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How beautiful people see the world: Cooperativeness judgments of and by beautiful people

Author

Listed:
  • Adam Zylbersztejn

    (Univ Lyon 2, Université Lumière Lyon 2, GATE UMR 5824, 69130 Ecully, France; research fellow at Vistula University Warsaw (AFiBV), Warsaw, Poland)

  • Zakaria Babutsidze

    (SKEMA Business School, Université Côte d’Azur (GREDEG) and OFCE, Sciences Po Paris)

  • Nobuyuki Hanaki

    (Institute of Social and Economic Research, Osaka University)

  • Astrid Hopfensitz

    (Emlyon Business School and GATE, Ecully, France)

Abstract

Perceived beauty is one of the strongest predictors of perceived cooperativeness, causing the “beauty bias”. Through a large three-step incentivized behavioral and rating experiment (N=357), we study (1) the relevance of beauty ratings for predicting cooperativeness in an incentivized game and (2) the beauty bias in incentivized predictions of cooperativeness. We additionally (3) investigate if one’s beauty influences the beauty bias in predictions of cooperativenes of others. Our findings demonstrate the robustness of the beauty bias despite its irrelevance for making accurate predictions. We further observe that individuals are affected by the beauty bias irrespective of their beauty. Overall, the results highlight the importance of strong institutions that protect individuals from falling prey to the beauty bias.

Suggested Citation

  • Adam Zylbersztejn & Zakaria Babutsidze & Nobuyuki Hanaki & Astrid Hopfensitz, 2023. "How beautiful people see the world: Cooperativeness judgments of and by beautiful people," Working Papers 2309, Groupe d'Analyse et de Théorie Economique Lyon St-Étienne (GATE Lyon St-Étienne), Université de Lyon.
    • Handle: RePEc:gat:wpaper:2309
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    1. Adam Zylbersztejn & Zakaria Babutsidze & Nobuyuki Hanaki & Marie-Sophie Roul, 2024. "Anonymity, nonverbal communication and prosociality in digitized interactions: An experiment on charitable giving," Working Papers 2402, Groupe d'Analyse et de Théorie Economique Lyon St-Étienne (GATE Lyon St-Étienne), Université de Lyon.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    cooperation; beauty; perception; hidden action game; experiment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness

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