A classic stereotype of psychology was denied according to which those who are beautiful also seems to us to be good: it is not beauty that influences judgment, but pleasantness.
A study published on Scientific Reports questioned the stereotype of social psychology known in English as “Beautiful is moral“(” beautiful is moral “), which approaches in some respects to the ancient Greek ideal of kalokagathia (from the Greek Kalòs Kai Agathòs, literally beautiful and good), a principle according to which What is beautiful cannot fail to be also good.
According to the researchers, to make us seem morally better, people would not be their physical appearance, but rather how much we likeregardless of objective beauty.
Three studies. To reach their conclusions, the researchers conducted three experiments involving 788 US respectively, 1,913 Poles and 1,024 British. In each of the tests, the participants were asked to observe photos of more or less attractive unknown individuals and to judge them on a series of sections such as the vanity, sociability and morality. From the first study it emerged that the more to participants liked a person, especially of female, the more morally good they judged it – regardless of his objective physical appearance.
The second study gave similar results, highlighting once again how The principle did not apply to men but only for women. In the third test, the researchers provided, next to the photos of the people to be judged, also a profile of the different personalities – Some similar and others different from those of the participants. In this case the stereotype of the “Beautiful is moral“It collapsed completely: The people perceived as more similar were judged better (and therefore that they liked the most), regardless of beauty.
Only women? In all three studies, for which – only photos of white people must have been used – physical beauty has influenced only moral judgments about women. This is in line with the current cultural norms, which emphasize more the aesthetic aspect of women than men, but also highlights the need to carry out Further research on gender differences in moral perception.
