Perceived beauty has impact on wellness, report finds

Research has confirmed a connection between beauty and the brain when it comes to stereotypes, and it has a big impact on wellness.

The Global Wellness Institute’s Beauty2Wellness study, led by Anjan Chatterjee from the University of Pennsylvania, US, found that people judge those with minor facial disfigurements as having more negative attributes than those without, and that this is likely to impair their wellbeing.

In the study, observers shared their impressions of 26 sets of pictures, a mix of people affected by disfigurement such as scars, small wounds, or facial paralysis, and those who had been treated to correct the disfigurement. Those with post-treatment faces were judged as having more positive personality traits.

The report said good-looking people receive certain advantages in life – assumed more intelligent and trustworthy, while those with minor facial disfigurements may be perceived as having undesirable traits such as laziness.

“The cosmetic industry can mitigate these judgments that likely adversely impacts people’s well-being at work and at play,” said Chatterjee.