Effects of The “What is Beautiful is Good” Stereotype on Perceived Trustworthiness

Attractive individuals are favored in various evaluative and judgmental ways. This study examined the effects of the “what is beautiful is good” stereotype on the specific area of perceived trustworthiness. 284 undergraduate students enrolled in an introductory level psychology class at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse participated in an online survey, which rated one of three sets of four attractive and unattractive photographs of both men and women with respect to how likable, attractive, and trustworthy they perceived the stimulus to be. Next, the participants chose which stimulus they would trust the most in a hypothetical situation. Results indicated that attractive individuals were seen as more trustworthy than unattractive individuals and women were seen as more trustworthy than men. When participants were forced to choose among the four pictures in a trust scenario, they overwhelmingly chose the attractive females. Findings from this study should help inform others of possible gender and attractiveness judgmental biases being made regarding trustworthiness.