female faces (8 male and 16 female faces) and bottom 25% male and female faces with the highest and lowest scores on perceived conscientiousness [ 85 , 86 ]. These average images were then made symmetrical (see [ 41 ]).

The images presented reflect the top and bottom 25% of faces percieved as most (left) and least (right) conscientious. The attractiveness halo would suggest that faces percieved as most conscientious (left) would be more attractive than the faces rated as least conscientious (right).

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0148284.g002

There are three main findings. First, there was no first-order relationship between perceptions of conscientiousness, academic performance or intelligence and actual academic performance. Second, when controlling for the expected influences that age, sex and perceived attractiveness on perceptions of competence (perceived conscientiousness, academic performance and intelligence), then the relation between perceived competence and actual academic performance increased in strength. Third, perceived conscientiousness was the single best face perception predictor of actual academic performance (outperforming perceived intelligence and perceived academic performance), and again accuracy was significantly improved when controlling for the suppressor variable of attractiveness.

As we expected, the form of the relationship is one of classic suppression in which there is some factor (perceived attractiveness) that is correlated with perceptions of conscientiousness, but not correlated with actual academic performance [ 8 – 12 ]. When this factor is controlled, the relationship between perceived conscientiousness and actual academic performance is increased (see Fig 3 ). It should also be noted that, although some previous literature suggests weak correlations between attractiveness and cognitive performance measures [ 16 ], in our study perceived attractiveness was not a valid cue to actual academic performance. These results suggest that we are ‘blinded by beauty’ in a way in which we would be more accurate in our perceptions of academic performance from faces if we were not influenced by the ‘attractiveness halo’ effect.

This figure shows the noise in perceived conscientiousness (the overlap between perceived attractiveness and perceived conscientiousness) and how by suppressing this noise results in an improved predictor of actual academic performance (greater overlap between the remaining perceived conscientiousness and actual academic performance).

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0148284.g003

Given the amount of research on higher expectations and desired educational traits being ascribed to attractive students over unattractive students, it is not surprising that faces that were rated as more intelligent, having better academic performance and being more conscientious were also rated as more attractive (see composite faces in Fig 2 ). As predicted, there were high correlations between perceptions of attractiveness and perceptions of intelligence, conscientiousness, and academic performance, likely reflecting the strength of the attractiveness halo, as well as the similarities among these perceived competence measures [ 87 ]. While there is less evidence to suggest perceptions of intelligence and academic performance are unique constructs, the possibility that perceived conscientiousness and perceived attractiveness are not distinguishable empirically is dealt with in two ways: face validity of the items for which evaluators were clearly rating conscientiousness or attractiveness (the measures were unambiguous to the evaluators); and we calculated inter-evaluator reliabilities for conscientiousness and attractiveness ratings and even after correcting for attenuation due to measurement error, the correlations between these variables remained distinct (i.e. they were imperfectly correlated). Taken together, these elements suggest that these measures can be treated here as distinct constructs, and that they are measured with sufficient reliability to be distinguished empirically in this study. The high correlations do create potential for interpretative difficulties in multiple regression, and under such circumstances we find it important to emphasize the role of suppression in their relationship in a way that reflects the traditional understanding of the attractiveness halo.

Findings suggest that accuracy in perceptions of academic performance also increases with the clarity and validity of the question proposed. When controlling for attractiveness, age and sex, perceptions of conscientiousness in faces yielded above chance accuracy in predicting academic performance, but accuracy in predicting actual academic performance did not reach levels of statistical significance with perceptions of intelligence or perceptions of academic performance. Given the high correlations between these perceived competence measures, it is difficult to say for certain whether perceptions of conscientiousness are unique in their capacity to predict actual academic performance over and above perceptions of intelligence or academic performance. Rather, it seems perceptions of conscientiousness predicts actual academic performance because, in comparison, it may be the least ambiguous competence construct. As previously argued, it is likely that individual differences in theories and understandings of intelligence can lead, on average, to less accurate perceptions of intelligence in faces. Likewise, perceived academic performance is possibly confounded by a combination of the ambiguities in the term intelligence (fixed vs. malleable) and the limited consensus on how much intelligence (in relation to conscientiousness) is necessary for high academic performance; hence the limited accuracy of perceived academic performance compared to perceived conscientiousness in predicting actual academic performance.

The improved accuracy in perceived conscientiousness predicting actual academic performance over perceived intelligence is also consistent with research that suggests that actual conscientiousness is a stronger predictor of academic performance than actual intelligence [ 70 ]. Further, the Intelligence Compensation Theory (ICT) suggests that conscientiousness acts as a coping strategy for relatively less intelligent people. While evidence for ICT is limited, some studies have found significant negative correlations between fluid intelligence and conscientiousness [ 72 , 73 ]. Other studies have found a significant negative correlation between crystalized intelligence and conscientiousness [ 88 ]. Thus, our findings of perceived conscientiousness better predicting actual academic performance in faces than perceived intelligence is consistent with literature suggesting actual conscientiousness is a better predictor than intelligence in predicting actual academic performance. Nonetheless, given the high correlations amongst the perceived competence variables explored (perceived intelligence, perceived academic performance and perceived conscientiousness), we must be cautious in claiming that only perceived conscientiousness is related to actual academic performance; rather we argue that the specificity in rating tasks and the influence of attractiveness bias are worth considering when exploring validity of judgements based on faces.

The increased accuracy of academic performance in faces after controlling for attractiveness has important implications. Indeed, Olivola and Todorov [ 89 ] showed that judges overweigh aspects of appearance and would be more accurate in judging personality if face perception was ignored. However, facial impressions have consistently been shown to influence our opinions as well as bias decisions in politics [ 90 ], leadership [ 91 ], law [ 92 ], parental expectations and punishments on children [ 93 ], military rank promotion [ 94 ], and teacher evaluations [ 95 ]. Clearly, the power of first impressions is critical and has repeatedly been shown to influence our opinions about a person.

Furthermore, research has found that femininity is considered more attractive than masculinity [ 43 ] and that females perform better academically and stay in education longer than males [ 96 ], which likely leads to females being ascribed more desired educational traits over men. It is also well documented that older students do better on intelligence tests [ 97 , 98 ] and do better academically than younger students. Moreover, crystalized intelligence and perceptions of wisdom have shown to increase linearly with age [ 99 , 100 ], which would influence impressions of competence in older students (hence the intentionally limited university age range for facial stimuli presented). Our research suggests that when controlling for biases of attractiveness, age and sex, independently or collectively, accuracy of perceived academic performance is significantly improved.

Perhaps one of the most alarming consequences of using insufficient information to guide first impressions is the expectancy effect in education. The classic Pygmalion study conducted by Rosenthal and Jacobson [ 101 ] suggests that expectations alone are capable of influencing the targets’ actual performance. Specifically, the Pygmalion study found that students who were arbitrarily assigned the label ‘bloomers’ (i.e., anticipated to show future promise) eventually scored higher on future tests than other students, even though the students labelled as ‘bloomers’ were a random sample and not any more intelligent than the other students in the class. More recent research on expectancy effects by Sorhagen [ 102 ] found that teachers’ inaccurate expectations of students in first-grade was associated with students’ academic performance in high-school and that students from lower income families were especially influenced by this bias. Likewise, De Boer, Bosker, and Van Der Werf [ 103 ] defined expectation bias as the difference between observed and predicted teacher expectation and found a significant relationship between teacher’s expectation bias of students’ performance and actual performance 5 years later. Hence, perceptions of conscientiousness, intelligence and academic performance may play a vital role in the classroom environment and in the success of a child’s education.

Future research in face perception can benefit from noting the significant differences in perception accuracy based on different theories of intelligence or competence. Perhaps more importantly, given the well documented effects of expectations of academic performance on actual academic performance, our findings help emphasize the biased effects of perceived attractiveness on expectations of academic performance. While it seems unlikely that another person’s attractiveness can be filtered out when attempting to accurately perceive academic performance, the mere knowledge of the negative influence attractiveness has on accuracy may encourage less biased practice; for perhaps the best antidote to deter unconscious bias is to make conscious the possibility of bias.

Acknowledgments

We thank Martin Campbell for his very helpful feedback on earlier versions of the manuscript. We also thank William Peter for his assistance in participant recruitment.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: ST DP. Performed the experiments: ST. Analyzed the data: ST DP KM. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: ST DP KM. Wrote the paper: ST DP KM.

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Personality and Physical Attractiveness

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• Jie Liu 3  

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Appearance ; Attraction ; Individual difference ; Perceptions ; Personality

Definitions

Physical attractiveness describes the degree to which a person’s physical features are considered aesthetically pleasing or beautiful. Personality traits are typically defined as descriptions of people in terms of their relatively stable patterns of behaviors, thoughts and emotions. People’s physical attractiveness and personality influences others’ perceptions of them in different ways, and also affects their important life domains, including their career, intimate relationships and health.

Introduction

Physical attractiveness depicts the degree to which a person’s physical features are considered aesthetically pleasing or beautiful. Accordingly, physical attractiveness is much less about physical features of the targets, but more about the perceptual process of the perceivers. Indeed, physical attractiveness is largely determined by a person’s unique thoughts about the world, which is...

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Liu, J. (2019). Personality and Physical Attractiveness. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_715-1

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Attractiveness privilege : the unearned advantages of physical attractivenesss.

Kelsey P. Yonce , Smith College

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School for Social Work

Physical-appearance-based bias, Beauty, Personal-Psychological aspects, Oppression (Psychology), Social conflict, Social service, Interdisciplinary research, Attractiveness, Beauty, Privilege, Oppression, Intersectionality, Conflict theory, Social work, Theoretical

In this theoretical investigation, I explore level of physical attractiveness as a characteristic that privileges people who are more attractive and oppresses those who are less attractive. I discuss the concept of privilege, societal standards of physical attractiveness, and the ways in which people who are more physically attractive are treated and perceived more positively by others. To examine this phenomenon more deeply, I introduce the theoretical perspectives of intersectionality and conflict theory. Intersectionality refers to the idea that different areas of privilege and oppression interact with each other in ways that create unique experiences of privilege and oppression for each individual. I use the theory of intersectionality to explain how attractiveness privilege overlaps with privilege or oppression in the areas of gender, race, social class, age, and disability status. Conflict theory, on the other hand, is the idea that inequality continues to exist because people who benefit from inequality have the power to create systems that perpetuate inequality. I use conflict theory to propose that inequality based on physical attractiveness exists because people involved in corporations within the beauty industry benefit economically from the existence of attractiveness privilege and reinforce this type of privilege through advertising. Finally, I discuss the implications of my findings about attractiveness privilege for social work practice, policy, and research.

iii, 81 pages. Thesis (M.S.W.)-Smith College School for Social Work, 2014. Includes bibliographical references (pages 67-81)

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Yonce, Kelsey P., "Attractiveness privilege : the unearned advantages of physical attractivenesss" (2014). Masters Thesis, Smith College, Northampton, MA. https://scholarworks.smith.edu/theses/745

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UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The effects of physical attractiveness in the health care industry.

Richard Shane Westfall Follow

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Dissertation

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Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

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Murray G. Millar

Second Committee Member

Stephen D. Benning

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Janice C. McMurray

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Peter B. Gray

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Physical appearance has a far-reaching influence on a variety of human interactions, yet the effects on one domain has been largely ignored. This dissertation examines the potential effect of physical attractiveness on health care quality. Theoretical explanations for the development of both prejudice and stereotypes are presented, with a focus on the development and effects of attractiveness-based stereotypes. Several studies have found that workers in the medical field are susceptible to the same biases as the general public and that these are associated with lower health care quality for those more marginalized by society. Therefore, two studies were conducted to establish first, that health care workers possess attractiveness-based stereotypes similar to other segments of society and second, that these stereotypes affect the quality of health care received by individual patients. Based on these findings, there is a dire need for further research into this area. Automatic stereotype activation is extremely difficult to prevent, yet even more so when individuals are unaware of these stereotypes. Although programs exist to help reduce race and gender based stereotypic behavior in fields such as medicine or law enforcement, attractiveness-based stereotypes are largely ignored. Attempts cannot be undertaken for education and corrective action until we have a larger body of substantial basic research supporting the power that attractiveness-based stereotypes have over health-related decision-making.

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Experimental Analysis of Behavior

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Westfall, Richard Shane, "The Effects of Physical Attractiveness in the Health Care Industry" (2018). UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones . 3341. http://dx.doi.org/10.34917/13568778

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Psychology and Psychotherapy: Research Studys

Physical attractiveness and romantic relationships: a review.

Professor of Social Psychology, Paris University, France

*Corresponding author: Lamy L, Professor of Social Psychology, Paris University, France

Submission: February 14, 2020 Published: February 19, 2020

DOI: 10.31031/PPRS.2020.03.000566

ISSN 2639-0612 Volume3 Issue4

• Physical Attractiveness Elicits Attraction Rather than Love
• Physical Attractiveness and Illusions
• The Hidden Meaning of Physical Attractiveness

The aim of this article is to present an argument on the physical attractiveness-love linkage. It contributes to the discussion as to whether beauty is enough to inspire love, or it is only associated with preferences for an ideal partner. Next, we summarize the studies demonstrating the effects of beauty illusions on romantic relationships. Finally, we present the evolutionary and socio-cultural interpretations on the meaning of physical attractiveness.

When asked to state their ideal romantic-partner preferences, men tend to overestimate women’s physical attractiveness, whereas women tend to overestimate men’s earning prospects [1,2]. Beyond this gender-related difference, however, both men and women prefer attractive, as compared to non-attractive partners. Attractive individuals are more popular, at least among members of the opposite gender, and they are more successful in dating relationships [3]. In line with these findings, it could be expected that feelings of love and affection would be more readily directed towards attractive individuals. But it is striking that this hypothesis was not supported by empirical studies. Among dating partners, neither independent observer, self, nor partner ratings of attractiveness are linked with the level of love an individual receives from his/her partner [4]. For men and women alike, beauty has no advantage in terms of love received, or given. Attractive women are more desired as romantic partners. Attractive men have more cross-gender interactions. Thus, it could be stated that physical attractiveness creates attraction, but it is not enough to create love.

Among dating or married partners, positive illusions have been found to enhance feelings of trust, commitment, security, satisfaction and love [3]. The phenomenon [5,6] have termed the ‘love-is-blind bias’ is a positive illusion of partner physical attractiveness, such that men and women rate their current partners as more attractive than themselves and their former partners. The love-is-blind bias is positively correlated with self-esteem, relationship satisfaction, and romantic love. Moreover, [3] showed that men and women rate their partners as more attractive than their partners rate themselves. They also found relationship quality to be higher when individuals hold a positive illusion about their partners’ physical attractiveness, especially in older couples. In addition, individuals who rate their partners as more attractive than themselves love their partners more than individuals who rate themselves as more attractive than their partners [4]. A different kind of bias is related to our ability to leave aside our ideal romantic-partner preferences, when confronted to real potential romantic partners. Despite the fact that men consistently express a preference for physically attractive women, in a real-life setting [7] they display more relational investment to women similar to them regarding physical attractiveness, as compared to women dissimilar to them (i.e., more attractive or less attractive). Stated ideal preferences are uncorrelated with in vivo preferences during a speed-dating event [2]. Thus, it may be possible that individuals are partially unaware of the reasons why they engage in a relationship. Women and men alike value physical attractiveness, but this preference has little or no effect when they actually interact with a potential partner.

From an evolutionary point of view, physical attractiveness is related to health, fertility, and genetic quality [8,9]. Some physical features, such as symmetry or female waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), communicate information about health and fertility, and humans have evolved to interpret them as physical beauty. More specifically, female WHR has been found consistently to be related to health, e.g., cardiovascular disorders, adult-onset diabetes, certain forms of cancer, hypertension, or premature mortality [9]. It is also a reliable indicator of reproductive capability. In addition, both men and women rate female bodies with low WHR as more attractive. Therefore, it seems that men who fall in love with beautiful women, not only increase their hedonic satisfaction from contemplating beauty, or improve their social image, which is strongly associated with their partner’s beauty. They also improve their chances of having healthy children.

Beauty has also been thought of as an oppressive socio-cultural imperative. And indeed, judgements of physical beauty are part of an overall impression of social worth. Numerous personal qualities are attributed to the most beautiful individuals and make them more likeable. For instance, we assume they are warmer and happier, more assertive, emotionally more stable. We assume they have more friends, a happier marriage and a more prestigious occupation than unattractive individuals. Partners’ attractiveness is strongly connected with their social desirability. Nevertheless, beyond first encounters, attractive individuals might gain little from the ‘beautiful-is-good’ effect. Daily interactions provide countless opportunities to check whether a partner’s actual qualities live up to expectations. And when this is not the case, the initial sympathy could quickly turn into bitterness and resentment.

The gaze of love seeks beauty even where it is hard to find it [10]. But even with the gaze of love, beauty raises expectations and hope which sooner or later would need to be confirmed.

• Introduction

Social interaction styles and academic self-concept domains

The models generated for the dependent variables high general academic self-concept, high verbal self-concept and high mathematical self-concept allowed a correct estimation of 64.7%, 67.1% and 55.9%, respectively, with the predictors prosocial and aggressive behaviour and social anxiety (academic self-concept model), prosocial and aggressive behaviour (verbal self-concept model), social anxiety (mathematical self-concept model) forming part of the equations. The adjustment values (Nagelkerke’s R2) of the models for high self-concept varied between .04 and .21. The odds ratio (OR) revealed that the probability of high academic self concept was 2.69 times higher in prosocial adolescents that in nonprosocial adolescents, .45 times lower in aggressive adolescents that in non-aggressive adolescents, and .44 times lower in social anxious adolescents that in nonsocial anxious classmates. In other words OR showed that the probability of high general academic self-concept was 169% higher in prosocial students, 55% lower in aggressive students, and 56% lower in students with social anxiety. Furthermore, the OR revealed that the probability of high verbal self-concept was 192% higher in prosocial students and 74% lower in aggressive students (Table 2). Regarding to mathematical self-concept model, the OR indicated that the probability of high mathematical self-concept was 65% lower in adolescents with social anxiety.

Social interaction styles and achievement goals

Logistic models generated for scores of learning goals, performance goals and social reinforcement goals (dependent variables) allowed a correct estimation of 66.2%, 68.3% and 58.7%, respectively, with the predictors prosocial behaviour and social anxiety (learning goals model), prosocial behaviour (performance goals model), aggressive behaviour (social reinforcement goals model) forming part of the equations. Nagelkerke’s R2 estimated a model adjustment between .05 and .17. The OR revealed that the probability to present high learning goals was 310% higher in prosocial students, and 53% lower in students with social anxiety (Table 2). Furthermore, the OR revealed that the probability of highperformance goals was 4.69 times higher in prosocial adolescents that in non-prosocial adolescents, so, the probability of to have high performance goals was 369% higher in prosocial students. Finally, the OR indicated that the probability of high social reinforcement goals was 117% higher in aggressive students (Table 2).

Social interaction styles and academic performance

The model generated for high academic performance allowed a correct estimation of 66.8%, with scores of prosocial and aggressive behaviour forming part of the equation (Table 2). The value of Nagelkerke’s R2 of the model was .08. The OR revealed that the probability of high general academic performance was 118% higher in prosocial students and 50% lower in aggressive students.

The purpose of this study was to analyze the predictive role of social interaction styles (aggressive behaviour, prosocial behaviour, and social anxiety) on academic self-concept domains, goal orientations, and academic performance in a sample of Spanish compulsory secondary education students. As it was expected, aggressive behaviour was as a risk factor for high academic selfconcept, both general and verbal. However, it was not a predictor for math self-concept. The absence of influence of aggressive behaviour on math self-concept could be explained since aggressive students’ self-concept profiles have been identified as low for verbal ability and general school but not for maths ability [48]. According to previous studies [14], and providing support for the first hypothesis, aggressive style was also a risk factor for high academic performance, showing the increased probability of not reaching academic achievement when students present this interaction style. Regarding to academic goals, the results of the present study showed that aggressive style was a positive predictor of social reinforcement goals. The predictive value of aggressive behaviour on social reinforcement goals could be related to the search of approval in aggressive students. As it was reported by Ryan [13], the gain of positive judgements was a predictor of aggressive behaviour, showing that social context was important for aggressive students. As the scale used to assessed social reinforcement goals measured mostly the gain of a positive judgment by peers and teachers it could be possible that aggressive students were motivated to study just to obtain a positive view from others.

Nevertheless, contrary to hypothesized, aggressive students did not present more risk to obtain lower learning and performance goals in comparison to non-aggressive students. This finding indicates that despite the aggressive students maintain worse attitude towards the school [34] and less effort in scholastic tasks [35] their asocial behaviour do not predict directly learning and performance goals. However, Morrison [49] found that depending on mediator variables aggressive students have higher or lower self-concept. Consequently, the control of moderating and mediator variables (gender, self-concept, academic attribution, performance) could be an adequate strategy to clarify the predictive role of aggressive behaviour to academic motivation. As previous research has found, prosocial behaviour was a positive predictor of high general academic self-concept, and high verbal self-concept. However, prosocial behaviour was not a predictor for mathematical self-concept, which could be explained by the fact the self-concept examined in previous studies was a self-concept general and selfesteem [9], and that general self-concept is partially link to specific math self-concept. Thus, the effect of prosocial style in the way of individuals perceived them as students could depend on the study area or subject. Findings regarding to prosocialness as a predictor of learning goals and performance goals were also consistent with previous studies [18]. Prosocial students usually are more motivated intrinsically and more oriented toward mastery of school tasks and improve of their performance, having more likelihood to obtain a better academic achievement [20].

However, results of this study did not support the hypothesis what prosocialness is a negative predictor of social reinforcement goals. This result could be explained by the fact that social reinforcement goals are not a goal orientation representative in the prosocial student’s group [36]. Consistently to these findings, prosocialness was a positive predictor of academic achievement. Prosocial students showed 118% more probability to obtain high academic performance than non-prosocial students. Thus, results of this study support again the relevance of prosocial characteristics in academic adjustment of students. In addition to the potential predictive of prosocial and aggressive behaviour, this study also examined weight predictive of social anxiety on cognitive-motivational variables and academic performance. Social anxiety was a significant predictor in three of seven models created, revealing that this style of social interaction is less relevant for the prediction of verbal self-concept, social reinforcement goals and performance goals and academic performance than aggressive and prosocial behaviour styles.

Mixed support was found for social anxiety predicting selfconcept and achievement goals. The hypothesis that social anxiety would predict negatively academic self-concept was confirmed, supporting the findings found by Delgado et al. [28]. Thus, students with self-reported social anxiety informed 56% and 65% lower likelihood to maintain high general academic self-concept and high math self-concept, respectively. These results suggest that adolescents with difficulties in their social relations may not just influence negatively in social self-efficacy and general self-concept, otherwise it could affect directly in self-image of adolescents as a student. Thus, according to Fordham [50], these results suggest the importance of social self-efficacy in self-worth increase as children grow up, becoming more strongly linked to anxiety and other internalizing problems in adolescence. Although social anxiety was hypothesized as independent factor to achievement goals, social anxiety tended to predict learning goals. Students with social anxiety obtained 53% lower probability to maintain high levels or learning goals. These results are consistent with prior findings Cantwell [31], which found that students with social anxiety felt a great discomfort in group of learning, being higher levels discomfort in groups negatively related to learning and performance goals. In the same line, Delgado et al. [51] found that socially anxious students reported lower interest towards school and academic success, even though had not found this difference in achievement goals. Social anxiety was not included in academic performance model, revealing a lower predictive power respect to prosocial and aggressive styles. This finding could be explained by the fact that previous findings did not introduce other social interaction styles in their predictive models, the assessment was conducted with clinic interviews, and some studies used a retrospective methodology. Moreover, as reported by Strahan [52], is possible that different kinds of social functioning may be found in groups of socially anxious students. They proposed a group of individuals which in spite to show great levels of anxiety, they can perform properly, since they automated their anxious thoughts for consume only a small amount of processing capacity. Therefore, it would be interesting and necessary to go into this differentiation in depth in adolescent population with social anxiety, and to examine if there are differences in their academic adjustment.

The interpretation of these results must bear in mind certain limitations that should be resolved for future investigations. As it was previously commented, further research should consider the meditational role of other academic variables [53]. In this sense, it would be interesting to assess if there are mediating variables in the relation between interpersonal styles and academic self-concept, academic goals and academic performance and if so introduce them in the models to provide more adjusted predictions. Furthermore, the design employed in this study was cross-sectional, not allowing to make causal inferences, so that future research should include a longitudinal design and to generate causal models using structural equation modeling [54,55]. In summary, the results of this study support previous conclusion that students’ relationship with peers are potentially important for understanding their levels of academic self-concept, achievement goals and academic performance [56]. These results may be useful for understanding the contribution of social behaviour in the maintenance of good academic adjustment. Findings could be used for teachers and school psychologists as an empirical research base to plan effective preventive actions, which should include a screening of students interpersonal tendency of interaction and a program to improve their academic functioning in the psychoeducational variables proposed by the logistic models.

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Morning After the Revolution review: a bad faith attack on ‘woke’

Nellie Bowles seeks simply to stoke ‘communal outrage’, whether over protesters, the unhoused or trans people

W riting on Substack in 2021 , Nellie Bowles described some of the less attractive qualities that motivated her work as a reporter: “I love the warm embrace of the social media scrum. One easy path toward the top of the list … is communal outrage. Toss something (someone) into that maw, and it’s like fireworks. I have mastered that game. For a couple of years, that desire for attention … propelled me more than almost anything else. I began to see myself less as a mirror and more as a weapon.”

Bowles is married to Bari Weiss, a former editor on the opinion section of the New York Times whose furious resignation letter earned her encomiums from Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and Donald Trump Jr.

But Bowles wrote that her decision to convert to the faith of her Jewish wife had actually softened her approach to journalism: “I want to cultivate my empathy not my cruelty. I am trying to go back to being closer to the mirror than the knife.”

However, her new book, Morning After the Revolution: Dispatches from the Wrong Side of History, is dazzling proof she is completely incapable of changing her approach to her profession.

Bowles is a former tech reporter for outlets including the Guardian and the New York Times . For many reporters, the decision to write a book comes from wanting to dig deeper into a particular subject, or a desire for freedom from the restrictions of one’s former employer. For Bowles, longform turns out to be the chance to jettison the standards of accuracy of her previous employers in favor of the wildest possible generalizations.

Here are a few fine examples: “The best feminists of my generation were born with dicks.” This is the author’s jaunty description of trans women, who, she informs us, are “the best, boldest” and “fiercest feminists”, who unfortunately – according to her – have concluded “that to be a woman is, in general, disgusting”.

On the ninth page of Bowles’s introduction, meanwhile, readers realize how much we must have underestimated the universal impact of the movement to Defund the Police. Did you know, for example, that “if you want to be part of the movement for universal healthcare … you cannot report critically on #DefundThePolice”?

Bowles identifies a similar problem with marriage equality: “If you want to be part of a movement that supports gay marriage … then you can’t question whatever disinformation is spread that week.”

The wilder the idea, the more likely Bowles is to include it, almost always in a way that can never be checked. To prove the vile effect of wokeness on the entire news business, she informs us that colleagues “at major news organizations” have “told me roads and birds are racist. Voting is racist. Exercise is super-racist. Worrying about plastic in the water is transphobic.” And a “cohort” took it “as gospel when a nice white lady said that being on time and objectivity were white values, and this was a progressive belief”.

Writing about a tent city in Echo Park, Los Angeles , Bowles explains why nobody living there was interested in a free hotel room: “Residents could not do drugs in the rooms. And the rooms were, of course, indoors. People high on meth and fentanyl prefer being outdoors, with no rules, with their friends.”

Predictably, the book reaches a whole new level of viciousness when it reveals Bowles’ attitude toward trans people.

Intelligent people know three essential facts about the debate over whether children under 18 should have access to hormones or surgery to make their bodies conform to the gender in which they think they belong.

First, a large majority of trans people of all ages never take hormones or get surgery. Second, nearly all of those who do choose to use medicine to alter their bodies report a dramatic improvement in personal happiness. Third, a very small number of those who have undergone surgery or taken hormones to block puberty do change their minds and opt for de-transition.

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Naturally, Bowles mentions none of those facts. According to her narrative, “the transition from Black Lives Matter to Trans Lives Matter was seamless … I don’t think this was planned or orchestrated. The movement simply pivoted.”

No mention, of course, of polls conducted by Christian nationalists and their allies which determined that the best new fundraising tool would be an all-out attack on trans people, including the denial of their very existence, as well as the introduction of hundreds of bills in state legislatures across the country to make this tiny minority as miserable as possible.

Instead, Bowles wants us to believe the debate is dominated by websites you might not have heard of, like Fatherly, which asserts: “All kids, regardless of their gender identity, start to understand their own gender typically by the age of 18 to 24 months.” One parent who appeared on PBS in 2023 is equally important in Bowles’s book, because she said her child started to let her parents know “she was transgender really before she could even speak”.

Needless to say, Bowles is horrified that as America became more aware of the existence of trans people, the number of clinics available to treat them grew to 60 by 2023. Then she makes another remarkable claim: “If a parent resists” medical changes requested by a child, “they can and do lose custody of their child.”

Is that true? I have no idea. If Bowles had written that sentence in the Times or the Guardian, her editor would most certainly have requested some sort of proof. Fortunately for her – but unfortunately for us – her publisher , a new Penguin Random House imprint, Thesis, does not appear to impose any outdated fact-checking requirements. The only visible standard here is, if it’s shocking, we’ll print it.

Morning After the Revolution is published in the US by Thesis

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Journal of Materials Chemistry B

Recent advancements in bio-based dielectric and piezoelectric polymers and their biomedical applications.

* Corresponding authors

a Faculty of Petroleum, Gas and Petrochemical Engineering, Persian Gulf University, Bushehr, Iran

b Department of Polymer Processing, Iran Polymer and Petrochemical Institute, P.O. BOX: 14975/112, Tehran, Iran E-mail: [email protected]

c São Paulo State University (Unesp), School of Technology and Sciences, Presidente Prudente, SP, Brazil

The advent of polymer-based dielectrics marked a significant breakthrough in dielectric materials. However, despite their many advantages, they pose serious environmental threats. Therefore, in recent years, there has been growing interest in bio-based polymers as a sustainable alternative to traditional petroleum-based polymers. Their renewable nature and reduced environmental impact can fulfil the rising demand for eco-friendly substitutes. Beyond their ecological benefits, bio-based polymers also possess distinctive electrical properties that make them extremely attractive in a variety of applications. Considering these, herein, we present recent advancements in bio-based dielectric polymers and nanocomposites. First, the fundamental concepts of dielectric and polymer-based dielectric materials are covered. Then, we will delve into the discussion of recent advancements in the dielectric properties and thermal stability of bio-based polymers, including polylactic acid, polyhydroxyalkanoates, polybutylene succinate, starch, cellulose, chitosan, chitins, and alginates, and their nanocomposites. Other novel bio-based dielectric polymers and their distinct dielectric characteristics have also been pointed out. In an additional section, the piezoelectric properties of these polymers and their recent biomedical applications have been highlighted and discussed thoroughly. In conclusion, this paper thoroughly discusses the recent advances in bio-based dielectric polymers and their potential to revolutionize the biomedical industry while cultivating a more sustainable and greener future.

• This article is part of the themed collection: Journal of Materials Chemistry B Recent Review Articles

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A. Yadegari, M. Akbarzadeh, F. Kargaran, R. Mirzaee, I. Salahshoori, M. A. L. Nobre and H. A. Khonakdar, J. Mater. Chem. B , 2024, Advance Article , DOI: 10.1039/D4TB00231H

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