Beauty Goes Down to the Core: Attractiveness Biases Moral Character Attributions

Evidence against the "anomalous-is-bad" stereotype in Hadza hunter gatherers

“…People in English-speaking populations have a beauty-is-good stereotype, inferring that people perceived as more attractive are more moral and that people perceived as physically unattractive are less moral. 3,5 People with deviations from facial typicality, such as craniofacial anomalies like scars, are especially likely to be viewed as morally worse, whether they are perceived as attractive or not. In other words, people have an anomalous-is-bad stereotype.…”

“…Prior studies report that people make negative attributions from physical unattractiveness for a broad range of traits, including competence, 3,8 whereas others report effects specific to moral traits. 5 This finding could be an experimental artifact because foraging judgments were always asked after good heart judgments. Participants could have avoided selecting the same faces for both traits, such that picking the unscarred face for the good heart judgment would likely be followed by picking the scarred face for foraging.…”

“…The notion that facial appearance weighs on character is more than just a familiar storytelling device-participants from primarily English-speaking countries have a "beauty-is-good" stereotype and are more likely to ascribe positive personal qualities to beautiful people. [2][3][4][5] On the other hand, US students and online workers have an "anomalous-is-bad" stereotype and are more likely to ascribe negative qualities to people with deviations from prototypically attractive features (e.g., craniofacial anomalies), especially negative attributions of moral character. [5][6][7][8] People may use craniofacial anomalies and other deviations from facial typicality to infer moral character because these anomalies are perceived as cues to infectious disease.…”

“…[2][3][4][5] On the other hand, US students and online workers have an "anomalous-is-bad" stereotype and are more likely to ascribe negative qualities to people with deviations from prototypically attractive features (e.g., craniofacial anomalies), especially negative attributions of moral character. [5][6][7][8] People may use craniofacial anomalies and other deviations from facial typicality to infer moral character because these anomalies are perceived as cues to infectious disease.…”

“…If the Hadza are no less likely to choose the scarred face, then this would be evidence that the anomalous-is-bad stereotype is not universal. We ask about morality and THE ANOMALOUS-IS-BAD BIAS IN HADZA HUNTER GATHERERS 5 foraging ability because some evidence suggest that the stereotype is specific to morality, 5 and foraging ability is an important dimension on which Hadza evaluate campmates. 27,28 Asking about foraging ability thereby allows us to examine the specificity of the stereotype.…”