Being perceived as better-looking may help you get a small mark boost if you’re female, according to an American study that compared physical appearance and grades received in normal with online university settings.
The Metropolitan State University of Denver study found that on a four-point scale, female students who were seen as more physically attractive had grades 0.005 higher than female students who were perceived to be average-looking. Female students who were found to be less attractive got grades which were 0.141 lower than the average group.
Male students’ physical attractiveness had no correlation to better grades, the study found.
More than 6,700 students from the university were rated on their physical appearance on a scale from one to 10 by volunteers from outside the school. Researchers had volunteers look at photographs of the students and put them into three categories: more attractive, average, and less attractive.
The study then compared more than 168,000 grades the students received in both traditional classrooms and online classes. It found there was no difference in grades for online classes, where an instructor likely won’t know how their students look.
“Investing a little extra into looking better is probably going to pay off,” said Rey Hernández-Julián, who co-authored the study with fellow researcher Christina Peters.
The researchers reached these findings to test whether physical attractiveness correlates with productivity.
If attractive people are more productive in both traditional and online classrooms then appearance should matter similarly in both environments, Hernández-Julián said.
“What we find is that it doesn’t,” he said. “It matters a lot in traditional environments and much less in online courses.”
Peters acknowledged the grade difference between attractiveness groups in the study is small.
“Unattractive students do appear to receive lower grades, but the magnitude of this result is less than half the distance between an A- and a B+,” Peters said in an email. “This drop occurs only for the most unattractive women.”
Previous studies have found people who are perceived to be more attractive earn more money.
Peters said people should understand implicit biases are everywhere.
“It is important for employers, professors, and all members of society to be aware of their implicit biases in all areas, including not just physical appearance, but also race, gender, and class,” Peters said. “For students and workers, the message is still that working hard is the best way to achieve your goals. But, on the margin, the effort you put into your appearance does matter.”
Rebecca Conrod, a first-year civil engineering student at Carleton University, said she was taken aback by the findings.
“I don’t think it should be happening, but it doesn’t surprise me if it does,” she said.
Being drawn to beauty is how humans work, Conrod said.
“Maybe it’s not entirely the fault of the person who’s marking,” she said, “because that’s just a human trait.”
