What is beautiful brings out what is good in you: The effect of facial attractiveness on individuals' honesty

Abstract

This study tested whether the presence of an attractive face would influence individuals' honesty. In 2 experiments, 225 participants were asked to predict the outcome of computerised coin-flips and to self-report the accuracy of their predictions. Self-reports were made in the presence of a facial photo of a female who had been rated before the experiment as high attractive, middle attractive or low attractive by other volunteers. Participants were rewarded based on their self-reported (not actual) accuracy. The results showed that subjects tended to give more dishonest self-reports when presented with middle or low attractive facial images than when presented with high attractive images, with self-reported accuracy being significantly higher than the random level. The results of this study show that presented with an attractive face, subjects tend to engage in behaviours that conform to moral codes.

Natural Tendency towards Beauty in Humans: Evidence from Binocular Rivalry

“…In addition, some studies have found that facial perception may be modulated by gender [ 22 , 25 , 42 – 44 ]. Ishai [ 45 ] found an interaction between the perceptions of facial attractiveness and the sexual preference of the participant: in heterosexual women and homosexual men, attractive male faces elicited stronger activation than attractive female faces, whereas in heterosexual men and homosexual women, attractive female faces evoked stronger activation than attractive male faces.…”

The Heredity of Beauty

“…In the UK, more attractive children were found to have higher IQs (by 12.4 points) (Kanazawa, 2011). People in one study were found to be more honest and moral when they saw the face of a more attractive person (Wang et al, 2017). This suggests that people respond to and treat attractive people differently than others.…”

¿Estrellas o constelaciones? Implicaciones de los estudios cognitivos para el modelo dimensional de la emoción

“…Por ejemplo, la investigación en los efectos de los estímulos estéticos en la cognición moral ha encontrado que la percepción de rostros atractivos incrementó la honestidad de los participantes (Wang et al, 2015), un resultado congruente con la existencia implícita (pero ampliamente operativa) del estereotipo "si es bello es bueno" (Shannon y Shark, 2003).…”