Physical Attractiveness and Candidate Evaluation: A Model of Correction

Hart, William; Ottati, Victor; Krumdick, Nathaniel D.

doi:10.1111/j.1467-9221.2010.00812.x

Cited by 49 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 50 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…For this study attractiveness is of major importance since another set of results show that attractiveness (or beauty) predicts electoral success (see for example Berggren, Jordahl, & Poutvaara, 2010;Hart, Ottati, & Krumdick, 2011;King & Leigh, 2009;Rosar, Klein, & Beckers, 2008). This is largely in line with findings across other social science disciplines that physical attractiveness relates positively to earnings and generally has positive effects throughout the lifecourse (see for example Hamermesh & Biddle, 1994;Jaeger, 2011).…”

Section: Facial Competence And/or Attractivenesssupporting

confidence: 75%

Decomposing the Relationship Between Candidates’ Facial Appearance and Electoral Success

Laustsen

2013

Polit Behav

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Numerous studies show that candidates' facial competence predicts electoral success. However, a handful of other studies suggest that candidates' attractiveness is a stronger predictor of electoral success than facial competence. Furthermore, the overall relationship between inferences from candidates' faces and electoral success is challenged in two ways: (i) non-facial factors in candidate photos such as clothing and hair style as well as (ii) parties' nomination strategies are suggested as potential confounds. This study is based on original data about all 268 candidates running in three local elections in 2009 in Denmark and supports a two-component structure of the relationship between candidates' facial appearance and their electoral success. Facial competence is found to mediate a positive relationship between candidates' attractiveness and electoral success, but simultaneously facial competence also predicts electoral success over and above what can be accounted for by attractiveness. Importantly these relationships are found when seven different nonfacial factors, parties' nomination strategies and candidates' age and gender are controlled for. This suggests that the two-component structure of the relationship between candidates' facial appearance and electoral success is highly robust.

show abstract

Section: Facial Competence And/or Attractivenesssupporting

confidence: 75%

Decomposing the Relationship Between Candidates’ Facial Appearance and Electoral Success

Laustsen

2013

Polit Behav

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Similarly, knowledgeable and engaged voters are less likely to display appearance-based biases when they vote (Hart et al, 2011;Lenz and Lawson, 2011;Riggle et al, 1992;Shephard and Johns, 2008). This is consistent with the broader literature demonstrating that people are more likely to rely on stereotypes to make judgments about people when there is little or no other relevant information available about the person (Davison and Burke, 2000;Tosi and Einbender, 1985).…”

Section: Influence Of Candidate Weight On Voting Behaviorsupporting

confidence: 81%

“…Previous research has found that people rely less on stereotypes and biases when making judgments about others if they have relevant information about a person (Davison and Burke, 2000;Hart et al, 2011;and Lawson et al, 2009;Riggle et al, 1992;Shephard and Johns, 2008;Todorov et al, 2005;Tosi and Einbender, 1985). In US Senate elections, all voters, at the very least, know each candidate's political affiliation, which is listed on the ballot.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous research demonstrates that stereotypes regarding gender, race and physical appearance affect voting behavior, particularly in low-information elections when people have little information on which to base their judgments (Hart et al, 2011;Huddy and Terkildson, 1993;Banducci et al, 2008;Todorov et al, 2005). To date, little is known about whether impressions people have about the overweight and obese also affect the selection of candidates and the voting behavior of the electorate.…”

Section: Literature Review and Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Weight bias in US candidate selection and election

Roehling

Brennan

et al. 2014

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to use data from the 2008 and 2012 US Senate elections to examine the relationship between candidate size (obese, overweight, normal weight) and candidate selection and election outcomes. Design/methodology/approach -Using pictures captured from candidate web sites, participants rated the size of candidates in the primary and general US Senate elections. w 2 analyses, t-tests and hierarchical multiple regressions were used to test for evidence of bias against overweight and obese candidates and whether gender and election information moderate that relationship. Findings -Obese candidates were largely absent from the pool of candidates in both the primary and general elections. Overweight women, but not overweight men, were also underrepresented. Supporting our hypothesis that there is bias against overweight candidates, heavier candidates tended to receive lower vote share than their thinner counterparts, and the larger the size difference between the candidates, the larger the vote share discrepancy. The paper did not find a moderating effect for gender or highinformation high vs low-information elections on the relationship between candidate size and vote share. Research limitations/implications -Further research is needed to understand the process by which obese candidates are culled from the candidate pool and the cognitions underlying the biases against overweight candidates. Social implications -Because of the bias against obese political candidates, as much as one-third of the adult US population are likely to be excluded or being elected to a major political office. Originality value -This study is the first to use election data to examine whether bias based on size extends to the electoral process.

show abstract

“…For instance, voters in winner-take-all plurality electoral systems are more prone to use candidate appearance as a heuristic device than voters in proportional systems (Stockemer and Praino, 2017); conservative candidates benefit more from their physical appearance than others (Berggren, Jordahl, and Poutvaara, 2017); attractive individuals are considered more knowledgeable and more persuasive (Palmer and Peterson, 2016); and good-looking candidates benefit disproportionately from media exposure (Lenz and Lawson, 2011) and get a "break" when involved in scandals (Stockemer and Praino, 2018). A lot of work has also been done on understanding the underlying mechanism applied by voters (Hart, Ottati, and Krumdick, 2011;Stockemer and Praino, 2015). For complete reviews on the current state of literature, see Berggren, Jordahl, and Poutvaara (2017), (Milazzo and Mattes (2015), and Stockemer and Praino (2017). though, overall, attractive job applicants are evaluated more favorably than less attractive applicants, Watkins and Johnston (2000) find that physical attractiveness has no impact when it comes to high-quality job applications.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

What Are Good‐Looking Candidates, and Can They Sway Election Results?*

Praino

Stockemer

2018

Social Science Quarterly

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Objective In this article, we address two major gaps in the understanding of the relationship between candidate attractiveness and electoral success. With the assistance of the Victoria Police Criminal Identification Unit in Melbourne, Australia, we show how good‐looking candidates look like by building the faces of six “ideal candidates” in terms of physical attractiveness. Utilizing our “ideal candidates,” we then investigate whether candidate attractiveness can actually sway electoral results. Methods We proceed in four distinct steps, using data from the 2008 U.S. House of Representatives elections. First, we collect data on candidate attractiveness. Second, we build our “ideal candidates” and obtain their attractiveness ranking. Third, we model the effect of candidate attractiveness on candidate vote margins. Fourth, we run four hypothetical scenarios that assess whether candidate attractiveness can sway the electoral results in marginal seats. Results About two‐thirds of marginal races would trigger a different winner if the actual loser looked like our ideal candidates. In addition, virtually every single marginal race would have had a different outcome if the unsuccessful candidate looked like our “ideal candidate” and the successful candidate was very unattractive. Conclusion Candidate attractiveness can sway electoral results, provided that elections are competitive.

show abstract

Physical Attractiveness and Candidate Evaluation: A Model of Correction

Cited by 49 publications

References 50 publications

Decomposing the Relationship Between Candidates’ Facial Appearance and Electoral Success

Decomposing the Relationship Between Candidates’ Facial Appearance and Electoral Success

Weight bias in US candidate selection and election

What Are Good‐Looking Candidates, and Can They Sway Election Results?*

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About