Why are people nicer to attractive people than to unattractive people?

Yeah totally agree with you on this. I guess it’s just the way the world turns. We’re programmed to notice anything aesthetically pleasing. I know i’m guilty of it on occasion. Like a cat, I like “shiny” things! :¬)

Well, you had a real object lesson on beauty, didn’t you? The moral of the story is that beauty gets attention and service in our world.

You never get a second chance to make a first impression. you just proved this or did you?

It’s the bubble.

It’s the bubble, Jack explains to Liz, a place where beautiful people enjoy a life of free drinks, kindness and outdoor sex.

People are shallow superficial garbage. That’s why!

I agree that your statement is true – generally. But I don’t really think that this is a clear example of attractiveness being the factor – but rather an ability to buy stuff there. If you like you’re a scrub, you’re not going to get as much attention from the sales staff. Especially if they work on commission.

Because physical attraction is important.

You were probably friendlier and more approachable the day you dressed well. Otherwise, if you were really dressed like a ‘bag lady’, maybe people where more apprehensive about speaking to you incase you were crazy or something.

I think @lemming has a point, too…generally, when I want to feel better, I try to look better…and that makes me nicer much of the time.

Unfortunately for people who aren’t so good looking, this is the case. Why? Evolutionary biologists say attractiveness gives folks an advantage, biologically. Beauty, it turns out, is used as a barometer of fitness. There is evidence that it is a good barometer.

Beautiful people are more likely to end up as leaders, and as such, they get the best stuff, which of course helps them live longer. They have higher status because of how they look, and get this: it seems that there is evidence that beautiful people are actually smarter than the rest of us.

It’s totally unfair, and it goes against every instinct we have about beauty only being skin deep. If these studies are accurate, beauty is much more than skin deep.

It’s funny, because there is also the dumb blond stereotype. If you’re a good looking girl and you’re blond, they you can’t have anything going on up top. I don’t know how this fits in, because it is clear that men still want blond babes as their mates, or at least to sleep with. I suspect that blond women played a role, due to expectations, but they were probably using the men who treated them that way as much as the men were using them.

So @jca, you were treated differently because humans like status, and being near to or associated with beautiful people raises your status. It may be unfair, or it may not be unfair, but if these scientists are to be believed, that’s the way it is.

I’ll bet you radiated confidence when you were all dressed up, and radiated not so much of anything the evening before. Did you catch other people’s eyes and smile the evening before? I know I’ve gone out not ‘done up’ and really hoped no one noticed me.:)

Are people not nice to unattractive people?

For the same reasons @wundayatta pointed out. I’m sure we all have gotten away with something because someone thought we were attractive.

@MissAnthrope – Exactly what I thought of when I saw this question!

Gosh, I hate this effect. And I’ve noticed it personally too, when I had a one year stint with these glasses on at school. People are more inclined to speak to you when you look better, even when it’s people that you see on an everyday basis rather than just a one-off meeting in a store.

But maybe it’s all in your head? Maybe when you know you look better, you act more self-assured and radiate confidence, and it’s the extroversion that people are drawn to.

Just quietly though, this might be immature but, when I look nice, and people start paying me more attention, I secretly think to myself, “hurr hurr you all have a crush on me, don’t you!”

Absolutely people who are more attractive get treated better. Dateline even did some tests to show that this is true. Obviously, a television show test isn’t the most scientific, but it shows some interesting evidence.

Having almost always been the not-so-attractive friend, I have personal experience that this is true. From watching friends get better service in stores to being the friend who guys would approach so that I could introduce them to my roommate, I can tell you it’s true.

It even happens in classrooms. The cute kids get more attention and are often favored. One of the best things that you can do for your child when you send them to school is to make sure that they are clean, well dressed and have attractive haircuts. More teacher attention often equals a better learning experience. Maybe this speaks to @wundayatta‘s mention of more attractive people being smarter?

People feel that people who look well and dress well do well financially. So they feel safer. A bit of it has to do with animal instinct. We are attracked to others who appear healthy and good grooming and pretty features make us think others are healthy. In the animal kingdom, a sickly animal is driven away.
Besides the fact that you may have looked messy you may have also looked poor and so people will clutch their wallets tighter. People never assume that they are most likely to get ripped off by the guy in the suit. A con man dresses well. That is how he is able to dupe others.
And there is also the fact that when people dress up their own demeaner changes. The walk and talk with more confidence because they feel they look their best.
When you feel you look like crap, you may be more shy and reserved and try to blend in and not attract attention. You may feel the same but your actual reaction out in public may be different.

@john65pennington is correct: You never get a second chance to make a first impression.

Notwithstanding, you fell into your own trap, so to speak, and doth protest too loudly, methinks. If one wants a less superficial world, one that doesn’t sell everything with a side of sex and bikini clad babes, then why ask a rhetorical question, describing your own “bad hair day” and “glasses” and “sweatshirt”?

We’ve all been conditioned. Supermodels, waifs, heroine chic, fake boobs getting bigger and bigger: I look for and usually find the beauty in a woman, of any age, when I do – I don’t see a bad hair day or glasses or even what she’s wearing.

I’ll give you two fer instances: here, I am very attracted to a certain someone, who is in no danger of my advances because a: she’s happily married and b: we’re about 7000 miles away from each other. I am very attracted to her, though I’ve never even seen her face.

I won’t discuss my s/o here, but the second example is that I love it when a woman puts on glasses that suit her face – it oftentimes makes her appear more intelligent, kind, sincere and gentle… and that is also shallow in a sense – for ultimately they are but a face prop – like anything else (as opposed to, say, contacts.)

A bad hair day? Don’t get me started. A woman with long, flowing hair can whip it into anything she wants – it’s a matter of time and effort – so I look for the potential, not the immediate.

A woman who has given birth has the body of a goddess – for she has literally given birth and should be practically worshiped. I am tempted to go from eyes down to between the thighs, and give a Hoo Wah here… but I’ll leave it at that.

The eyes, the windows of the soul, beckon… and beauty lies and unfolds within: when they don’t, it’s a bad day for the guy – not for the hair.

I really don’t think it has anything to do with looks. It has more to do with your attitude. I’ve known some really attractive people that come across as major douches. Nobody was nice to them. I’ve known some not so attractive people that are very nice. They get the attention they deserve.

@jonsblond Nah, it’s looks. We’re superficial – us men. Example: there’s a woman I teach who is so amazingly hot in every way – if she decided to quit – I’d offer to teach her for free.