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What is beautiful brings out what is good in you: The effect of facial attractiveness on individuals' honesty
Author(s) -
Wang Jing,
Xia Tiansheng,
Xu Liling,
Ru Taotao,
Mo Ce,
Wang Ting Ting,
Mo Lei
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
international journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.75
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1464-066X
pISSN - 0020-7594
DOI - 10.1002/ijop.12218
Subject(s) - honesty , psychology , attractiveness , social psychology , physical attractiveness , facial attractiveness , face (sociological concept) , cognitive psychology , psychoanalysis , social science , sociology
This study tested whether the presence of an attractive face would influence individuals' honesty. In 2 experiments, 225 participants were asked to predict the outcome of computerised coin‐flips and to self‐report the accuracy of their predictions. Self‐reports were made in the presence of a facial photo of a female who had been rated before the experiment as high attractive, middle attractive or low attractive by other volunteers. Participants were rewarded based on their self‐reported (not actual) accuracy. The results showed that subjects tended to give more dishonest self‐reports when presented with middle or low attractive facial images than when presented with high attractive images, with self‐reported accuracy being significantly higher than the random level. The results of this study show that presented with an attractive face, subjects tend to engage in behaviours that conform to moral codes.