Physical Attraction and Its Impact
The Attractiveness Halo
Few traits are as widely desired as physical attraction. It's no secret that beautiful people have an advantage over the rest of the world. According to a 2011 study from the Royal Society of London, your looks affect a wide range of important social situations. Researchers call this the attractiveness halo. An attractiveness halo looks something like this: just imagine walking into a job interview, meeting a stranger for the first time. In the first few seconds, that stranger makes all kinds of judgments about your personality, your status, and your intelligence. But they don't know anything about you, so they judge you solely on your looks, and the better you look, the better judgment you're going to get.
In this way, beauty improves first impressions, new friendships, and social exchanges. People will assume you're more intelligent, generous, and successful than the average person. No one wants to admit how biased they are, but the data speaks for itself. Countless studies, including our 2011 experiment, have shown just how powerful beauty can be.
Understanding Your Attractiveness
So how do you know whether you fall into this illustrious category? How do you know if you're good looking? Well, most people judge their appearance by looking in the mirror or staring at photos of themselves. But the truth is most people don't know how good looking they really are. Why is that? That's because your self-perception is extremely biased. This bias stems from three different places.
The first is something very simple: familiarity. How many times have you looked at your own face? Thousands of times, right? You're incredibly familiar with your own face and more familiar than anyone on the planet except maybe a long-term partner. Now, doesn't that mean you should know your attractiveness better than anyone? It's actually the opposite. Increased familiarity blinds you. You're so accustomed to seeing your own face that you can't accurately analyze your looks. According to a 2019 study in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, familiarity overrides your brain's objective judgment. In other words, you're so familiar with your own face that you can't tell how attractive you really are, but a stranger can.
Emotional Bias and Self-Perception
That's why the best judges aren't your friends, families, or partners, but individuals you've never met. Emotional bias is another reason we can't recognize our own attractiveness. The way we feel about ourselves influences the way we perceive ourselves. That's why some good-looking people think they're unattractive or vice versa. Your emotional connection controls the way you see yourself. It works the same way for friends and partners. Their emotional connection to you changes the way they perceive you. In other words, if you love someone, they'll seem more attractive to you than a random stranger.
In the same way, your experiences also bias your perception. Let's say you just went through a difficult breakup. That situation is going to impact how attractive you think you are, even though you look the same as you did before. The experience changed your mindset, and your mindset altered your perception. There's one more reason you don't know how good-looking you actually are.
Details and General Perception
When you look in the mirror, your eye is drawn to small details. You notice the odd curl in your hair, the dry skin on your cheek, or the angle of your nose. If anything's out of place, you're sure to find it. But strangers will never notice small details about you. Instead, a stranger judges your attractiveness based on broad categories: things like height, weight, and hair color. When judging yourself, you're incredibly specific. When judging other people, you rely on the same general qualities.
To see this process in action, just try this: find a picture of a stranger that you find attractive. Look at the picture for just a few seconds and then list the reasons why they appeal to you. I'm willing to bet the curls in their hair, the dry patches on their skin, or the angle of their nose won't be on your list. Instead, you'll say things like they have a nice smile or they have beautiful eyes. Maybe you notice their height, eyebrows, or skin tone. Nine times out of ten, attractiveness does not recognize specific details; instead, it measures how well you stack up against general widely appealing traits.
Testing Your Attractiveness
So how do you test your own attractiveness? Well, you analyze yourself like a stranger. Using this test, you'll objectively unravel the biases that alter your perspective, and that way you'll know once and for all whether you're good looking. According to the same 2011 study, attractiveness boils down to a handful of primary categories. So let's divide our test into four questions. Depending on your answers, you'll know how attractive you really are.
But there's one more thing we need to mention first. Attractiveness doesn't work the same way for every person in the world. Everyone has their own individual preferences. Different cultures, countries, and communities prioritize specific traits over others. Some may disagree heavily with the questions on this test. At the end of the day, remember that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. This test will measure general attractiveness, but there are all kinds of reasons why one person may find another attractive.
| Question | Description |
|---|---|
| Facial Symmetry | How symmetrical is your face? |
| Averageness | Do you have average or extreme features? |
| Secondary Sexual Characteristics | How many secondary sexual characteristics do you have? |
| Personality Display | How well does your appearance display your personality? |
Facial Symmetry
The first question on our test comes from human evolution. It's a preference very few people recognize, yet the human brain is inexplicably drawn to. The first question is: how symmetrical is your face? Symmetry is an attractive quality we often ignore. It would be strange to compliment someone on the symmetry of their face, right? But your brain processes symmetry every time it encounters another person. In fact, there are special areas of your brain that process symmetry in the blink of an eye.
But aren't all human faces symmetrical? Yeah, you'd think so, right? But few faces actually are. So what about models and celebrities? These symmetrical faces are appealing in the same way a symmetrical room or painting is pleasing to the eye. To your brain, symmetry is balanced, complete, and attractive. But how can you tell whether or not your face is symmetrical? Just take a photo of your face. Now cover the right half of your face with your hand. Now look at the placement of your eyes, the height of your ears, the edges of your hairline. Now switch your hand to the left side of your face. Does it match, or are your features a little out of place?
Averageness and Attractiveness
Using this simple technique, you can analyze your appearance like a stranger and figure out how attractive you really are. Question number two is a bit trickier. Have you ever heard someone say you look pretty average? Most of the time, it means you're not that attractive, but researchers found that averageness is one of the most attractive traits. Averageness describes how similar your face looks to the rest of the population.
Yeah, I know it sounds bad to be average, but studies show that averageness improves your physical appearance. On the other hand, people with extreme, irregular, or prominent features are usually considered unattractive. But why is it good to look like everyone else? This neurological preference comes from genetics. The world is filled with different-looking people because the world is filled with diverse genetic combinations. Some feature long skinny faces and pointy chins. Others create squat round faces with larger eyes. But in the middle of these facial extremes is one genetic average, and that average is widely considered the most attractive combination there is.
Secondary Sexual Characteristics
So if you look average, your appearance comes from a blend of genetics which are often healthier and more resistant to disease. This is not something you consciously consider, but your brain does. Your brain is drawn to average-looking people. So how average are you? Well, to answer this question, identify your most extreme features. The fewer you have, the more attractive you may be.
Now our third question revolves around a wide category of physical traits. Researchers call them secondary sexual characteristics. Simply put, these features identify someone as masculine or feminine. For men, think facial hair, strong jawbones, and longer cheeks. For women, think rounder faces, softer features, and larger lips. Each group emphasizes the individual traits of both men and women, so many of the world's most attractive people have these characteristics in spades.
Personality and Physical Preference
Now, of course, there are attractive people who lack any secondary sexual characteristics. Personal preference does play a major role in this category, but the human brain is rigged with the preference for these traits. In evolutionary terms, they suggest power, fertility, and status. To the average person, they're symbols of desire, athleticism, and sex appeal. So if you want to know how good looking you are, just count your secondary sexual characteristics. Break your face down into individual features. You may realize you have more of these qualities than you thought.
The fourth and final question is this: how well does your appearance display your personality? Now this one works a bit differently. Unlike the others, it's not a quality or characteristic. It doesn't matter if you have pretty eyes or great bone structure. Research shows that understanding someone's personality plays a huge role in physical preference even between strangers. But I'm not talking about your hobbies or interests or routines. I'm talking about the way you communicate your personality through your appearance.
Just think about the expressions on your face. Think about the way you dress or the accessories you place on your body. Each of these things makes you more attractive because they show your personality. So how would a stranger perceive your personality without ever meeting you? Could someone get a basic understanding of you as a person? If the answer is yes, you have one of the most attractive qualities out there.
