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Women don't mind if men are ugly, as long as they don't misbehave

A new study has found that unattractiveness can compound the negative effect of breaking a social norm.

A NEW STUDY by an American university has found that a woman’s opinion of a man is mainly determined by two factors – his attractiveness and how well behaved he is.

This is according to a new study published in the most recent edition of ‘Gender Issues’. 

The research looked at the importance of first impressions and how they impacted on long-term relationships.

It was found that for women, the most important features for a man to have was attractiveness and a tendency to stick to social norms.

According to Science Daily, such impressions are often “made in a flash” but can often be incorrect.

The study

The research was carried out by Jeremy Gibson and Jonathan Gore at the Eastern Kentucky University, with testing being carried out on 170 university-aged women.

They were shown two male faces, one attractive and one not attractive – although both with similar features.

The researchers then gave the girls two different scenarios for each individual picture they were shown – one in which the person in the picture committed a major faux-pas, and the other where they didn’t.

It was found that a man doing something socially out of step was a bigger put off than his being unattractive.

What did it identify?

One of the main findings of the study was the ‘devil’ and ‘halo’ effects.

With the ‘devil’ effect, the less-attractive man was tolerated up to the point that he committed a certain social transgression. After this, the negative perception of his wrong doing was amplified by his ugliness.

“The unattractive male is tolerated up to a point; his unattractiveness is OK until he misbehaves,” Gibson explained. 

This was shown to be particularly prevalent in online dating profiles – where displaying alarming information is much more likely to be forgiven for more attractive men, demonstrating the ‘halo’ effect.

It was also found in the course of the study that more attractive men were likely to get less severe fines and sentences in the judicial system.

Read: Drink up! Scientists say you’re more attractive after having a glass of wine

Also: Is there a scientific way to tell how good looking you are?

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52 Comments
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    Mute Periguin
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    Jun 9th 2015, 10:15 AM

    Great advice until you realise your pool of options is full of leeches.

    151
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    Mute Jack Dunne
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    Jun 9th 2015, 12:07 PM

    Because there’s nothing glitzy about a shimmering defaulter who isn’t on a tracker mortgage

    24
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    Mute aspaino
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    Jun 9th 2015, 11:01 AM

    Ffs !what are you waiting for borrow your deposit from the credit union, furnish the house on a credit card if you must , but buy buy buy prices will only go up, you have to get on the ladder then when your house doubles in value in 6 weeks time , release the equity and buy two apartments , you can’t lose , it’s easy money !!!! we are all gonna be rich !!!

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    Mute Kal Ipers
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    Jun 9th 2015, 11:33 AM

    Again nothing to do with the article. Hysteria made up based on what only some people did during massive price rises. Can you show evidence of this now?

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    Mute Stephen Brady
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    Jun 9th 2015, 12:07 PM

    Kal house prices are steadily climbing. What more evidence do you need?

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    Mute Kal Ipers
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    Jun 9th 2015, 12:25 PM

    A lot more evidence that people are actually doing as claimed. House prices going up after an over deflation is not evidence. To say it is requires large amounts of ignorance.
    Knowing the difference between between the past and present is important so as not to do the wrong thing

    10
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    Mute Martin Byrne
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    Jun 9th 2015, 10:13 AM

    Don’t worry about anything at all. There won’t be a crash it will be a tapered landing.

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    Mute Kal Ipers
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    Jun 9th 2015, 11:26 AM

    What has that got to do with the article? The market is what it is and not some scheme.
    How old you are is a huge factor to determine when you buy. You first have to get to a stable salary then a deposit together. That tends to mean you have between 30-40 to buy after that it is unlikely as you will be looking for less than 25 year mortgage.

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    Mute Martin Byrne
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    Jun 9th 2015, 11:47 AM

    Kal – It’s related to the last frenzy of over priced houses and how that ended,just like the next one that will happen.

    It’s happened in cycles in the biggest economies in the world and it will happen here again.

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    Mute Ryan Anth
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    Jun 9th 2015, 11:59 AM

    Those of us a little older who were able to vote in 2007 are feeling a sense of deja Vu Kal with these kind of headlines, many of us saw the same stuff back then. I was a firm believer in neiliberal economics at the time and didn’t care. I had drank the tiger cool aid. A friend of mine who was in Morgan Kellys class ahead of me already in college deprogrammed me over 6-7 work shifts, and everyone you tried to say the sh11t was gonna hit the fan they’d say ”soft landing”.

    So I asked my friend, “how many soft landings have there been in property and housing bubbles before?”
    “none, bubbles don’t have soft landings they burst”
    I was told I was a doom n gloomer and should go off and join FG. So I talked to some FG people…and Lab people…who assured me there was all party agreement on the economy now, everyone would do the same thing because “we’ve fixed the economy, we’ve gotten that formula right, the argument is how to spend the cash” They knew nothing, only that money was coming in, that’s why they were so bad at managing it when it crashed.

    22
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    Mute Kal Ipers
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    Jun 9th 2015, 12:20 PM

    Some of us who were voting for a long time in 2007 know exactly what was going on. A warning to look at you financial agreements still has no bearing on a rant about house prices going up.
    I also distinctly remember people screaming at the banks to give more money, parents remortgaging and giving the money to their children, lying and falsifying records to get mortgages etc…
    These things were a problem are they still happening?

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    Mute J
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    Jun 9th 2015, 2:54 PM

    “There won’t be a crash it will be a tapered landing” – don’t need to hear about your toilet stories thanks…

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    Mute Kevin M Smyth
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    Jun 9th 2015, 11:28 AM

    I remember the banks offering around €15k to customers, if they switched from their trackers to a variable mortgage. The banks are so charitable aren’t they? /s

    That 50% off home insurance must be worth about €150? A paltry sum.

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    Mute Cian O Donoghue
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    Jun 9th 2015, 12:37 PM

    To get back to the point of the article… BOI offer a 2k cash back, but over the 30 year life of a 250k mortgage it will cost you approximately 20k more than the current lowest market rate mortgage. Just an example.

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    Mute Kal Ipers
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    Jun 9th 2015, 12:53 PM

    That is certainly worth noting. It amazes me people make short sighted decisions and the fact you have to be told

    19
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    Mute John Ó'Ríordán
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    Jun 9th 2015, 11:26 AM

    “Look at that organisation’s history with customer care”

    Any advice on how to get this information? I’m applying for a mortgage at the moment.

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    Mute In The Name Of....
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    Jun 9th 2015, 11:37 AM

    Try mabs, or other such places, financial regulator may list complaints about banks etc.

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    Mute Steve
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    Jun 9th 2015, 11:45 AM

    Stupid Paddy. never learns.

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    Mute B-Egan
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    Jun 9th 2015, 10:49 AM

    That will fall on deaf hours it will take the next generation to move away from the endoctrined mindset of buying overpriced houses taking on massive debt to be socially accepted as a grown up and going places.

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    Mute Kal Ipers
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    Jun 9th 2015, 11:31 AM

    You do get there are real world financial implication to buying a house? Mortgages go down and rent goes up in the long term. How do you rent in a pension?
    It isn’t a belief that you are grown up by buying it is financial repercussions of not planning for your future.
    There are other options but you need a huge pension to keep renting on retirement.

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    Mute Ryan Anth
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    Jun 9th 2015, 11:54 AM

    I’ve only seen the first two minutes but banking deregulation, splash spending before an election, borrowing to fund current spending, a housing boom starting, people who dare to question being called doom and gloomers…I’ve seen this movie somewhere before …is this a remake?

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    Mute Periguin
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    Jun 9th 2015, 12:11 PM

    The original was by Bertie Hitchcock. The sequel is being directed by Enda SPIELberg, who’s work with Denis Waterman is now legendary.

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    Mute Allister
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    Jun 9th 2015, 10:46 AM

    Twas my money father, I just didnt want to fill in the forms..!

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    Mute release robert
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    Jun 9th 2015, 12:25 PM

    Its a soap opera and the part where biffo returns in a shower scene telling us it was all a bad dream should be hilarious !!!

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