Attractive female faces make men behave more honestly, a study suggests.
Researchers found that male participants in an experiment cheated less often when presented with a photo of a beautiful woman.
However, female participants behaved less honestly when shown the same image.
In total, 110 men received a die and a questionnaire with a picture of a woman attached.
Half were shown the face of an attractive woman, while the others were shown someone who was plain looking.
Researchers found that male participants in an experiment cheated less often when presented with a photo of a beautiful woman. However, female participants behaved less honestly when shown the same image (stock image)
In total, 110 men received a die and a questionnaire with a picture of a woman attached. Professor Zeev Shtudiner, who led the study, said: “Men who rolled the dice in the presence of a very attractive photo cheated less, if at all” (file image)
They were told that the woman in the photo was running the study and would give them some money, but that they would have to give some back depending on the number they rolled on the die.
The researchers did not check the die, so it was possible that the men lied and said they had rolled a smaller number, which meant they would return less money. The average roll for men shown to the beautiful woman was 3.14. And the average of those who saw the other photo was 1.98.
Professor Zeev Shtudiner, who led the study from Ariel University in Israel, said: “Men who rolled the dice in the presence of a highly attractive photograph cheated less, if at all.”
He said the results align with beauty premium theory, according to which positive moral judgments are made about beautiful people. This caused the men studied to reflect a perceived trait of honesty.
But when researchers studied female behavior, they found that participants were less honest when shown a beautiful woman.
It was suggested that this was because women were more likely to determine their worth based on how they compared to others.