According to social trends, being attractive is desirable.
People believe that attractive folks have a front-row ticket to life.
People tend to believe that those who possess physically appealing features are generally well-liked.
But in real life, this could not be farther from reality.
From struggling to be employed to finding suitable friends and partners, attractive people actually do have it hard.
What is pretty privilege?
What is the halo effect?
Psychological studies even found that attractive people have an unfair advantage in certain social parameters (viaPsychology Today).
In a courtroom, they’re less likely to be judged guilty by a jury.
In academic spaces, they might receive higher grades for submitting the same quality of work as other classmates.
And kids who are “cuter” are less likely to be scolded or grounded by adults.
The halo effect is the cognitive bias that leads to pretty privilege (viaThe Roots of Loneliness Project).
Psychologists call this the “what is beautiful is good” heuristic (via theBBC).
This happens due to feelings of envy or jealousy.
Everybody wants to be the most memorable person in the group.
As competitive beings, we like to check out our opponents.
This subconscious competition can lead to people distancing themselves from the attractive person.
People like to protect their peace and stay away from people who remind them of their insecurities.
This can also end up with people harboring negative feelings toward the attractive person.
In this case of envy-related hostility, attractive people are perceived as a threat and are hence kept away.
While pretty privilege is an advantage at work, the grass is not always greener.
Attractive people may run into biases fueled by jealousy when it comes to hiring.
The psychological reason behind this is again jealousy and envy-related hostility of hiring managers toward attractive candidates.
Attractive people are desired by everyone and must have a long line of suitors waiting for them, right?
Apparently, this is a misconception.
Nobody likes to be rejected.
Hence, they tend to link with people they believe they might actually have a shot at dating.
Attractive people tend to know they are attractive.
Our cognitive biases reflect this as the person being less approachable.
This lead to a decrease in the number ofsocial interactionsthat are initiated with highly attractive people.
The study also found that moderately attractive people are the favorites when it comes to approachability.
