How Looks Shape Life from Birth

Unsettling Facts About the Impact of PA on Early Nurturing and Learning

> Every baby may not be equally precious to its parents.  Social scientists have shown that parents invest differently in each child, according to his or her perceived health and fitness, quality, reproductive potential, and, not least of all, physical attractiveness.  It follows that children with high PA, those who receive more parental attention and better parental care, tend to have better traits and exhibit more socialized behavior than do less attractive children.

> Mothers of more attractive babies are more affectionate toward their offspring and play with them more often and longer than do mothers of less attractive babies, found a University of Texas study.  After observing mothers interacting with their firstborn infants, the researchers also concluded that even attentive, conscientious mothers of less attractive infants perceived their children as interfering more in their lives than did the mothers of more attractive infants.  A child’s PA seems to influence maternal feelings as well as actions.

> Parents are not the only adults who give better-looking babies preferential consideration.  A study conducted by South Carolina’s Francis Marion University revealed that experienced, dedicated neonatal nurses tend to spend more time with more attractive babies—the bulkiest, most muscular boys and the naturally delicate, smaller girls—than less attractive infants who actually need their care more.

> Studies of young children consistently show that, when given a choice, kids will select prospective playmates on the strength of their PA, whether they are previously acquainted with each other or not.  Kids also tend to rate more attractive kids higher on “good” qualities, like sharing and friendliness, and lower on “bad” traits, like meanness and hitting, than less attractive kids.

> It’s an unfair fact of education confirmed by several psychologists and sociologists:  Most teachers expect better-looking kids to perform better, and they devote more attention to children they think have greater potential.  When attractive and unattractive students earn identical grades, teachers still tend to believe that attractive students will do better in the future than their unattractive classmates.  Even more disturbing, science confirms that, typically, a teacher’s first impressions and reaction to a new pupil are influenced by that child’s overall physical characteristics—so already self-conscious, less attractive children enter this vital learning relationship with at least one strike against them.

Adapted from LOOKS: Why They Matter More Than You Ever Imagined by Gordon L. Patzer, Ph.D. (AMACOM 2008).