On The Face Of It

This looks like a relatively good study. But it isn't since they didn't include white collar crime. I really don't think that Ken Lay or Michael Milken are all that good looking and they can't be described as the most upstanding citizens by most of their shareholders.

The Ugly Face of Crime: "These economists found that the long-term consequences of being young and ugly were small but consistent. Cute guys were uniformly less likely than averages would indicate to have committed seven crimes including burglary and selling drugs, while the unhandsome were consistently more likely to have broken the law.

Very attractive high school girls were less likely to commit six of the seven crimes, while those rated unattractive were more likely to have done six of seven, controlling for personal and family characteristics known to be associated with criminal behavior.

Mocan and Tekin aren't sure why criminals tend to be ugly. Other studies have shown that unattractive men and women are less likely to be hired, and that they earn less money, than the better-looking. Such inferior circumstances may steer some to crime, Mocan and Tekin suggest. They also report that more attractive students have better grades and more polished social skills, which means they graduate with a greater chance of staying out of trouble."

Maybe the teachers spent more time with them, rewarded them more and let their own prejudices continue the cycle of oppression. My dad used to say "an ugly man can make it in this world, an ugly woman can't". This was before everything was decided on television, now even that doesn't apply. Helps to understand why the internet is so popular, it levels the playing field, at least until video takes off.

I wonder, if they did a study on whether attractive people are more spoiled, self-centered, shallow and have a vastly overrated opinion of themselves, would the results be as predictable as this exercise in beauty glorification? Probably, but the not so attractive people should write the test.

Smile.

Tags: Ugly face of crime, Mocan, Tekin,