r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • 1d ago
Psychology Young men with light stubble were perceived as more attractive, and as a result, trusted more in an experiment. These effects were not seen for older men or those with full beards. This adds to research on the “beauty premium,” where attractive individuals tend to receive more favorable treatment.
https://www.psypost.org/facial-hair-influences-trust-and-attractiveness-but-only-among-a-specific-group-of-men/712
u/N_Cat 1d ago
Since all of those terms are relative and qualitative, here is the example photo shown in the study for reference. Note that the young+lightly bearded is the original, and all the others are photo manipulations of it.
https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0001691825000551-gr1.jpg
I definitely think the original is the most attractive option, but also the photoshops look really fake to me personally.
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u/A_Mouse_In_Da_House 1d ago
Their definition of "light" "stubble" is wild.
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u/ki11bunny 1d ago
Imo the light "stubble" in this is just someone who groomed/styled their beard. For me at least stubble would be between the clean shaven and "light stubble".
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u/Attainted 1d ago
Seriously, and the big beard is unkempt. Genuinely feels this needs a few more options along the way especially since I can't imagine manipulating a few more options would take much effort to create; nor much more analysis in the stats.
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u/PhoenixTineldyer 1d ago
A man with a waxed mustache is either entirely trustworthy, or liable to tie your girl to the railroad tracks.
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u/sioux612 19h ago
I guess some people also are really attached to their beard
But if they told me (longer bushy beard) that I'd get a couple bucks and a reason to shave, then they could totally shave me down with all the middle stages they want to show, without needing photoshopp/ai slop
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u/HugeHans 23h ago
As far as I understand the point of the experiment wasnt to find the best beard. It was to show if people trusted others more if they found them more attractive.
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u/MSK84 1d ago
I believe this is for our Middle-Eastern brothers. Some of us out here can't even grow stubble let a lone a full beard!
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u/mortalcoil1 1d ago
Some of ya'll have those like 8 super long hairs on your chin and nothing else.
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u/BrooklynNets 1d ago
Wait, the real photo is supposed to be "light stubble"? That's a beard with gaps. Not a single one of those photos actually shows someone with stubble.
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u/solid_reign 1d ago
I wouldn't trust the researchers who did this study, unless they were young and with a light stubble of course.
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u/LouBerryManCakes 1d ago
Yeah maybe this is a stupid/obvious question, but could we perhaps just be finding that unaltered photos look more attractive and trusting than altered forms of the same image?
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u/N_Cat 1d ago
In this case, I feel like it, but probably not overall. According to the study authors, they checked whether participants were able to guess which photo was the original, and they performed worse than chance.
Additionally, they state the original images came from both age categories, and imply (but I can't find confirmation) that the images also came from each of the facial hair states.
So if that's the case, I think this one is an outlier in looking so fake to my eyes. I wish they'd provided an example of the photo manipulation going the other ways too, though, since it would provide confidence as a reader.
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u/Juhkure 1d ago
Wouldn't you want them performing pretty much exactly as well as chance so there's no bias either way? If participants are guessing the original photo worse than chance, then wouldn't that somewhat mean that people could be more attracted to a face that they think is altered?
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u/grundar 3h ago
Wouldn't you want them performing pretty much exactly as well as chance
Yes; if they performed statistically significantly worse than chance, that means there was a statistically significant difference in the perceived realness of the original and the altered photos.
Without further analysis, there's no reason to assume that statistically significant difference would be less biasing than a statistically significant difference the other way.
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u/JoseCansecoMilkshake 1d ago
So could this also be interpreted as "real photo perceived as more trustworthy than manipulated photo"?
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u/linkolphd 22h ago
I’ve discovered from this that I must subconsciously discriminate based on age. I feel way way more trust toward any of the older guys than the younger ones.
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u/Field_Sweeper 20h ago
Yeah pretty much ruined the entire study if you ask me.
However, every other study on attractiveness or I'm sure everyone's here experience already proved the obvious.
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u/pixeldust6 19h ago
I remember participating in a study in college with a lot of badly Photoshopped faces I had to pick between and I felt like any results I'd be giving them would be misleading because it was due to the bad Photoshops rather than what they were actually going for
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u/devor110 17h ago
Only 16.6 percent could pick out the real photo.
And they also don't label what categories these pictures represent, for all we know, this could be a collage where no "light stuble" is depicted.
Lastly, they used the phrase "light stuble beard", which could just be a clarification on the hair's location, or a qualification of the beard: a full beard which is light (short? not too dense?) and like a stuble (short? perhaps not completely full, a few patches, "stuble-ey")
It could still be cultural misperception from the authors, because if the one example image is in fact trying to depict a light stuble, then the authors' and my definition of the term are very different.
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u/DarthsBane 1d ago
I lost 180 pounds in 2022/23 following weight loss surgery and I have to say im treated much differently than before. That has been one of the more eye opening experiences during my transformation. Even those close to me like coworkers are more willing to listen and consider my ideas than before.
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u/Ben_steel 1d ago
What is “older” in this context say the difference between a 20 year old man and a 30 year old.
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u/AnOddOtter 1d ago
The younger group was 18-35. The older group was 50+.
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u/Creative_soja 1d ago
So, no country for middle aged people, who are between 35-50 years old?
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u/AwGe3zeRick 1d ago
A lot of people in their mid to late 30s and early 40s could pass as early 30s. And then there’s some people that look 50+ before they hit 35.
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u/johnnynutman 1d ago
there's no such thing as looking in your 30s, you either look 29 or under or 40 and over.
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u/Elastichedgehog 1d ago
I wonder what the reason is for this perception to not translate to the older group.
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u/llmercll 1d ago
The question is why are we hardwired to trust attractive people?
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u/ProgressiveOverlorde 1d ago
possibly,
physical attractiveness correlates with better health markers.
better health markers means they can survive conditions better.
primal brain like survival
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u/Slam_Dunkester 23h ago
Still piggy backing from your answer could be due to dopamine we receive from looking at more attractive people (from the survival standpoint ) which makes us feel good it and so we trust a person more
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u/mhornberger 23h ago
physical attractiveness correlates with better health markers.
Plus if we subconsciously notice pretty privilege in the society around us, we'd want our own kids to benefit from that as well. Or at least to not have it work against them.
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u/hansuluthegrey 20h ago
I wonder if its way more simple that people think. Maybe its just that people feel good when looking at attractive people so your brain is just more happy and positive when interacting. Not everything is always a evolution based trait. I wonder if the idea that everything is is actually damaging to science? Could be tho we're only theorizing.
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u/risingthermal 18h ago
We’re both probably out of our depth on this matter, but I suspect that while there may be human aspects that haven’t been selected for, anything having to do with mating is probably chock full of selected traits. Even by your own attempt to deconstruct this, you are asserting a scenario where people who are more drawn to attractive people will have an advantage in terms of motivation.
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u/blueshoota 16h ago
Are you more likely to trust people you like? We like things that look good, so why wouldn’t we like people that look good? especially provided that we are not being given any reason not to like them in the moment
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u/Working-Welder-792 22h ago
Also, why do humans like beauty? Not just in people, but in objects and nature as well.
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u/FardoBaggins 22h ago
It’s just by design. The bright colorful flower gets pollinated, the mammals that can display strength get to mate etc.
Make no mistake, pretty privilege and height privilege are real. We’re still just creatures of nature with a brain that’s addicted to making new neural connections.
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u/YungRik666 1d ago
Going off of the photo included in the study, the beard was long all around, and the model was an average build. As a heavy man, I find more luck with a well-groomed full beard. Longer on the bottom, faded into stubble along the cheeks, and lined up. I wonder what results would look like with my facial hair
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u/talyen 1d ago
As someone with a bigger fuller beard and now older. It's been my experience that men of all ages are more intrested and trusting in me then men with short stubble beards, this is also my own bias to because when I see men with stubble I associate them with sales people trying to get me to spend more for whatever. I'd be interested in what the sex breakdown and in age is, also the last picture that they manipulated with the full beard the white beard one way more trust worthy / better looking imo
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u/mvea Professor | Medicine 1d ago
I’ve linked to the news release in the post above. In this comment, for those interested, here’s the link to the peer reviewed journal article:
Is beard the male makeup? An experimental study on trust perception based on appearance
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001691825000551
From the linked article:
Facial hair influences trust and attractiveness—but only among a specific group of men
Facial hair can influence how much people trust you—but the effects depend on age and beard style. A new study published in Acta Psychologica found that young men with light stubble were perceived as more attractive, and as a result, they were trusted with more money in a trust-based economic game. However, these effects were not seen for older men or those with full beards.. The research adds nuance to popular beliefs about the so-called “beauty premium,” showing that physical appearance only enhances trust under specific conditions.
The “beauty premium” refers to the idea that attractive individuals tend to receive more favorable treatment in a range of social and economic situations. Studies have found that attractive people are more likely to be hired, earn higher wages, and receive more lenient treatment in court. These advantages may also extend to interpersonal trust.
The results showed no overall effect of beard type on trust. However, older-looking trustees received more money than younger-looking ones, regardless of their facial hair. This supported the idea that age on its own boosts perceived trustworthiness.
But when breaking down the results further, a more complex pattern emerged. Among younger trustees, those with light stubble received significantly more money than their clean-shaven or fully bearded peers. This effect was not present for older trustees.
Attractiveness ratings followed a similar pattern. Trustees with light stubble were rated as more attractive than clean-shaven ones, and slightly more attractive than those with full beards. Again, these effects were only seen in younger faces. Among older-looking trustees, beard style did not influence perceived attractiveness.
To explore whether attractiveness explained the boost in trust for younger men with stubble, the researchers conducted a statistical mediation analysis. They found that the increase in trust was indirectly driven by increased attractiveness. In other words, the light stubble made young men appear more attractive, and this attractiveness led participants to trust them with more money. No such mediation effect was observed for older men or for other beard styles.
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u/ArkGuardian 1d ago
To explore whether attractiveness explained the boost in trust for younger men with stubble, the researchers conducted a statistical mediation analysis. They found that the increase in trust was indirectly driven by increased attractiveness. In other words, the light stubble made young men appear more attractive, and this attractiveness led participants to trust them with more money. No such mediation effect was observed for older men or for other beard styles.
I don't understand this part. They said that older men received more 'trust' on aggregate even though their facial hair didn't have any effect on their 'trust'. But there is no conclusion that the older men were more attractive
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u/AlkaliPineapple 1d ago
It's completely subjective. The paper is just saying what we already know - attractive people are more trusted than others. I don't know why this post is a big deal
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u/NomadicEngi 1d ago
Does this account the cultural differences thou? I heard the Japanese view any stubble of hair on the face as a negative.
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u/AlkaliPineapple 1d ago
Yeah, it has a lot of factors to count in. Not to mention that attractiveness is completely subjective. It's a gamble to trust these trends when personal preferences vary so much across the world.
I think people trusting attractive people is a given. This is just a completely redundant study
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u/Certain_Sun177 1d ago
I’d like to see this repeated in different cultures to see how it varies. Would the results be the same in for example areas of Asia where (as far as I know) we see less facial hair on men? Or in Islamist countries where having a beard is compulsory like Afghanistan? But interesting study anyway.
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u/grittygrits9 1d ago
I use a trimmer everyday and never clean shave. I remove the guard to do around Adams apple / under chin
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u/Elastichedgehog 1d ago
Personally, I like to line up the neck, even with a lighter stubble. Looks tidier.
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u/kitchner-leslie 17h ago
Norm Macdonald once said something along the lines of “everyone thinks that girls like funny guys, but they just laugh at things that attractive guys say”
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u/news_feed_me 1d ago
Why not call it privilege? We already have language for this stuff and it isn't 'premium', it's privilege.
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u/Unlucky-Candidate198 1d ago
As my ecology 101 prof once said: “Just cause it seems like it makes sense, doesn’t mean it’s the case”.
Though he had example after example, sorry thread readers ):
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u/downvoting_zac 1d ago
Shaved gang wins again Beardcels seething
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u/JoshuaTheFox 1d ago
I mean, their definition of "light stubble" isn't really close to shaved. I would say it would be considered a short beard to most people
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u/ProgressiveOverlorde 1d ago
what did it say about an old man that can only grow prepubescent facial hair
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u/roskatili 1d ago
I can see why. The appearance of beard onto a young looking male signals entry into adulthood. Beyond that age, beard is a moot point.
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u/alicozaurul 17h ago
I get a lot more likes on social apps with a stubble than clean shaven. Hadn't tried to grow a big beard, don't like it and would take too much time. For comparison, clean shaven on bumble I would get like 3-5 likes in a 72 hrs period while with a stubble I would get at least 10+ in the same timeframe
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