Do Looks Matter?

We usually hear this sentence: ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover.’ We seem to accept this sentence as a sensible one, but when it comes to actual life, a lot of us simply do things that suggest the opposite. We tend to do our hair, wear our make-up and dress our best when we go out.

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Some experts say that when we go out in public, we’re selling our looks and buying attention. If the looks are of bad quality, the attention we receive will be negative, and on the other hand, positive attention and admiration are paid to good looks. John McArthur, a fashion design expert, says, ‘No matter what we think, people are going to judge us to some extent from our cover -- I mean, our looks. So, it’s better to have a nice cover to be able to receive better-quality attention.’

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Even though you cannot tell with 100% accuracy what goes on in someone’s head by looking at their clothing, it is still possible to pass superficial judgments about them. Linda Monroe, a sociologist, says, ‘People don’t have enough time to consider every detail about our lives to pass a judgment about us. To them, a few clues about how we think and what kind of person we are are enough to do so. They might be wrong about the details, but often their general judgment proves to be right. That’s how we have evolved to associate with the people around us.’