|
Korean Job Discussion Forums
"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Teachers from Around the World!"
|
| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
World Traveler
Joined: 29 May 2009
|
 Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2011 12:55 pm Post subject: Study: Beautiful people cash in on their looks |
 |
|
http://yourlife.usatoday.com/your-look/story/2011/03/Beautiful-people-are-happier-study-finds/45500558/1
| Quote: |
Money may not buy happiness, but beauty buys both money and happiness, says a study published online today that gauged happiness and attractiveness among more than 25,000 people worldwide.
Economists at the University of Texas-Austin analyzed data from five large surveys conducted between 1971 and 2009 in the USA, Canada, Germany and Britain. They found that beautiful people are generally happier than the plain Jane or even ugly Joe.
And they say it's the economic benefit that results from beauty that accounts for at least half of that extra happiness.
"The majority of beauty's effect on happiness works through its impact on economic outcomes," says lead author Daniel Hamermesh, who has studied attractiveness effects for many years. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
Gorf
Joined: 25 Jun 2011
|
| Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2011 6:35 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| File this one under the "Sky is Blue" category |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Fox
Joined: 04 Mar 2009
|
| Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2011 7:12 pm Post subject: |
|
|
While we're posting studies which reinforce the obvious, here's another one: excessive wealth erodes empathy.
| Quote: |
Americans may tend to think theirs is a classless society, but new research confirms that social class influences the way we think and act, and how we view the world.
Experts believe social class extends beyond our income bracket, reflecting the clothes we wear, the music we like, who we hang out with, and how we interact with others.
According to the authors of a new article in Current Directions in Psychological Science, people from lower classes have fundamentally different ways of thinking about the world than people in upper classes�a fact that should figure into debates on public policy.
�Americans, although this is shifting a bit, kind of think class is irrelevant,� said psychologist Dr. Dacher Keltner, who cowrote the article with Dr. Michael W. Kraus and Paul K. Piff, a graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley. �I think our studies are saying the opposite: This is a profound part of who we are.�
People who come from a lower-class background have to depend more on other people. �If you don�t have resources and education, you really adapt to the environment, which is more threatening, by turning to other people,� Keltner said.
�People who grow up in lower-class neighborhoods, as I did, will say,� There�s always someone there who will take you somewhere, or watch your kid. You�ve just got to lean on people.��
Wealthier people don�t have to rely on each other as much. The authors believe this causes differences that show up in psychological studies.
Researchers also suggest people from lower-class backgrounds are better at reading other people�s emotions, and that they are more likely to act altruistically.
�They give more and help more. If someone�s in need, they�ll respond,� Keltner said. When poor people see someone else suffering, they have a physiological response that is missing in people with more resources.
�What I think is really interesting about that is, it kind of shows there�s all this strength to the lower class identity: greater empathy, more altruism, and finer attunement to other people,� he says.
Of course, there are also costs to being lower-class. Health studies have found that lower-class people have more anxiety and depression and are less physically healthy.
Upper-class people are different, Keltner said.
�What wealth and education and prestige and a higher station in life gives you is the freedom to focus on the self,� he said. In psychology experiments, wealthier people don�t read other people�s emotions as well. They hoard resources and are less generous than they could be.
Keltner believe these inherent differences influence public policy, or perhaps the fractious debates that are currently causing a stalemate in our government.
One implication of this, Keltner said, is that�s unreasonable to structure a society on the hope that rich people will help those less fortunate.
�One clear policy implication is, the idea of nobless oblige or trickle-down economics, certain versions of it, is bull,� Keltner said.
�Our data say you cannot rely on the wealthy to give back. The �thousand points of light��this rise of compassion in the wealthy to fix all the problems of society�is improbable, psychologically.�
The ability to rise in class is the great promise of the �American Dream.� But studies have found that, as people rise in the classes, they become less empathetic.
Other research has found that as people rise in wealth, they become happier�but not as much as you�d expect.
�I think one of the reasons why is the human psyche stops feeling the need to connect and be closer to others, and we know that�s one of the greatest sources of happiness science can study,� Keltner says. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
joelove
Joined: 12 May 2011
|
| Posted: Mon Aug 15, 2011 2:17 am Post subject: |
|
|
| A wise man said something like, both poverty and riches are a bondage. I guess many are possessed by one or the other. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
catman
Joined: 18 Jul 2004
|
| Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2011 5:49 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Hence the lack of beautiful foreigners coming to Korea.  |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
recessiontime
Joined: 21 Jun 2010
Location: Got avatar privileges nyahahaha
|
| Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2011 7:34 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| that was a fascinating article you posted fox, i appreciate it. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
isisaredead
Joined: 18 May 2010
|
| Posted: Sat Aug 20, 2011 4:47 am Post subject: |
|
|
| recessiontime wrote: |
| that was a fascinating article you posted fox, i appreciate it. |
right on.  |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Sergio Stefanuto
Joined: 14 May 2009
Location: UK
|
| Posted: Sat Aug 20, 2011 6:45 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| I think it's disgusting that good-looking people are permitted to earn more than others. Why isn't the government doing more to ensure that the rest of us receive our fair share? I propose a wealth tax of 50% on the good-looking. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Pa Jan Jo A Hamnida
Joined: 27 Oct 2006
Location: Not Korea
|
| Posted: Sat Aug 20, 2011 10:41 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Sergio Stefanuto wrote: |
| I think it's disgusting that good-looking people are permitted to earn more than others. Why isn't the government doing more to ensure that the rest of us receive our fair share? I propose a wealth tax of 50% on the good-looking. |
Words fail... me. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
recessiontime
Joined: 21 Jun 2010
Location: Got avatar privileges nyahahaha
|
| Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2011 6:11 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Sergio Stefanuto wrote: |
| I think it's disgusting that good-looking people are permitted to earn more than others. Why isn't the government doing more to ensure that the rest of us receive our fair share? I propose a wealth tax of 50% on the good-looking. |
Now your thinking like a socialist |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
