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Good looking people more likely to be Tories as they lack empathy, study finds

Good looking people have an empathy ‘blindspot’


A study published in the Journal of Public Economics has found that a person's looks can correlate with their political inclinations.

The study reported that good looking people have a "blind spot" when it comes to empathising with those less fortunate than them and understanding hardship faced by others.

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The authors of the study, Rolfe Peterson and Carl Palmer, wrote: “Controlling for socioeconomic status, we found that more attractive individuals are more likely to report higher levels of political efficacy, identify as conservative and identify as Republican.”

They added: “All attractive people are not conservative and not all unattractive people are liberals. Attractiveness gives a person a small push in the conservative direction."

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The trend is attributed to the "halo effect", which is a form of cognitive bias by which specific positive traits influence a person's view of other people.

In other words, attractive people are treated differently throughout their lives and because of this, they see the world as a fairer place.