photo by vernalanemgmt

Sorry if that sounds like a cheap come-on, but I was intrigued by research I recently came across on how physical beauty involves more than good looks.

Three studies conducted at the University of Wisconsin-Madison found that people perceive physical beauty differently when looking at those they know versus strangers.

While there have been countless studies that focus on specific facial features, waist-to-hip ratios and other physical qualities that influence your perception of others’ beauty, these studies focused on how we might see physical beauty differently over time as we get to know a person’s other qualities.

In the first study, participants rated the physical attractiveness of people’s high school yearbook pictures (now there’s a scary thought). In the second, members of a college sports team and strangers rated team members. The last study asked students in a summer archaeological excavation course to rate one another both on the first day of class and again six weeks later.

“In each case, non-physical traits known only to familiars, such as how much the person was liked, respected and contributed to shared goals, had a large effect on the perception of physical attractiveness that was invisible to strangers,” said David Sloan Wilson, an evolutionary biologist at Binghamton University and one of the researchers.

I think the implications for social media are pretty obvious. As researchers Wilson and Kevin Kniffin conclude in their paper on the studies, “If you want to enhance your physical attractiveness, become a valuable social partner.”

Personally, I’ve always preferred to be judged on the quality of my character rather than any physical traits. That’s why I use a profile shot that’s been deliberately uglified. For the curious, here’s what I really look like.