Beautiful patients are good patients: evidence for the physical attractiveness stereotype in first impressions of patients

Abstract

Previous research has reported the existence of a “beautiful is good” stereotype which implies that physically attractive individuals are assumed to possess more socially desirable characteristics and traits than physically unattractive individuals. To determine how physical attractiveness in patients influences first impressions, 289 health professionals reacted to prescaled stimulus photographs varying in age (young and mature), sex (male and female) and physical attractiveness (high and low). Each subject rated a single stimulus photo on fifteen 7-point bipolar personality characteristics. The results indicated that attractive stimulus persons were rated more favourably than unattractive persons on 12 of the 15 characteristics, thus confirming that a "beautiful is good" stereotype exists also among health professionals. Implications of these findings for the training and practice of health professionals are discussed.