Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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identity (Dion, Pak & Dion, 1990). lated via photographs. Participants were References
Some research has been conducted asked to review applicant resumes and a Beehr, T. A., & Gilmore, D. C. (1982).
examining the general physical attrac- job description for a department head of Applicant attractiveness as a perceived job
tiveness stereotype (what is beautiful is children’s toys (gender neutral job) and relevant variable in selection. Academy of
good), which found general support for then to evaluate the applicants’ qualifi- Management Journal, 25, 607-617.
the PA bias even in cultures that are col- Benson, P. L., Severs, D., Tagenhorst, J., &
cations, likelihood of being hired, and
Loddengaard, N. (1980). The social costs
lectivist, where you might expect less of the salary they would be awarded. of obesity: A non-reactive field study.
this bias (Dion, Pak & Dion, 1990; Equivalent pictures and resumes were Social Behavior and Personality, 8, 91-96.
used for the Indian and American sam- Boor, M., Wartman, S., & Reuben, D. (1983).
ples. Each participant reviewed one Relationship of physical appearance and
resume and saw a picture of either an professional demeanor to interview evalua-
Examples of Photographs Used attractive or unattractive male or female tions and ranking of medical residency
in the Attractiveness Research applicant. In analyzing the data for the applicants. Journal of Psychology, 113, 61-65.
Indian students, physical attractiveness Cann, A., Siegfried, W. D., & Pearce, L.
was not found to affect ratings of quali- (1981). Forced attention to specific appli-
cant qualifications: Impact on physical
fications or likelihood of hiring; howev-
attractiveness and sex of applicant biases.
er, there was an effect on the salary rat- Personnel Psychology, 34, 65-75.
ing. Higher salaries were offered to Cash, T. F., Gillen, B., & Burns, D. S. (1977).
attractive applicants. There were no Sexism and beautyism in personnel con-
effects for applicant attractiveness or sultant decision making. Journal of
gender on the ratings of qualifications, Applied Psychology, 62, 301-310.
likelihood of being hired, and salary Cash, T. F., & Kilcullen, R. N. (1985). The
offered by American students. One rea- aye of the beholder: Susceptibility to sex-
son for the relatively weak effects for ism and beautyism in the evaluation of
attractiveness in this study could be that managerial candidates. Journal of Applied
Social Psychology, 15, 591-605.
each participant reviewed only one
Chen, N. Y., Shaffer, D. R., & Wu, C. (1997).
applicant and made hiring decisions on On physical attractiveness stereotyping in
only one applicant. In the real world, Taiwan: A sociocultural perspective.
interviewers review many resumes and Journal of Social Psychology, 137, 117-124.
interview many applicants before mak- Clifford, M., & Walster, E. (1973). The effect
ing a hiring decision. To overcome the of physical attractiveness on teacher evalu-
limitations of this study, we are current- ation. Sociology of Education, 46, 248.
ly collecting data in India and the Dion, K. K., Berscheid, E., & Walster, E.
United States, where each participant is (1972). What is beautiful is what is good.
being asked to review several candidates Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology, 24, 285-290.
and make hiring decisions for each.
Dion, K. K., Pak, A. W., & Dion, K. L.
Each participant will review male and (1990). Stereotyping physical attractive-
female, attractive and unattractive appli- ness: A sociocultural perspective. Journal
cants. We look forward to analyzing of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 21, 378-398.
that data in the very near future. Dipboye, R. L., Fromkin, H. L., & Wiback,
K. (1975). Relative importance of appli-
Chen, Shaffer & Wu, 1997; Wheeler & Conclusions cant sex, attractiveness, and scholastic
Kim, 1997; Shaffer, Crepaz & Sun, standing in evaluation of job applicant
2000). Recently, a student in our M.A. A review of the literature supports resumes. Journal of Applied Psychology,
program and I conducted a study to the notion that being physically attrac- 60, 39-43.
examine the influence of physical attrac- tive is an advantage when applying for a Dipboye, R. L., Arvey, R. D., & Terpstra, D. E.
tiveness on hiring decisions in two very job. There is little support for the (1977). Sex and physical attractiveness of
different cultures, namely the United “beauty is beastly” effect. The “what is raters and applicants as determinants of
beautiful is good” bias seems fairly uni- resume evaluations. Journal of Applied
States and India. The United States is
Psychology, 62, 288-294.
considered to be an extremely individu- versal and has been found in a variety of
Eagly, A. H., Ashmore, R. D., Makhijani, M.
alistic culture, whereas India is consid- different cultures. Since it is not fair to G., & Longo, L. C. (1991). What is beau-
ered to be a collectivistic culture. Data base hiring decisions on non-job-related tiful is good, but…: A meta-analytic
was collected from 216 Indian students factors like attractiveness, training hir- review of research on the physical attrac-
and 121 American students. Applicant ing managers to avoid this bias is one tiveness stereotype. Psychological Bulletin,
gender and attractiveness were manipu- way to reduce such inequity. 110, 109-128.
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Efran, M. G. (1974). The effect of physical Musumeci, C., & Shahani-Denning, C. (1996,
appearance on the judgment of guilt, inter- April). Self-monitoring: Impact on appli-
personal attraction, and severity of recom- cant attractiveness and selection decisions.
mended punishment in a simulated jury Paper presented at the annual convention
task. Journal of Experimental Research in of the Society for Industrial and
Personality, 8, 45-54. Organizational Psychology, San Diego, CA.
Efran, M. G., & Patterson, E. (1974). Voters Podratz, K., & Dipboye, R. L. (2002). In
vote beautiful: The effect of physical search of the “beauty is beastly” effect.
appearance on a national debate. Paper presented at the annual convention
Canadian Journal of Behavioral Science, 6, of the Society for Industrial and
352-356. Organizational Psychology, Toronto.
Fontenelle, G. A., Phillips, A. P., & Lane, D. Raza, S. M., & Carpenter, B. N. (1987). A
M. (1985). Generalizing across stimuli as model of hiring decisions in real employ-
Comila Shahani-Denning’s current research
well as subjects: A neglected aspect of ment interviews. Journal of Applied and consulting interests include the measure-
external validity. Journal of Applied Psychology, 72, 596-603. ment and understanding of customer service;
Psychology, 70(1), 101-107. Rich, J. (1975). Effects of children’s physical the evaluation of training programs; under-
Gilmore, D. C., Beehr, T. A., & Love, K. G. attractiveness on teachers’ evaluations. standing the underlying nature of time man-
(1986). Effects of applicant sex, applicant Journal of Educational Psychology, 67, 599- agement; and the physical attractiveness bias
physical attractiveness, type of rater, and 609. and role of the interview in employee selection,
type of job on interview decisions. Journal Shaffer, D. R., Crepaz, N., & Sun, C. (2000). from which this article is derived.
of Occupational Psychology, 59, 103-109. Physical attractiveness stereotyping in
Professor Shahani-Denning has provided con-
Hatfield, E., & Sprecher, S. (1986). Mirror, cross-cultural perspective: Similarities and
sulting services to a wide variety of organiza-
mirror.... New York: State University of differences among Americans and
tions, including AT&T, Case Corporation, Long
New York Press. Taiwanese. Journal of Cross-Cultural Island Board of Realtors, Mineola Youth and
Heilman, M. E. & Saruwatari, L. R. (1979). Psychology, 31, 557-581. Family Services, Pass & Seymour, Rx Maxwell,
When beauty is beastly: The effects of Shahani-Denning, C., Dipboye, R. L., & St. Francis Hospital, and Thomas Cook, among
appearance and sex on evaluations of job Gehrlein, T. M. (1993). Attractiveness bias others. Services include the assessment and
applicants for managerial and non-mana- in the interview: Exploring the boundaries evaluation of sales professionals, implementa-
gerial jobs. Organizational Behavior and of an effect. Basic and Applied Social tion of self-managed teams, facilitation of lead-
Human Performance, 23, 360-372. Psychology, 14, 317-328. ership development programs, development of
Heilman, M. E. & Stopeck, M. H. (1985a). Shahani-Denning, C., & Plumitallo, D. organizational certification programs, training
evaluation, and needs analysis. She recently
Being attractive, advantage or disadvan- (1993). The influence of physical
completed a project evaluating the effective-
tage? Performance based evaluations and attractiveness and gender on disciplinary
ness of technology-based patient education.
recommended personnel actions as a func- decisions. Paper presented at the fifth
tion of appearance, sex, and job type. annual convention of the American Professor Shahani-Denning has an extensive list
Organizational Behavior and Human Psychological Society, Chicago, IL. of publications and presentations relating to her
research and professional interests, including
Decision Processes, 35, 202-215. Smith, S. M., McIntosh, W. D., & Bazzini, D.
the findings of research she conducted concern-
Heilman, M. E. & Stopeck, M. H. (1985b). G. (1999). Are the beautiful good in
ing employee and customer perceptions of serv-
Attractiveness and corporate success: Hollywood? An investigation of the beau- ice quality in India and time management issues
Different causal attributions for males and ty and goodness stereotype on film. Basic as they pertain to organizations based in India.
females. Journal of Applied Psychology, 70, and Applied Social Psychology, 21, 69-80.
Professor Shahani-Denning earned a B.A. from
379-388. Triandis, H. C. (1995). Individualism and col-
St. Xavier’s College (Bombay, India) and an
Hunsberger, B., & Cavanagh, B. (1988). lectivism. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
M.A. and Ph.D. from Rice University. While
Physical attractiveness and children’s Watkins, L. M. & Johnston, L. (2000). pursuing her graduate studies, she served
expectations of potential teachers. Screening job applicants: The impact of as a consultant to Rice University’s Office
Psychology in the Schools, 25, 70-74. physical attractiveness and application of Admissions, aiding in the development
McElroy, J. C., & DeCarol, T. E. (1999). quality. International Journal of Selection and modification of the interview procedures
Physical attractiveness on cognitive evalu- and Assessment, 8, 76-84. for selection of undergraduate students.
ations of saleswomen’s performance. Wheeler, L., & Kim, Y. (1997). The physical She also taught undergraduate courses at
Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, attractiveness stereotype has different con- Rice University.
7, 84-100. tent in collectivist cultures. Personality and
Professor Shahani-Denning is Co-Director of the
Miller, A. G. (1970). Role of physical attrac- Social Psychology Bulletin, 23, 795-800.
M.A. Program in Industrial & Organizational
tiveness in impression formation.
Psychology at Hofstra. In this capacity, she
Psychonomic Science, 19, 241-243. advises students, evaluates program appli-
cants, recommends curriculum changes, and
conducts outcomes assessment and program
evaluation. Although her primary teaching
responsibility is in the M.A. program, she
enjoys teaching both graduate and undergrad-
uate courses. -SK
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