{"id":{"repo_id":"uiuc","oai_identifier":"oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/110756"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uiuc/oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/110756","repository":{"repo_id":"uiuc","name":"University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign","base_url":"https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh"},"display":{"title":"Is beautiful actually good? Divergent paths from attractiveness to moral judgments","abstract":"For almost 50 years, psychologists have understood that what is beautiful is also good. This simple hypothesis has been confirmed in a large number of ways, and the intuitive appeal of the idea has led to a wide range of studies documenting the depth and breadth of its truth. Yet, in some ways, for what is arguably one of the most important forms of “goodness” that there is—morality—research has told a different story. Specifically, although greater attractiveness is associated with a host of other perceived and positive attributes, it has been only inconsistently associated with greater morality (or lesser immorality), and meta-analyses on the topic have suggested the total effect is near zero. The current research documents one reason why this is, given the attribution of so many other positive attributes to the attractive. Specifically, across nine experiments that employ a variety of methodological and measurement strategies, we show first that attractiveness causally leads to perception of vanity, which translates into perception of lesser morality/greater immorality. Then, we document how attractiveness is also associated with perception of greater sociability—the non-moral component of warmth—and show how sociability exerts a countervailing effect on moral judgments. Ultimately, this work provides a comprehensive process account of why beautiful is good, but is not necessarily moral, highlighting the complex interrelations between different elements of person perception.","abstract_html":"For almost 50 years, psychologists have understood that what is beautiful is also good. This simple hypothesis has been confirmed in a large number of ways, and the intuitive appeal of the idea has led to a wide range of studies documenting the depth and breadth of its truth. Yet, in some ways, for what is arguably one of the most important forms of “goodness” that there is—morality—research has told a different story. Specifically, although greater attractiveness is associated with a host of other perceived and positive attributes, it has been only inconsistently associated with greater morality (or lesser immorality), and meta-analyses on the topic have suggested the total effect is near zero. The current research documents one reason why this is, given the attribution of so many other positive attributes to the attractive. Specifically, across nine experiments that employ a variety of methodological and measurement strategies, we show first that attractiveness causally leads to perception of vanity, which translates into perception of lesser morality/greater immorality. Then, we document how attractiveness is also associated with perception of greater sociability—the non-moral component of warmth—and show how sociability exerts a countervailing effect on moral judgments. Ultimately, this work provides a comprehensive process account of why beautiful is good, but is not necessarily moral, highlighting the complex interrelations between different elements of person perception.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Han, Da Eun"],"institution":"University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign","degree_name":"M.S.","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Psychology","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Laurent, Sean M.","Albarracin, Dolores"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2021,"date_issued":"2021-09-17T02:34:51Z","date_published":"2021-09-17T02:34:51Z","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:24:52Z","subjects":["social cognition","person perception","beautiful-is-good stereotype","vanity","warmth"],"languages":["en"],"rights":["Copyright 2021 Da Eun Han"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/2142/110756","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Laurent, Sean M.","Albarracin, Dolores"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Han, Da Eun"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2021-09-17T02:34:51Z","2023-09-17T02:34:57Z","2021-04-30","2021-05"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["text","Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Psychology"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["M.S."]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["social cognition","person perception","beautiful-is-good stereotype","vanity","warmth"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright 2021 Da Eun Han"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/2142/110756"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["For almost 50 years, psychologists have understood that what is beautiful is also good. This simple hypothesis has been confirmed in a large number of ways, and the intuitive appeal of the idea has led to a wide range of studies documenting the depth and breadth of its truth. Yet, in some ways, for what is arguably one of the most important forms of “goodness” that there is—morality—research has told a different story. Specifically, although greater attractiveness is associated with a host of other perceived and positive attributes, it has been only inconsistently associated with greater morality (or lesser immorality), and meta-analyses on the topic have suggested the total effect is near zero. The current research documents one reason why this is, given the attribution of so many other positive attributes to the attractive. Specifically, across nine experiments that employ a variety of methodological and measurement strategies, we show first that attractiveness causally leads to perception of vanity, which translates into perception of lesser morality/greater immorality. Then, we document how attractiveness is also associated with perception of greater sociability—the non-moral component of warmth—and show how sociability exerts a countervailing effect on moral judgments. Ultimately, this work provides a comprehensive process account of why beautiful is good, but is not necessarily moral, highlighting the complex interrelations between different elements of person perception.","Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'U of I Access', the embargo will last until 2023-05-01","The student, Da Eun Han, accepted the attached license on 2021-04-29 at 21:25.","The student, Da Eun Han, submitted this Thesis for approval on 2021-04-29 at 22:58.","This Thesis was approved for publication on 2021-04-30 at 08:17.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #16619 on 2021-09-16 at 17:06:52","Made available in DSpace on 2021-09-17T02:34:51Z (GMT). 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This simple hypothesis has been confirmed in a large number of ways, and the intuitive appeal of the idea has led to a wide range of studies documenting the depth and breadth of its truth. Yet, in some ways, for what is arguably one of the most important forms of “goodness” that there is—morality—research has told a different story. Specifically, although greater attractiveness is associated with a host of other perceived and positive attributes, it has been only inconsistently associated with greater morality (or lesser immorality), and meta-analyses on the topic have suggested the total effect is near zero. The current research documents one reason why this is, given the attribution of so many other positive attributes to the attractive. Specifically, across nine experiments that employ a variety of methodological and measurement strategies, we show first that attractiveness causally leads to perception of vanity, which translates into perception of lesser morality/greater immorality. Then, we document how attractiveness is also associated with perception of greater sociability—the non-moral component of warmth—and show how sociability exerts a countervailing effect on moral judgments. Ultimately, this work provides a comprehensive process account of why beautiful is good, but is not necessarily moral, highlighting the complex interrelations between different elements of person perception.","Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'U of I Access', the embargo will last until 2023-05-01","The student, Da Eun Han, accepted the attached license on 2021-04-29 at 21:25.","The student, Da Eun Han, submitted this Thesis for approval on 2021-04-29 at 22:58.","This Thesis was approved for publication on 2021-04-30 at 08:17.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #16619 on 2021-09-16 at 17:06:52","Made available in DSpace on 2021-09-17T02:34:51Z (GMT). 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Divergent paths from attractiveness to moral judgments"],"dc:type":["text","Thesis"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Psychology"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["M.S."],"thesis:institution_name":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:24:52Z"}