You’re More Likely to Reject Hierarchies if You Feel Unattractive

Research participants who had been asked to write about an incident in which they felt physically attractive were about half as likely to donate their $50 compensation to the Occupy movement as people who had been primed to think of themselves as unattractive, say Peter Belmi and Margaret Neale of Stanford. When people believe they’re attractive, they see themselves as belonging to a higher social class, a perception that results in their taking a more-favorable view of inequality, the researchers say. People who feel unattractive, by contrast, are more likely to reject inequality and social hierarchies.