Beauty is in the eye of the beholder is a pretty worn out phrase we have all heard countless times. But is it? Is beauty really subjective? Or is this just mumbo jumbo to make lesser looking people feel better? According to a lot of studies, this may actually be the case. During my last year of university I wrote a paper on if good-looking people were better negotiators, and consequently plowed through a lot of research on the field.

Although it is nice to think that someone considered ugly by one person may be found beautiful by another, this is may not be how the world works. At least not objectively. If you ask people from all over the world to arrange ten portraits of random people in order from ugly to beautiful, they are likely to make similar judgements. This means that if people think that your sister is more beautiful than you in Alaska, she probably will be considered more beautiful than you in Thailand too.

I can only speak for myself, but I quite like being surrounded by beautiful things. By things I also mean people. Shallow I know. But I do. By saying that, I don’t dislike being around not so beautiful people either. But beautiful people add an extra visual bonus to any setting. And I am convinced this attitude is far more common than most people care to admit.

What may come as a surprise to many is that persons endowed with an attractive exterior also make more money than the rest. Yup, that’s right. Physical beauty affects wages. At least statistically. Economists talk of a beauty premium, and this premium may in fact be twice as big as the corresponding, what should I call it, ugly penalty. In other words employers are willing to pay more to hire an attractive person than someone average looking or less. How unfair the world is. I can however see some rationale in this, if the worker will be face-to-face with customers and clients. People are actually easier persuaded by good-looking people. This was once tested on a campus in the US where both handsome and not so handsome campaigners were trying to have people sign their petition against meat in the cantine. Not surprisingly the good-looking ones were far more successful at convincing people, regardless of gender (I only hope the campaigners were not informed of which category they were in). Also, anyone who has ever worked in a bar has probably noticed how attractive bartenders often sell more and get more tips than the ones looking average. Because who doesn’t want to be served by someone dreamy looking if we have the choice? That’s only human, right?

Another finding is that good-looking people often communiate more efficiently than the rest. A possible explanation here is that beautiful people have received more attention from relatives, teachers, peers and others even from childhood. Being popular in their early years may therefore have made them more skilled in interacting with others, simply because they have had more opportunities to practice with more friends and attention. I remember speaking to a mom once who totally aware of this made a point of dressing her daughters in fancy clothes so that they would get more attention in kindergarten.

Ok, as I am writing this now I feel that this is enough. Because my point with this post is not to make beautiful people feel even better about themselves and leave everyone else feeling down. There is of course more to a person than his or her exterior. Another well-known phrase is that A beautiful exterior catches my attention while a beautiful interior keeps it. Because I really don’t care how beautiful someone is, if their attitude stinks, they can really piss off.

Beauty is not only what you have been given from nature; There are countless things each and everyone can do to up their market value, so to speak. Clothes, hair, teeth, make-up for the ladies, physical fitness, personal hygiene and more can be just as essential as genes. And my point is that I think many can benefit from caring a bit more about how they present themselves to their surroundings. Not only on a personal level, but also in their careers and elsewhere in life. Because the one losing out if you don’t is probably mainly yourself.

Since dashing out beauty tips is not really my thing, I will only give this one: You are always dressed with a smile. Even if your smile is not taken from a Colgate commercial.

Well folks, this has been an edtion of superficial Kristian. Next time I am going to write about war and peace and politics and stuff. You know smart thingys. Kinda. I think.

Beautifully Yours,

Kristian