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have you ever experienced the favoritism
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or discrimination that ethnicity
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religion sexual orientation and gender
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can often entail but what about pretty
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privilege have you ever heard of the
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idea that people are favored just
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because they're
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attractive in fact there is a term that
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describes this phenomenon very well lism
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or appearance-based discrimination is a
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matter that's actually well documented
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in economic psychological and
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sociological research papers similar to
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racism sexism or agism lookism is
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considered a form of discrimination
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based on looks as described by warhost
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and colleagues this is the first type of
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pretty privilege we're going to talk
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about and it forms an umbrella that
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encompasses all of the other following
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types Leal goes so far as to link
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increased repeated an incident that
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forms from this type of discrimination
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with higher odds of poor self-reported
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health with women especially actually
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reporting more repeated experiences of
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appearance-based discrimination
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especially in early childhood this form
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of discrimination can really impinge on
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one's social life and development just
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like any other form but with a more
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significant effect for social ability
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today we're going to learn about what is
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commonly known as pretty privilege this
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refers to a social Advantage like having
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a high educational or socioeconomic
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status that stems from being attractive
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in this video we're going to explore the
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six types of pretty privileges as
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defined in the psychology papers and
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we're going to also look at its causes
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and consequences in later
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development we tend to believe that
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attractive individuals possess desirable
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social traits conversely there is an
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unconscious negative view of
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unattractive individuals for example we
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often assume that they are more likely
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to commit Norm violations or engage in
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socially unacceptable undesirable
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behaviors in Psychology this is known as
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the halo effect the halo effect is a
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cognitive bias meaning it's something
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that influences the way we look at the
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world on the outside and it's often
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something that we're not even aware of
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doing where people generally form
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opinions about something or someone
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based on their positive or negative
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predispositions for instance you might
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assume that a modern or attractive car
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is safer to drive than an older or
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unattractive one although the data may
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not back that up when it comes to people
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forming an accurate impression of an
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individual requires considering the
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dynamic interactions of many various
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traits this means that different
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characteristics influence each other to
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create a final impression of a person
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the halo effect leads to the formation
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of a positive general impression based
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on limited information from isolated
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physical traits typically these are
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revolved around attractiveness since
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that's what we can first judge about a
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person when we see them initially in
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other words certain traits act as a Halo
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casting a positive light on other
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completely unrelated attributes for
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instance being physically attractive
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which is the first thing you see about a
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person may also cast a positive light on
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your impression of how intelligent they
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are or how warm they are how charismatic
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they are how capable they are completely
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unrelated traits the opposite of this
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phenomenon has been referred to as the
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devil effect by Gibson and colleagues
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and in one such podcast episode we
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actually went into depth talking about
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something called the double devil effect
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where being physically unattractive has
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a double negative effect rather than
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being physically attractive which has a
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single positive effect in simple speak
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it's worse being physically less
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attractive than the benefits of being
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physically more attractive where
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generally this means we judge less
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attractive individuals as less competent
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or less socially skilled because this is
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the reverse of the halo effect this is
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particularly important because the
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overall evaluation of someone as good or
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bad influences our future judgments of
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that person therefore the halo effect
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lies at the core of pre privilege being
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considered attractive or unattractive by
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Society standards influences most
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aspects of Our Lives at least to some
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extent beauty also affects quality of
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life for instance attractive individuals
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tend to enjoy a higher quality of life
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which is repeatedly reported in
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scientific papers but also this one's
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pretty much Common Sense this includes
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earning higher salaries experiencing
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more fulfilling relationships receiving
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better treatment from others and having
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an overall sense of well-being the most
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notable social consequence of being
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attractive is having higher self-esteem
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which in turn leads to positive outcomes
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in various aspects of Life a according
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to Lian colleagues self-esteem is
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influenced by how we perceive our value
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to others this means that our
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self-esteem is tied to how others view
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US evaluate and subsequently interact
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with us which in turn forms if we have
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high or low self-esteem in other words
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our appearance determines how Society
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treats us which in turn shapes our
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self-image as a result it's easy to
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understand how attractive individuals
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tend to have higher self-esteem and as a
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result they are treated better they see
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themselves being treated better and so
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they view themselves as being better on
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the other hand individuals who are
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perceived as less attractive often face
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rejection in various areas of life but
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seemingly inexplicable reasons while it
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is evident that physical appearances
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plays a role in romantic rejections and
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romantic rejections has a significant
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impact on self-esteem that is not the
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only aspect for how this negatively
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impacts less attractive individuals they
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also experience rejection in other forms
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such as platonic friendships workplace
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relations or just being considered less
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capable by teachers as is the an
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example beauty is also very highly
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valued in the labor market primarily for
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the two reasons we mentioned above there
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are significant benefits to being
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physically attractive and economists
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theorize this Effect called the beauty
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premium where basically Brands
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colleagues workers and companies want to
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capitalize on your beauty by essentially
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turning looks into money attractive
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individuals earn higher salaries
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compared to those considered less
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attractive in one such groundbreaking
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study on the topic HR Mission colleagues
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demonstrated an average wage penalty of
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up to 10% for individuals perceived as
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plain or unattractive and an average
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premium of up to 10% for those deemed
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very attractive the challenge is that
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unlike other forms of discrimination
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luism is actually not considered legal
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does the beauty premium apply
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universally or is a bias then you might
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ask well for instance one might expect
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that being attractive as a salesperson
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or waitress could provide significant
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benefits and discriminating based on
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that would not be reasonable de euga and
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colleagues found that the beauty premium
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can indeed be task dependent in a
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bargaining task where individuals acted
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as sellers of electronic equipment
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attractiveness strongly influenced the
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outcomes of the sale in other words
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attractive sellers received higher wages
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compared to unattractive sellers however
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they did not observe a beauty premium in
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tasks that were more intellectually
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oriented such as say data entry or being
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a programmer nevertheless other research
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has shown that the beauty premium
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extended task both related and related
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to appearances such as credit markets
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professional sports college classrooms
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and even elections pretty obvious that
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one thus the effect persists even in
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situations where Beauty does not appear
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to play an obvious role where we get
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into some examples of that in our video
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why do athletes have more attractive
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faces or do you get hired more because
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of your physical looks the beauty
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premium is primarily a result of the
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halo effect employers tend to assume
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that attractiveness is indicative of
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skill relative to the job performance
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which leads to them being being willing
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to pay more for attractive individuals
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but it is also true that attractive
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individuals do have the ability to sell
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more simply because of how humans have
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cognitive biases towards other
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attractive
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individuals one very understated
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advantage of being physically attractive
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is the ability to get away with Norm
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violations much more easily Norm
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violations can range from minor
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infractions such as cutting the line to
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more severe violations of the law where
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say in a two-way C crash the person who
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is at fault may just depend on who is
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physically more attractive if the answer
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isn't obvious the greater the deviation
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from the norm the more Society tends to
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dislike the individual involved when
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encountering someone engaging in
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suspicious Behavior quick and critical
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decisions need to be made such as
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whether to approach the individual or
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alert the authorities attractiveness
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plays a crucial role in those kind of
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scenarios but as we've seen it can also
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lead to inaccurate judgments and
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predisposed decisions there are three
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dimensions in which attra acess
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influences this type of dynamic the
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likelihood of committing a norm
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violation the perception of
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intentionality and the extent of social
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punishment attractive individuals are
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viewed as more likely to conform to
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societal Norms on the other hand
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individuals perceived as less attractive
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are seen as more inclined to commit Norm
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violations this perception arises
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because attractive individuals are
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expected to behave predictably and to be
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well socially adjusted which makes sense
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because attractive individuals are
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treated better so so they have no reason
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to rebel against the society that treats
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them better in contrast less attractive
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individuals are regarded as
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unpredictable due to potential
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mistreatment or resentment towards
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Society attractive individuals are also
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perceived as more likely to commit Norm
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violations involving positive behaviors
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this means that their intentions often
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mitigate the perception of their
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wrongdoing for example if someone who is
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attractive steals food from a store we
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may justify that act as being driven by
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hunger or trying to feed a family of
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five
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however if the person is less attractive
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we are more inclined to perceive it as
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robbery another example is the act of
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forgetting to flush the toilet for an
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attractive individual it may be seen as
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a simple mistake however when it
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involves a less attractive person it can
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be viewed as a sign of unhygienic
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behavior these examples serve to
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illustrate the general idea that
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regarding attractive individuals we tend
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to excuse Norm violations as exceptions
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rather than indicative of their typical
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Behavior finally being attractive
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provides individuals with a certain
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tolerance when it comes to violating
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social norms resulting in fewer
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potential consequences compared to their
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less attractive counterparts for
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instance research has shown that
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attractive individuals often receive
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less severe punishment in legal trials
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the perception of a norm violation is
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either creepy or innocent is influenced
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by the Halo or the devil effect we tend
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to attribute positive intentions to
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attractive individuals and negative
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intentions to less attractive
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individuals as a result attractive
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individuals face fewer consequences for
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for both minor and severe Norm
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violations which in turn contributes to
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a better quality of life for them
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overall generational effects are maing
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decisions that we make that affect the
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reproductive success of our offsprings
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later on these are often influenced by
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physical attractiveness the existence of
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these ideas in humans is debated but
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worth exploring nonetheless according to
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evolutionary biology a female's ideal
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mate is one with good genes which in
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turn produces males with the best chance
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of reproductive success we see this in
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most organisms and there is good theory
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that this also applies to humans too
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therefore other benefits that the father
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can offer are less relevant including
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for example his capacity as a parental
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caregiver in comparison to his genetic
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strength therefore what matters most is
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the future success of her sons rather
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than the success of her daughters which
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in turn will have somebody quoting them
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no matter how they look like more or
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less this is called a sexy sun
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hypothesis which is pretty interesting
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and we have covered this two other times
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this was proposed by Patrick J
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Weatherhead and rayy J Robertson of
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Queens University in
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Kingston and therefore to guarantee that
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success they need to trade off for
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highly masculine fathers which are often
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poor longterm Partners this in turn
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produces very attractive Sons which in
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turn can chase after a number of women
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and be successful whereas daughters in
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general would be chased after by other
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men so it doesn't really matter matter
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in prioritizing the looks of the
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daughter as opposed to prioritizing the
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looks of the potential son this is just
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one of the many evolutionary theories
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we've covered on the podcast and on our
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channel in the past with Simon groom a
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biologist and we have seen many of these
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fall more or less in Trend therefore we
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do see a tendency for resource and all
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looks poor men to go invisible off the
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sexual Market more particularly men
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without these highly masculine or
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dimorphic features who find it tougher
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and tougher to compete as there is an
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inflation of physical looks this is the
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last form of pretty privilege one where
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being an attractive person man or women
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you will possess a likely higher
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reproductive benefit that ripples
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through
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generations with that being said this is
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not entirely all doom and gloom there is
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still multifaceted aspects to explore
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such as wealth and Status which do have
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confounding effects for both men and
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women and can increase or decrease
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desirability but there are also other
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ways that we have to look at that one
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can make themselves more desirable
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without resorting to just physical
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attractiveness with that being said if
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you'd like to learn more about your own
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physical attractiveness if that's a
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curiosity of yours if you'd like to
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learn about your aesthetic your facial
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features your characteristics and how
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you can improve the way that you look
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well you're in luck because that's what
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we do you can head over to the C's
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website and have an assessment
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commissioned by our team of doctors and
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dentists and have them take a look at
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your features and give you stepbystep
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advice on what you can change work on or
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do to get a second opinion that
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interests you that's over at the the K's
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website and I'll catch you all in the
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next one