Cultural differences in the beauty premium
Abstract A large body of research suggests that better-looking people are associated with various positive outcomes, an effect labeled the beauty premium. However, the vast majority of this evidence has been demonstrated in WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) countries, n...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Nature Portfolio
2025-05-01
|
| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-02857-4 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1849325980408086528 |
|---|---|
| author | Benjamin Kohler Wladislaw Mill |
| author_facet | Benjamin Kohler Wladislaw Mill |
| author_sort | Benjamin Kohler |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract A large body of research suggests that better-looking people are associated with various positive outcomes, an effect labeled the beauty premium. However, the vast majority of this evidence has been demonstrated in WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) countries, neglecting the role of cultural mechanisms in translating beauty into socio-economic outcomes. We close this gap by leveraging cultural differences embedded in an essential artifact of culture: language. Specifically, we establish a method for examining beauty associations in machine learning-based language models. Using this method, we replicate several standard findings in English. More importantly, we create a linguistic measure of the beauty premium and apply it to 68 languages. We provide new evidence that the beauty premium may be universal, with considerable heterogeneity across cultures. Furthermore, we discuss several new avenues for future research arising from our findings. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-9e63fba21b6d4aa9a623c01fb1015a77 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-05-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj-art-9e63fba21b6d4aa9a623c01fb1015a772025-08-20T03:48:15ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222025-05-011511810.1038/s41598-025-02857-4Cultural differences in the beauty premiumBenjamin Kohler0Wladislaw Mill1Center for Law & Economics, ETH ZurichDepartment of Economics, University of MannheimAbstract A large body of research suggests that better-looking people are associated with various positive outcomes, an effect labeled the beauty premium. However, the vast majority of this evidence has been demonstrated in WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) countries, neglecting the role of cultural mechanisms in translating beauty into socio-economic outcomes. We close this gap by leveraging cultural differences embedded in an essential artifact of culture: language. Specifically, we establish a method for examining beauty associations in machine learning-based language models. Using this method, we replicate several standard findings in English. More importantly, we create a linguistic measure of the beauty premium and apply it to 68 languages. We provide new evidence that the beauty premium may be universal, with considerable heterogeneity across cultures. Furthermore, we discuss several new avenues for future research arising from our findings.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-02857-4Beauty premiumLanguage modelsCultural differences |
| spellingShingle | Benjamin Kohler Wladislaw Mill Cultural differences in the beauty premium Scientific Reports Beauty premium Language models Cultural differences |
| title | Cultural differences in the beauty premium |
| title_full | Cultural differences in the beauty premium |
| title_fullStr | Cultural differences in the beauty premium |
| title_full_unstemmed | Cultural differences in the beauty premium |
| title_short | Cultural differences in the beauty premium |
| title_sort | cultural differences in the beauty premium |
| topic | Beauty premium Language models Cultural differences |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-02857-4 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT benjaminkohler culturaldifferencesinthebeautypremium AT wladislawmill culturaldifferencesinthebeautypremium |