Beautiful People Are Apparently Happier Than the Rest of Us

The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli. From Painting Here.

In news that may be disheartening to most of the population, the University of Texas at Austin reports that beautiful people are generally happier than their plain-looking or ugly counterparts, no matter what their gender or culture. This information comes from a new paper entitled "'Beauty Is the Promise of Happiness?'" by Daniel Hamermesh and Jason Abrevaya.

The authors analyzed data from five surveys conducted in America, Canada, Germany, and Britain. These surveys asked more than 25,000 participants about their levels of happiness while an interviewer either rated their attractiveness in person or by photograph. The results of this analysis showed that people in the upper 15% of beauty ratings were over 10% happier than people ranked in the bottom 10%.

Hamermesh says, "Personal beauty raises happiness. The majority of beauty's effect on happiness works through its impact on economic outcomes." His previous research showed that beautiful people make more money. The economic impact of beauty may account for around half of the happiness boost shown in his current research.

The actual paper goes into much more detail, using charts and graphs over its 47 pages. You can read it for free in PDF format by clicking here.