Abstract
Despite people’s universal interest in the pursuit of physical attractiveness, little is known about the behavioral consequences of individuals’ self-perceived physical attractiveness. Across four studies, we find that a boost in individuals’ self-perceived attractiveness increases public self-consciousness and thus heightens their motivation for impression management, which in turn increases prosocial behavior. Furthermore, we identify the salience of privateness as an important moderator. The effect of self-perceived attractiveness on prosocial behavior is disrupted when the privateness of prosocial behavior is made salient. This research thus provides evidence for the causal link between self-perceived physical attractiveness and prosocial behavior.
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This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (72172131) awarded to Professor Jun Ye.
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Meng, H., Ye, J. Looking good and doing good: the effect of self-perceived attractiveness on prosocial behavior. Mark Lett (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11002-024-09735-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11002-024-09735-5