Pretty women have better personalities?

Beautiful women are often thought to be more social, successful, and well-adjusted as compared to their less attractive counterparts. But, a new study finds that attractive women are likely to favour social conformity and...

Beautiful women are often thought to be more social, successful, and well-adjusted as compared to their less attractive counterparts. But, a new study finds that attractive women are likely to favour social conformity and self-promotion over tolerance.

Researchers from the Open University of Israel and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem investigated 118 university students averaging around 29-year-olds.

The subjects then completed surveys about their values and were videotaped walking around a room, reading a weather forecast and then leaving the room.

Another 118 participants, 40 per cent being male, watched a random selection of the videos of the female subjects. Attractive women were perceived as being more extrovert, open to experiences, and conscientious — all desirable social traits.

The viewers were also more likely to believe that beautiful women valued achievement vis-a-vis the less attractive ones.

But when the researchers looked at the women’s self reported traits and values, they found that beautiful women were more likely to endorse conformity and self-promotion, rather than independence and tolerance.

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