The Aye of the Beholder: Susceptibility to Sexism and Beautyism in the Evaluation of Managerial Applicants¹

Abstract

Sex‐typed college students (16 males and 16 females) and androgynous college students (16 males and 16 females) evaluated the resumes of fictitious applicants for a managerial position described as requiring interpersonal competencies. The applicant's physical attractiveness, qualifications, and sex were systematically varied in the resumes. Five‐way analyses of variance were performed on the hiring decisions about the applicants and the perceived attractiveness, masculinity, femininity, and social desirability of the applicants. Hiring preferences were shown for attractive over unattractive applicants, for wellqualified over less qualified applicants, and among these preferred groups, males were favored over females. The subject's sex‐role orientation predictably moderated the effect of the applicant's attractiveness but not the effect of the applicant's sex. Sex‐typed subjects committed “beautyism” more than androgynous subjects did. The applicants' sex, qualifications, and attractiveness affected how they were perceived in terms of sex‐role attributes as well as sex‐irrelevant, socially desirable traits. Theoretical implications and suggestions for further research are discussed.

Verbal and Nonverbal Impression Management Tactics in Behavior Description and Situational Interviews

“…Furthermore, research has consistently shown that friendly nonverbal behaviors, especially eye contact, smiling, hand gesturing, and head nodding, are associated with higher interview evaluations (e.g., Anderson, 1991;Anderson & Shackleton, 1990;Burnett & Motowidlo, 1998;Cash & Kilcullen, 1985;DeGroot & Motowidlo, 1999;Forbes & Jackson, 1980;Gifford, Ng, & Wilkinson, 1985;Hollandsworth, Kazelskis, Stevens, & Dressel, 1979;Imada & Hakel, 1977;McGovern, Jones, Warwick, & Jackson, 1981;Motowidlo & Burnett, 1995;Parsons & Liden, 1984;Rasmussen, 1984). This leads to the following hypothesis, which basically attempts to replicate prior findings of a relationship between IM use (both verbal and nonverbal) and interview ratings.…”

Relationships between Perceptions of Conducting Effectiveness and Ensemble Performance

“…Attractiveness has been found to affect an employer's judgment about a job applicant (Beehr & Gilmore, 1982;Benson, Severs, Tagenhorst, & Loddengaard, 1980;Cann, Siegfiied, & Pearce, 1981;Cash, Gillen, & Bums, 1977;Cash & Kilcullen, 1985;Dipboye, Arvey, & Terpstra, 1977;Dipboye, Fromkin, & Wiback, 1975;Gilmore, Beehr, & Love, 1986;Heilman & Saruwatari, 1979;Shahani, Dipboye, & Gehrlein, 1993). Research has also shown that when jobs have been stereotyped as either being appropriate for males or for females, job applicants opposite those stereotypes are viewed less favorably for the job (Cash et al, 1977;Heilman & Saniwatari, 1979).…”

Expert opinion and review article: The timing of comedone extraction in the treatment of premenstrual acne – a proposed therapeutic approach

“…Attractive people enjoy many advantages in life [12,13]: they are judged as happier, smarter, more successful, socially adept and warm [14]. At work, they command better jobs with higher salaries and faster promotions [15]. In social communication, women with even skin coloration receive more visual attention [16], enabling better interpersonal relationships.…”