There are several research studies that show that even young children are affected by attractiveness and perceive attractive people more positively than unattractive people. This tendency develops from an early age and can have implications for children’s social development and interactions. Some key findings on how attractiveness influences children include:
Children prefer attractive faces
Multiple studies have found that children as young as 3 months old gaze longer at attractive faces than unattractive faces. This suggests an innate preference for attractive features that emerges very early in development. One study by Langlois et al. in 1987 tracked eye movements of young infants looking at pictures of attractive and unattractive female faces. Infants looked significantly longer at the attractive faces, suggesting greater interest and preference.
Children attribute positive traits to attractive people
By age 6, children associate attractiveness with positive traits like kindness, intelligence, and honesty. In a 1990 study by Dion, children looked at images of other children with varying levels of attractiveness. The children rated the attractive kids as nicer, smarter, and more likely to have more friends compared to unattractive kids. This shows that children absorb social messages about “what is beautiful is good” from a very young age.
Attractive children are treated more positively
Not only do children have preferences for attractiveness, but adults also treat attractive children more favorably. Multiple studies have found teachers give more attention and positive feedback to attractive students compared to less attractive students. One study gave school photos of a child to teachers along with a written description. When the photo was of an attractive child, teachers had higher expectations and more positive perceptions, even though the description was the same.
Why Does Attractiveness Influence Children?
There are several explanations for why attractiveness shapes children’s perceptions from such a young age:
1. Attractiveness indicates health
Evolutionarily, humans are drawn to features signaling health, strength, and genetic fitness, as these indicate a viable mate. Symmetrical faces, clear skin, white teeth, and other attractive features signal to our brains that this person has good genes. Children inherit these evolutionary tendencies and use attractiveness as a mental shortcut to judge who is healthier or genetically advantaged.
2. Social learning and messages
From books, media, toys, and ads, children absorb positive messages about attractiveness from a very young age. Princesses and superheroes tend to be thin and beautiful. Unattractive characters are more likely to be villains or bullies. Children pick up on these patterns and internalize the lesson that good people are attractive.
3. Halo effect
The halo effect causes people to assume that attractive individuals possess other positive virtues. Children experience this bias and assume attractive people are also nicer, smarter, more successful, etc. They carry these high expectations into social interactions with attractive peers and adults.
4. Self-fulfilling prophecy
When children expect certain behaviors from attractive people, they tend to treat them in accordance with those expectations. So when an attractive child receives special treatment and positive feedback, they are likely to become more confident, popular, and successful. Children respond to the expectations set for attractive kids.
Impacts on Children’s Development
Children’s preferences for attractiveness can shape their social experiences in ways that impact development:
Social advantage for attractive children
Attractive children tend to have more social success, confidence, and popularity among peers. Teachers and parents also treat them more positively. This gives good-looking children an early advantage across social, academic, and interpersonal domains.
Self-esteem effects
Children who receive constant positive feedback for their appearance can develop elevated self-esteem. However, those with less attractive features can feel bad about themselves when treated poorly due to appearance. Looks-based self-esteem can be unstable and damaging.
Narrow views of beauty
Internalizing narrow cultural definitions of beauty from an early age can cause body image issues, eating disorders, and poor self-image later in life. Children must learn to value qualities beyond appearance.
Biased social interactions
Assumptions and expectations based on attractiveness can distort children’s social interactions. They may limit contacts with those deemed unattractive or not give people a fair chance based on looks.
Adult Influences on Children’s Perceptions
While children absorb cultural messages about beauty on their own, adults play a key role in shaping these perceptions:
Modeling inclusive values
Parents and teachers should model valuing all people for their character, not appearance. Avoid criticizing your own or others’ looks in front of children.
Setting appearance rules
Create guidelines to prevent discrimination based on looks, like not allowing kids to exclude others from play based on appearance. Enforce rules consistently.
Discussing inner beauty
Teach children to look beyond surface appearances through books, media, and open discussions. Highlight examples of inner beauty and character strengths not related to looks.
Promoting diversity
Expose children to people from diverse ethnicities, body types, ages and abilities. Teach them to appreciate all different appearances equally.
Building self-esteem
Give children praise and positive feedback for effort, character, and growth. Don’t focus compliments solely on attractive features or abilities. Help them build self-worth unrelated to appearance.
Conclusion
Research clearly shows that children are drawn to attractiveness from infancy and absorb cultural preferences for beauty. This shapes social interactions and development in ways that can be both advantageous and damaging. While children pick up these tendencies naturally, the influences of parents, media, peers and teachers also play a major role. Adults must be aware of how attractiveness impacts children and model alternative ways of valuing people throughout development. With inclusive and thoughtful guidance, children can learn to look beyond surface appearance and appreciate diversity in all its forms.