As Different says, but in regard to connections between perceived intelligence, and perceived honesty, to pick two particularly useful examples—the usefulness of either quality, in regard to your interactions with the individual, are dependent upon both. I/e, it isn’t a great idea to trust what a not-too-bright individual tells you, even if he or she has never told a lie in their life, for the simple reason that they may not have the faculty to evaluate their statements. And the reverse might be true—particularly bright individuals may not be good candidates for trust, particularly on important issues, because they have great faculty for making value judgments about when it is most profitable to lie. Individuals at either extremes may not be good candidates for trust.
I had a long discussion with my brother on precisely the issue of attractiveness—in regard to banks. Banks are great examples because they spend immense quantities of money making themselves look respectable. So—would you trust your money to a bank that was going to spend some of it making itself look good? Or would you trust your money to a bank that doesn’t care how it looks? A bank that cares about its reputation enough to spend massive amounts of money maintaining it isn’t going to sacrifice that by stealing your relatively small sum—it is the better choice, presuming on the rationality of the bank. An individual who goes to great lengths to APPEAR competent is going to try to BE competent—someone who doesn’t care whether or not they appear competent do not care whether you think they are competent, and hence, may not make an effort to be more competent as relates to you and your business. The better-groomed candidate, other things being equal, is the better choice, presuming upon that individual’s rationality. (Particularly since the issue is reinforcing—clients and customers, after all, are making the same judgments.)
An individual who makes an effort to appear more attractive likely has a reason for doing so—they may care what other people think of them (which suggests they’ll be nicer, when somebody is watching, at least), they may want to appear more competent (which suggests they’ll be better at other things they do, presuming they follow similar levels of investment), and, presuming they DO have rational reasons for taking care of their appearance, they may simply be smarter than your average person. Naturally good looking people may be getting the benefits of biases we develop based on those who acquire appearances by effort—and may get points for honesty, as well, because they aren’t attempting to “lie” about their appearance. (Which would be interesting, because it would mean naturally good-looking individuals gain more benefits than those who provided much of the bias incentive to begin with.)
This goes to the saying “dress for the job you want—not the one you have” which many seem to misunderstand as a show for others when in fact the origin is based on the hypothesis that we’re constantly influenced by what we do & can actually project ourselves into a better situation by believing it to be possible.
The bank analogy brings to mind Apple—the brand: your privacy the most important thing to them. Therefore, although we have no way of knowing if thats actually true (as we’re all VERY aware of PR-based-branding ploys these days) we still buy into it because they’re much more likely to avoid tarnishing that brand by faking privacy concern than another brand who doesn’t pretend to care.
As Different says, but in regard to connections between perceived intelligence, and perceived honesty, to pick two particularly useful examples—the usefulness of either quality, in regard to your interactions with the individual, are dependent upon both. I/e, it isn’t a great idea to trust what a not-too-bright individual tells you, even if he or she has never told a lie in their life, for the simple reason that they may not have the faculty to evaluate their statements. And the reverse might be true—particularly bright individuals may not be good candidates for trust, particularly on important issues, because they have great faculty for making value judgments about when it is most profitable to lie. Individuals at either extremes may not be good candidates for trust.
I had a long discussion with my brother on precisely the issue of attractiveness—in regard to banks. Banks are great examples because they spend immense quantities of money making themselves look respectable. So—would you trust your money to a bank that was going to spend some of it making itself look good? Or would you trust your money to a bank that doesn’t care how it looks? A bank that cares about its reputation enough to spend massive amounts of money maintaining it isn’t going to sacrifice that by stealing your relatively small sum—it is the better choice, presuming on the rationality of the bank. An individual who goes to great lengths to APPEAR competent is going to try to BE competent—someone who doesn’t care whether or not they appear competent do not care whether you think they are competent, and hence, may not make an effort to be more competent as relates to you and your business. The better-groomed candidate, other things being equal, is the better choice, presuming upon that individual’s rationality. (Particularly since the issue is reinforcing—clients and customers, after all, are making the same judgments.)
An individual who makes an effort to appear more attractive likely has a reason for doing so—they may care what other people think of them (which suggests they’ll be nicer, when somebody is watching, at least), they may want to appear more competent (which suggests they’ll be better at other things they do, presuming they follow similar levels of investment), and, presuming they DO have rational reasons for taking care of their appearance, they may simply be smarter than your average person. Naturally good looking people may be getting the benefits of biases we develop based on those who acquire appearances by effort—and may get points for honesty, as well, because they aren’t attempting to “lie” about their appearance. (Which would be interesting, because it would mean naturally good-looking individuals gain more benefits than those who provided much of the bias incentive to begin with.)
Just some thoughts.
This goes to the saying “dress for the job you want—not the one you have” which many seem to misunderstand as a show for others when in fact the origin is based on the hypothesis that we’re constantly influenced by what we do & can actually project ourselves into a better situation by believing it to be possible.
The bank analogy brings to mind Apple—the brand: your privacy the most important thing to them. Therefore, although we have no way of knowing if thats actually true (as we’re all VERY aware of PR-based-branding ploys these days) we still buy into it because they’re much more likely to avoid tarnishing that brand by faking privacy concern than another brand who doesn’t pretend to care.