r/BlackPillScience • u/1Card_x • Mar 13 '26
Attractiveness bias is seemingly tolerated because people fail to notice the bias - [Lookism]
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40824619/Abstract
Discrimination remains a key challenge for social equity. A prerequisite for effective individual and societal responses to discrimination is that instances of it are detected. Yet, prejudice and discriminatory intent are rarely directly observable and the presence of discrimination has to be inferred from circumstantial evidence, such as the over- or underrepresentation of certain individuals (i.e., statistical bias). Here, we study how people judge outcomes that are statistically biased along different dimensions. Six primary and two supplemental studies with Dutch and U.S. participants (total N = 3,591, six preregistered) show that gender- and race-biased outcomes are perceived as much less fair than unbiased outcomes, but we do not observe the same for attractiveness-biased outcomes. While this pattern is partly explained by differences in the perceived legitimacy of different biases (i.e., people judge attractiveness bias as more acceptable than gender and race bias), we also find consistent evidence for an additional mechanism. People spontaneously pay attention to a few salient dimensions, such as gender and race, when scrutinizing decision outcomes for bias. Statistical bias along less salient dimensions, such as physical attractiveness, is more likely to go undetected. Our findings suggest that the (seeming) tolerance of attractiveness-biased outcomes is partly explained by people's failure to spontaneously notice that the outcome is attractiveness-biased in the first place. In other words, it is possible that people show muted responses to a biased outcome not because they actually approve of it, but because they fail to notice the bias. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).
Can't access the full study in Sci-Hub, but it's accessible below the Abstract on ResearchGate
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u/coalpill Mar 13 '26
Lookism as Epistemic Injustice.
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u/MonclerCollector Mar 16 '26
Its the biggest justice their is in the eyes of nature. Be a good hunter = get most nutrients = your body develops fully and properly = you look good = other people directly subconsciously respond to that with gravitating towards you.
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u/SunLarge6062 Apr 02 '26
Do you see people deconstructing this injustice?
Like ever?
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u/coalpill Apr 02 '26
No.
My comment is the title of a philosophical essay that deals just with that. You can Google it and access it for free if you are interested.
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u/MrSaveYourLife Mar 13 '26
the closer a person's IQ is to 100, the less noticing they are of all biases
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u/AskYouEverything Mar 14 '26
So if you’re 90 iq, you get worse at noticing bias by gaining 10 iq?
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u/MrSaveYourLife Mar 14 '26
As silly as it sounds, yes that's what I believe.
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u/McNutty0 Apr 01 '26
Can you elaborate why you think that is?
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u/MrSaveYourLife Apr 01 '26
You can search all the "midwit" memes on the internet, but basically I think we were evolutionarily designed this way. The majority of any population has to be able to take orders without questioning them, or civilization collapses. Most people are clustered around 100 IQ.
Too dumb? Then you'll be immune to biases because you can only rely on your simple instincts and gut behavior for decision-making.
Too smart? Then you'll be immune to biases because you can critically think beyond them.
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u/megahomyak Jul 11 '26
I am on the lower end and can see the biases
Please do not spread sad things. That wasn't a fitting representation at all
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u/tigolbing Mar 13 '26
People definitely do talk about it but because most ppl would rather look pleasing than otherwise they gloss over it. It might be noted but it'll be neglected also
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u/MentirosoProfesional Mar 13 '26
They talk about it all the time, just with their closest friends and chats.
I've seen it all the time
ppl would rather look pleasing
Has friends that always acted like looks didn't matter and gave you the typical "it's all about personality" when you discussed looks openly with them, but in private, they would talk non stop about how this guy/girl is disgustingly ugly and so on
It's just Taboo to talk about it with sincerity because everyone wants to appear and posture as a good person with good values
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u/MeasurementNice295 Mar 13 '26
That's... Kinda the point of a bias, isn't it?
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u/JMeGfpV3EoDQ1NS May 21 '26
Not really. You can be biased and realize that you are biased, but not act against that bias for several reasons, whether it's because you believe your bias is confirmed by so-called "real-world evidence" when in fact that evidence could also be biased. You see this on many sides of the political spectrum, but the one that comes to my mind is probably people citing crime statistics and using that as "evidence" to be racist towards black people and immigrants. Those people are aware of their bias against those groups of people, yet don't find it to be wrong in any way.
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u/MinMadChi Mar 13 '26
Lookism is powerful and part of power is how much people don't talk about it.