Look Your Very Best (The Halo Effect)
This blog is an edited excerpt from my book, Feminine Energy 101
At first glance, the level up community’s obsession with appearance can seem really superficial. Surely there is more to people than just their looks? Isn’t beauty only skin deep? You might even feel irritated with just how many times across this blog I’ve mentioned the words ‘grooming’, ‘beauty’ and ‘fashion’.
There is of course, much more to levelling up than what is on the outside. Yet we aren’t in a children’s story where the ugly bear wins out and everyone cares about the duck’s kind personality.
Regardless of what we think ‘ought’ to be true, the fact is looks matter. Much more than we care to admit.
Skin Deep
Regardless of what we think ‘ought’ to be true, the fact is looks matter.
Much more than we care to admit.
The “Halo Effect” is a phenomenon in psychology that all of us labour under. Countless studies (see links at the end of this blog) have shown that if we see a well groomed person we think more highly of them and attribute good character traits to them such as ‘trustworthy’ ‘hard working’ or ‘punctual’ than to the same person looking dishevelled. You might think you aren’t guilty of this, but it affects all of us on a subconscious level.
Life is Unfair
This has been shown in court cases, with more attractive litigants or defendants being treated more favourably in court than less attractive counter-parts.
Scientists showed photographs to people and those that were well groomed in the photos were assumed to have good morals and ethics, appear more intelligent, kinder and more aspirational than the same people in the photos who were not well groomed.
Is this fair and correct? Of course not! In reality someone being attractive has no connection to whether they are hard working or punctual, or whether they should be treated favourably by a judge. It is a cognitive bias that is universal.
The Inside Counts!
I agree that it should be what’s on the inside that counts. Certainly once people get to know you, it is your personality and integrity that carries you through life.
In order for people to get to know you, before they know your values, it is your appearance that ‘fills in the blanks’. As we’ve seen this isn’t fair, just or correct. Being good looking has got absolutely no correlation with being kinder, cleverer or nicer than anyone else.
Yet that is what people will judge you on, initially, before they have any other information about you. At this stage, all people have to go on is your appearance. Anyone that denies this truth is putting you at a disadvantage. Even if its your sweet grandmother.
Interactions with Men
We can apply the Halo Effect to interactions with men as well, which has implications for your dating journey. Men are visual and they enjoy both looking at a beautiful woman and being seen with a beautiful woman. Many studies have shown the benefits the same woman gets when she is ‘dolled up’ vs. ‘dressed down’.
One such study demonstrated how a woman who ‘accidentally’ dropped her papers was helped for much longer by both male and female passers-by than when the experiment was repeated a second time. This time, the very same woman, not looking her best, also ‘accidentally’ dropping her papers. Passers by either ignored her or spent a few cursory seconds helping at best. Exactly the same woman, exactly the same situation. A completely different reaction depending on how she presented herself. In popular culture the scientific term “Halo Effect” is referred to as “pretty privilege”.
Halo Effect and Romance
When it comes to meeting a man you might like to form a deeper connection with, looking your absolute very best gives you untold advantages than if you didn’t take such care with your looks.
You may not have even realised just how far these benefits go, check the studies I’ve linked at the end of this blog and expand your own research if you’re in any doubt about what I’ve said here.
Of course, once you start dating, there’s so much more that determines whether this romance will last, natural chemistry, compatibility, personality clashes and so on. But you have to get there first, you have to get to the first date. It is your looks that get you there.
Pretty Privilege
Rather than fight something that seems to be innate to the human brain, use it to your advantage by looking as good as you possibly can and never leaving the house without lipstick! Research the Halo Effect and see for yourself the dramatically different results looking your very best makes. Not just for dating, but in every aspect of your life. Far from being superficial, it really “it really is in your interest to look as good as you possibly can.
Referenced Studies:
Talamas et al (2016) Blinded by beauty: Attractiveness Bias and Accurate Perceptions of Academic Performance. PLoS ONE 11(2): e0148284. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0148284
Thorndike, E.L. (1920). A constant error in psychological ratings. Journal of Applied Psychology, 4(1), 25–29. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0071663.
Harvey, S. M. (1938). A preliminary investigation of the interview. British Journal of Psychology. General Section, 28(3), 263–287. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8295.1938.tb00874.
If you’d like to discuss any aspect of levelling up or feminine energy with me then please schedule an appointment, subscribe to my newsletter and check out my book, Feminine Energy 101.