•  
  •  
 

Abstract

Being attractive is believed to give many benefits in life. Economic studies have observed that physical attractiveness is associated with a higher wage. The benefits of being attractive have been perceived from early age, to the labor market, and to the marriage market. Despite all the advantages that beauty brings, efforts are being made to achieve or maintain attractiveness. People spend substantial resources,such as time and money, to enhance appearance. Using Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression, this study examines the correlation between perceived attractiveness and earnings among urban working women in Indonesia. Findings show that the income of women who perceive themselves as attractive is 19% higher than those who are unattractive after makeup application. Meanwhile, attractiveness without makeup application is found uncorrelated with earnings. Thus, grooming behavior may be a source of the observed wage premium for female workers.

Bahasa Abstract

Pendapat umum memercayai bahwa penampilan fisik yang menarik memiliki keunggulan dalam kehidupan. Studi bidang ekonomi menemukan fisik yang menarik berasosiasi dengan pendapatan yang lebih tinggi. Keuntungan tersebut telah dirasakan sejak usia dini, yang juga berdampak di ke pasar tenaga kerja, dan pasar pernikahan. Terlepas dari semua keuntungan tersebut, terdapat upaya untuk mencapai atau mempertahankan daya tarik. Sumber daya seperti waktu dan uang diperlukan untuk meningkatkan penampilan. Dengan menggunakan metode regresi Ordinary Least Squared, penelitian ini juga bertujuan untuk melihat korelasi antara daya tarik dan pendapatan. Penelitian ini menemukan bahwa wanita cantik dengan kosmetik mendapatkan pendapatan 19% lebih banyak dari rekan kerjanya. Namun, penelitian ini menemukan bahwa kecantikan tanpa penggunaan kosmetik tidak berdampak pada pendapatan. Hal ini menunjukkan bahwa kegiatan bersolek merupakan sumber dari premi kecantikan wanita.

References

American Psychological Association. (2017). The problem with being pretty: When applying for less desirable jobs, attractive people may be at a disadvantage, study says. ScienceDaily. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/10/171024130611.html

Barro, R. (1998). So, You Want to Hire the Beautiful. Well, Why Not? Business Week.

Berscheid, E., Walster, E. H. (1974) Physical attractiveness. In Berkowitz, L. (Ed.) Advances in experimental social psychology. Vol. 7 (Pp. 158-215). Academic Press

Biddle, J. E., & Hamermesh, D. (1998). Beauty, Productivity, and Discrimination: Lawyers' Looks and Lucre. Journal of Labor Economics, 16, 172-201. https://doi.org/10.1086/209886

Bose, C. M. (2013). The Economics of Beautification and Beauty. PhD Dissertation, The University of Texas at Austin, Philosophy, Texas.

Cash, T. F., Gillen, B., & Burns, D. S. (1977). Sexism and beautyism in personnel consultant decision making. Journal of Applied Psychology, 62(3), 301-310. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.62.3.301

Cash, T. F., Cash, D. W., & Butters, J. W. (1983). "Mirror, mirror, on the wall…?": Contrast effects and self-evaluations of physical attractiveness. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 9(3), 351-358. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167283093004

Dion, K., Berscheid, E., & Walster, E. (1972). What is beautiful is good. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 24(3), 285-290. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0033731

Dipboye, R. L., Fromkin, H. L., & Wiback, K. (1975). Relative importance of applicant sex, attractiveness, and scholastic standing in evaluation of job applicant resumes. Journal of Applied Psychology, 60(1), 39-43. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0076352

Dipboye, R. L., Arvey, R. D., & Terpstra, D. E. (1977). Sex and physical attractiveness of raters and applicants as determinants of resume evaluations. Journal of Applied Psychology, 62(3), 288-294. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.62.3.288

Eagly, A. H., Ashmore, R., Makhijani, M., & Longo, L. (1991). What is beautiful is good, aut…: A meta-analytic review of research on the physical attractiveness stereotype. Psychological Bulletin, 110(1), 109-128. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.110.1.109

Feingold, A. (1992) Good-looking people are not what we think. Psychological Bulletin, 111, 304-341. https://www.gwern.net/docs/iq/1992-feingold.pdf

Harper, B. (2000). Beauty, stature and the labor market: A British cohort study. Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 62(S1), 771-800. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0084.0620s1771

Hamermesh D. S., Meng X., & Zhang J. (2002). Dress for success–Does primping pay? Labour Economics, 9(3), 361–373. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0927-5371(02)00014-3

Hamermesh, D. S. (2011). Beauty pays: Why attractive people are more successful. Princeton University Press.

Hatfield, E., & Sprecher, S. (1986). Mirror, mirror: The importance of looks in everyday life. State University of New York Press.

Hill, S. E., Rodeheffer, C. D., Griskevicius, V., Durante, K., & White, A. E. (2012). Boosting beauty in an economic decline: Mating, spending, and the lipstick effect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 103(2), 275-291. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0028657

Hope, D. A., & Mindell, J. A. (1994). Global social skill ratings: Measures of social behavior or physical attractiveness? Behaviour Research and Therapy, 32(4), 463-469. https://doi.org/10.1016/0005-7967(94)90011-6

International Trade Administration. (2016). Asia Personal Care & Cosmetics Market Guide. International Trade Administration, Department of Commerce. International Trade Administration.

Langlois, J. H., Kalakanis, L., Rubenstein, A. J., Larson, A., Hallam, M., & Smoot, M. (2000). Maxims or myths of beauty? A meta-analytic and theoretical review. Psychological Bulletin, 126(3), 390–423. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.126.3.390

Lee, S. (2015). Beauty pays but does investment in beauty? University of Maryland. IZA.

Lennon, S. (1990). Effects of clothing attractiveness on perceptions, Home Economics Journal, 18(4), 303-310. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077727X9001800403

Li, Z., Zhang, C., & Laroche, M. (2019). Is beauty a premium? A study of the physical attractiveness effect in service encounters. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 50. 215-225. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2019.04.016.

Major, B., Carrington, P., & Carnevale, P. J. (1984) Physical attractiveness and self esteem: Attributions for praise from an other-sex evaluator. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 10(1), 43-50. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167284101004

Mobius, M. M., & Rosenblat, T. (2006). Why Beauty Matters. The American Economic Review, 96(1), 222-235. https://doi.org/10.1257/000282806776157515

Mocan, N., & Tekin, E. (2010). Ugly criminals. The Review of Economics and Statistics, 92(1), 15-30. https://doi.org/10.1162/rest.2009.11757

Murstein, B. I. (1972). Physical attractiveness and marital choice. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 22(1), 8-12. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0032394

Musumeci, C., & Shahani-Denning, C. (1996, April). Self-monitoring: Impact on applicant attractiveness and selection decisions. Paper presented at the annual convention of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, San Diego, CA.

Nash, R., Fieldman, G., Hussey, T., Lévêque, J., & Pineau, P. (2006). Cosmetics: They influence more than caucasian female facial attractiveness. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 36(2), 493-504. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0021-9029.2006.00016.x

Persico, N., Postlewaite, A., & Silverman, D. (2004). The effect of adolescent experience on labor market outcomes: The case of height. Journal of Political Economy, 112(5), 1019-1053. https://doi.org/10.1086/422566

Ritmann, R. (2015, 26 March). Why we care so much about our appearance: Our obsession with looks. Her Campus. https://www.hercampus.com/school/bu/why-we-care-so-much-about-our-appearance-our-obsession-looks/

Robins, P. K., Homer, J. F., & French, M. T. (2011). Beauty and the labor market: Accounting for the additional effects of personality and grooming. Labour, 25(2), 228-251. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9914.2010.00511.x

Schmid, K., Marx, D., & Samal, A. (2008). Computation of a Face Attractiveness Index Based on Neoclassical Canons, Symmetry, and Golden Ratios. Pattern Recognition, 41(8), 2710-2717. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.patcog.2007.11.022.

Sierminska, E. (2015). Does it pay to be beautiful? IZA World of Labour 2015: 161. https://wol.iza.org/uploads/articles/161/pdfs/does-it-pay-to-be-beautiful.pdf

Thornhill, R., & Gangestad, S. W. (1999). The scent of symmetry: A human sex pheromone that signals fitness? Evolution and Human Behavior, 20(3), 175-201. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1090-5138(99)00005-7

Watkins, L. M., & Johnston, L. (2000). Screening job applicants: The impact of physical attractiveness and application quality. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 8(2), 76-84. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2389.00135

Download

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.