If you’re good looking great! If not, well then you could face numerous challenges as you navigate future employment opportunities. According to Daniel Hamermesh who wrote the NY Times article attached, more attractive people made ON AVERAGE $230,000 MORE over the course of their lifetime. Finally, the author of this NY Times article suggests that attractiveness should be added into The Civil Rights Act under disparate treatment as research suggests employers discriminate on the basis of looks.
But the main question is why on earth should people care what someone looks like? Do we really think ugly people aren’t capable of producing new innovative ideas that lead to rapid business development? Or that attractiveness is in some way statistically predictive of a company’s success?
There are many explanations that social psychologists and behavioral economists yield to support explanations about why we discriminate against unattractive individuals. When making decisions, we as human develop generic frames to “size up” an individual. If we’re approached by an attractive person, we attribute overly positive qualities such as success, wealth and happiness. Daniel S. Hamermesh points out that as people we are influenced more by better looking people. This fundamental attribution error could cost millions to billions of dollars in opportunity costs, not to mention its discrimination.
So what’s the answer? Should we include attractiveness under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act?
Since I don’t think legislation like this would ever pass in Congress (especially this one), this research goes to show how valuable structured, behavioral interviews are for employers. The answer to this problem, interviewers and hiring managers should be solely focused on the candidate’s ability to perform the necessary job functions. Either way, it looks like I’m not cancelling my gym membership anytime soon.
Related Article
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/28/opinion/sunday/ugly-you-may-have-a-case.html?_r=1
By: Jonathan Konstan-Pines
Business Psychology Psy D Candidate
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