A new study shows that men who are more attractive are more likely to be selfish.
Researchers from Brunel University London in the United Kingdom revealed that attractive men were less kind and generous, but more selfish, and more likely to promote inequality.
The researchers tested the theory from evolutionary psychology that attractive men or people as a whole, tend to dominate competitions in terms of social status. Hence, they would benefit more from continuing inequality in the society.
The study as reported by Medical News Today was pioneered by Dr. Michael Price, senior lecturer in psychology at Brunel University London, Dr Michael Price, which they published in the journal Evolutionary Psychology. He said, "We found that attractive men tended to be less egalitarian and less generous. But that wasn't the case with attractive women."
Their findings were sought through measuring the bodies of 63 women and 62 women using a 3D body scanner. They were scored through standard attractiveness measures namely slimness, waist-to-chest ratio for men, and waist-to-hip ratio for females.
Aside from that, participants were asked to complete a personality questionnaire. From there, the researchers got the information about their attitude and behavior (selfishness and inequality). Furthermore, the participants were also given money and were asked to decide how much they wanted to share with someone else.
A group of judges were asked to rate the 125 scanned body images of attractiveness. Another group of judges were the ones in charge of deciding how unselfish and noble they think the people in the images are in reality.
"We found that the 'raters' perceived better-looking men and women as being less altruistic and egalitarian. Our results showed that in fact we may be justified in expecting more attractive men to behave in ways that are less favourable to economic and social equality," Dr. Price said.
"The results suggest that better-looking men may be biased towards being more selfish and less egalitarian," he added.
However, he reiterated that this bias can also be changed. He said that one way to remove and overcome a bias is to make the person know that they have it. Also, he notes that the correlation between attractiveness and selfishness was not close to perfect. He added that several attractive men may possess generous traits as well.
