Opinion: I hate that looks determine personality and success

We've all heard the phrase 'don't judge a book by its cover' and yet every single one of us make assumptions based on a person's appearance.

First, it's important that I make it clear that by looks, I mean perceived societal attractiveness. I don't mean age, ethnicity, class, or choice of clothing, even if those things might contribute to the attractiveness I'm referring to.

It's the genetic side that feels prejudiced. Sure, people can take better care of themselves by dressing well, eating well, exercising, educating themselves etc. But ultimately, you are either born attractive, "unattractive" or somewhere in between for the most of us. In recent times the spotlight has largely been on the discrimination of race, as it has been with sexuality and gender too, yet there's very little about discrimination surrounding physical appearance. Hardly surprising either because how do you categorise an attractive person and an "unattractive" person. Unlike race and gender, you can't create statistics for attractiveness because its subject to an opinion, rather than being a black and white fact. What one person might see as "good-looking", might not be to another person, which makes it impossible to put a definitive finger on where the discrimination is and what it's based on. But this shouldn't mean that it is ignored.

Physiognomy is the science behind my incoming rant. It's the practise of assessing a person's personality based purely off their outer appearance, and in my opinion, it happens all the time. Yet it only really starts to take place once we start to gain an understanding of what society perceives to be beauty. In nursery schools and for a few years above that perhaps, the children are unlikely to base their friendships, personality and capabilities on their looks simply because they don't have much of a grasp on the concept of judgement based on appearance, something which is established by the stereotypes we are gradually spoon-fed by the media, friends and family, and our general upbringing. We aren't born to believe in racial prejudice, we falsely learn it and the same works with attractiveness.

Recent studies have shown that sometimes children as young as three or four have developed gender and racial stereotypes, and whilst, naturally, there are few studies for stereotypes of personality based on appearance, we can use our own experiences to determine this certainly begins within the ages of primary school. By this, I am referring to the friendship groups which seemingly categorise those who are attractive and those are perceived as "unattractive", and I'm sure all of you can think of examples from your childhood where this happened. This form of categorising continues throughout adolescence and often becomes exaggerated in the teenage years as perceptions of attraction become more informed. Typically, the "attractive" friendship groups tend to have a higher standing on the social ladder and are more popular. Not only this but these different friendship groups, based loosely and admittedly not entirely on appearance, have similar characteristics within them and different characteristics between them.

To illustrate this, I'm going to take it out of the friendship context, because although appearance might be an important factor for friendship and popularity in a childhood and adolescent context, it does become far less applicable in adulthood as the prejudice shifts itself to other areas.

We each hold our own understandings and stereotypes of the potential personality of somebody when judging them off first impression and looks. I'm going to explain my own.

An attractive person is more likely to be outgoing, confident, loud, bold, approachable, dominant and socially skilled. To many that might seem obvious. Well of course, if they're attractive they probably have those personality traits? But why don't we ever stop to question why we have these seemingly obvious stereotypes of a person's personality when all we can see is their outer appearance?

It's because attractive people are expected to have these personality traits. If they don't, and instead they're shy and timid, it would seem more unusual wouldn't it? So if an attractive person knows they are expected to behave in a certain way then they probably will, because they know subconsciously that there is a societal expectation for them to behave in that way.

And it works both ways. An "unattractive" person is more likely to be quiet, nerdy, shy, self-conscious, socially anxious and unassertive. Yet if they ever tried to act outgoing and loud in a social situation, they are far more likely to be ignored, laughed at, and pitied upon.

The key question is why does this happen? It comes down to physical appearance determining our personality through stereotypes of the way in which a person, of certain attractiveness, is supposed to act. The subsequent prejudice and discrimination against so called "unattractive" people is shocking.

Good looking people earn around 12% more on average than less appealing people. Talk about gender or ethnic pay gaps, why isn't this pay gap being talked about? This isn't equality of opportunity. We're judging people before we even give them a chance just because we think 'ew, no, don't like the look of you'. Its absurd. Psychologists often refer to it as the "beauty premium".

However, you might argue that, well, if attractive people are more confident, then therefore have stronger social skills, then that makes them more employable. This is true. The most famous celebrities for example are attractive, not only because they're confident but they are also desirable and idolised for their features, because they are far above the average in terms of appearance.

Attractive people are also more likely to be elected in public offices, or at the forefront of companies and businesses. Why? Because it's shown that a more attractive face at the spearhead of a company is more likely to bring success to that business, or in terms of a public office they are less likely to be mocked by the public for appearance based "flaws".

I realise that this piece may seem disjointed or scattered, but there's so many factors, angles and aspects to consider on the discrimination of unattractive people, it's very difficult not to go off on a tangent. There's the initial judgements that we as individuals make of others based on attractiveness, then there's the social stereotyping that causes people to shape their personalities to fit how society expects them to act, followed by the discrimination in the work place because attractiveness contributes to their potential success. I haven't even mentioned the fact that societies' determination to fixate on attractiveness contributes significantly to the insecurities, self doubt, social anxiety as well as other mental health issues, that are so rife in the modern day particularly among younger generations who no doubt fear that their physical appearance has a strong bearing on their future successes.

It's almost impossible to tie it all together, I could write a book about it, so I will come back to my title. I hate that looks determine personality and success because quite simply its unfair, just as any other discrimination on race or gender is. When we talk about equality of opportunity, as there should be even in a potentially corrupt capitalist society, we often just talk about money, class and background. We fail to recognise that equality of opportunity also refers to the social stereotypes that we spend our entire lives developing, before teaching to our offspring. It's so ingrained in our society that these patterns will never change. Children will continue to grow up shaping their personalities based on the way they are treated by others - something which largely hinges on appearance. The workplace will always favour an attractive candidate for a job over somebody with less attractive features, even if they are better suited to the job. It will never change because what we are attracted to is natural, instinctive and sexual. The human perception of attractiveness has been developing for thousands of years and it's one prejudice that we can never eradicate as unfortunate and unfair as it is.

So attractive people will be more successful, they will earn more money, and they will have dominant personalities and there is nothing that can be done about that.

Success is something you attract, by becoming an attractive person - Jim Rohn