Lookism is...

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From Psychology Today...
Source--click to read entire blog post.

Not sure...but how is this 'attractiveness' determined especially at a young age, like how would one distinguish between an attractive and less attractive toddler? how is it even possible to know they will develop into being more physically attractive to be able to treat them different giving them an advantage when it comes to self confidence, assertiveness and social skills in the first place? But yeah I do not think physical attractiveness, actually has anything to do with ones skill level or how well they'd work or how their brain functions...and its subjective since not everyone has the same taste in attractiveness.


I have had people tell me I am attractive, I've had people imply I am anything but that...so it does perplex me some how it is decided, the way I see it I imagine I am to some, and am not to others. But not to any level people ever treated me different in a good way....so yeah idk.

Well, one feature that is considered attractive by the vast majority is health - which makes sense, given that attractiveness is a means of signalling evolutionary fitness. So perhaps there is some empirical base for beauty equals ability, since healthy people are probably going to be more effective at their work. There's also developmental issues to consider; a healthy lifestyle growing up will make you both more attractive and more intelligent.

What this means, of course, is that people who grow up under bad parenting are likely to face a double whammy - not only will they be less attractive than their peers, with all the attendent discrimination from that, they also won't be as intelligent. The good news is, it may be possible to improve after childhood, at least on the second one.

A seems to be a good example of what Nietzsche called slave morality, whereas B would be a good example of master morality. Neither has much of a redeeming quality to it, but unlike Nietzsche in his time, I think master-morality poses the far greater threat to humanity at present.

Proposition C, containing the greater quantity of information among the propositions offered, is to be preferred unless/until it can be disproven.It also coheres best with my own experiences.

Well, there are certain things that are considered attractive across cultures--youth, health, symmetrical features; also large eyes, full lips and a certain waist to hip ratio for females; a certain shoulder to hip ratio for males...

If that's you in your avatar, I'd say you have youth, health (evidenced by clear skin), good eyes and full lips to make you 'universally attractive.' Cannot tell from the picture, but I'm betting your features are symmetrical too. Things like hair style, manner of dress, personal bearing tend to be cultural and subjective and therefore may or may not contribute to attractiveness...

Still, on balance I'd bet more people than not would consider you attractive. I'd say your looks are apt to give you an advantage when dealing with guys and maybe a disadvantage when dealing with other females (assuming mostly hetero orientation).

Would you say you get get along better with guys than with other girls?

I could see healthy people being more reliable due to good health, but more in the physical sense. I think when it comes to intelligence things would be more subjective there are plenty of very intelligent people who have grown up in more negative environments, and not so smart people that have grown up in healthy environments...so not ones upbringing/environment growing up is necessarily directly correlated with intelligence. That is not to say people would not assume that but I am skeptical since as far as I know the only correlation concerning that is mental health issues are more common in people that have grown up in negative environments but that has little to do with intelligence.

Also though what about bad parenting would make someone unattractive in the physical sense for instance, not sure it would effect that necessarily.

Much of the time I have gotten along better with guys than girls, though as a kid I got picked on just as much by both. But yeah much of the time I think I look too much younger than I am not much I can do about it either I am short and think and my face just gives me a younger apperance...but if I am in a bar or at a concert or something having a beer then its more obvious I am in fact over 18.

IQ is correlated with how well you were stimulated as a child - at least, that's the impression I get from my OU Psychology textbook. Children who grow up in an environment where they don't get much stimulation - where they don't read, or do puzzles - aren't going to develop as well. Now, this might have changed with the popularisation of video games, given the positive effects they have (on areas such as problem solving); it would be an interesting study, and one that might show games to be a great social equaliser

As far as attractiveness goes, if you're malnourished when you're growing up, that's going to affect your development negatively. For example, stunted growth, and perhaps assymetrical features. All signs which mark you out as being an unhealthy (unattractive) person. Then there's the effect of being overweight, which is going to become a lot harder to shift once you're an adult, and drops your beauty stats down.

So what I'm saying is, growing up in a bad home - not just material poverty, but also (mainly) emotional and mental poverty - will have a negative effect on your beauty and brain stats. I have no idea what they do to your brawn stat

When I think of a correlation between looks and work quality, I think of Faces of Meth.

(warning, grotesque)


http://www.rehabs.com/explore/meth-befo ... It74ivF90o

With the people pictured, there is an undeniable correlation between how they look and what quality of work they would bring to a job.

They start out looking good (or at least ok) but the more meth they take, the more horribly ugly they become and presumably the worse they would do any job. Although I doubt any of them are employed in the final frames, maybe in the first ones. It's pretty horrible and an extreme example.

Lookism is as bad as racism etc.
We can make fun of ugly people , deprive them of career advancement, deny them mates and it is perfectly acceptable.
The best way to intervene is by force. When i was in High School, I always physically attacked people that attacked the nerds. When a behavior is instinctual ( herd mentality) one must convince the other person at the gut level.
I was glad when I realized that my behavior made me popular. It seems that one trait of an alpha male is to defend the weaker members of the herd.

It is obviously an evolutionary/biological cause. Why would one not go for the best possible gene for one's offspring as beauty usually correlated with healthiness and wealth. Most people are a slaves to their biology, hence, why they want to optimize their offspring for the best chance of survival.

It depends on the context.

Sounds like the millionth necromantic version of social darwinism to me. Survival is no longer an immediate issue for the species and there are tons of other beneficial genes. This good genes argument is garbage because obviously there are a ton of beautiful people who die early of heart attacks or generally live sh***y lives.

If it's such a universal value backed up by genetics then why is beauty defined so differently throughout history and around the globe? Nothing but pseudo science crap behind this idea and the idea itself is repugnant and backwards.

That and it has nothing whatsoever to do with accomplishment. My uncle ray was ugly as mud and that didn't stop him from receiving a Navy Cross at Iwo Jima, or from becoming a real estate tycoon and one of the most famous people in my area. The guy looked like a damned turkey gizzard and when he tried to sing it sounded like a braying donkey.

You can't derive "ought" statements from "is" statements.

If racism is similarly biological, would than make racism OK?

Furthermore, beauty correlates quite weakly with health, and there is considerable scientific controversy as to why animals prefer mates with certain visual indicators.

The entire concept of "Lookism" seems to be another one of those "I can't get a date, because they are prejudiced against me in some way" concepts.

Why is it that whenever someone is unpopular, they blame everyone and everything other than themselves?

Maybe you should also consider some empirical research after you read your textbooks I mean no offence, but you must have had a pretty sheltered life. Being forced to fend for yourself at least to some extent from an early age can stimulate one's intelligence and problem solving abilities a lot more then puzzles and video games. Especially those with younger siblings end up taking a lot of responsibilities early on, learn how to cook, wash, clean, do the shopping and stretch whatever money they have. The smart ones end up feeding themselves way better (nutritionally speaking) then the kids who grew up on MacDonald's and TV dinners. Except cases of severe abuse and trauma, they become often more solution oriented and capable of thinking outside the box and quite astute emotionally as they have to learn pretty fast to read adults, cover for their parents and mislead neighbours, teachers or the authorities about their situation. I've seen a lot more emotional and mental poverty in spoiled kids who grow up thinking the world owes them everything or in those left to get their moral compass and image of reality from TV and pop culture. Yes, they get emotional baggage too.

Severe malnutrition is relatively rare in the West, lack of proper dental care for instance being more prevalent in my experience. Even so, genetics will still play a huge part and I've seen orphaned children from third world countries who were definitely underfed, yet had great teeth and hair. Not to mention beautiful features (do you have a source for the claim that malnutrition would cause asymmetrical features?)

Some people learn a lot from their hardship and pain, things you won't find in any video game or textbook. Some are emotionally rich enough not to become hateful, bitter and judgemental, even if they have been mistreated and marginalised most of their lives.

I talk as someone who worked directly and indirectly with such kids for years and no, they are not all that fortunate, their parents and guardians often manage to damage them almost beyond repair and on top of that they have to live as adults amongst ignorant people who think they are either doomed to repeat the cycle of abuse themselves or see them "mentally and emotionally impoverished", not to mention disfigured apparently.