People almost invariably arrive at their beliefs not on the basis of proof but on the basis of what they find attractive.
― Blaise Pascal

A study published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology proposed that if the author of a message is physically attractive, people tend to have a more positive view of the message and are more willing to change their attitudes and opinions. 

This research was carried out by Joana Mello and Teresa Garcia-Marques at the William James Center for Research, Pablo Briñol at the Autonomous University of Madrid, Ana Cancela at Villanueva University and Richard E. Petty at Ohio State University. 

With the rise of social media, physical attractiveness has become more important than ever. On Instagram, for example, young attractive people can earn millions by gaining a large following and using their influence to advertise products.

These “Influencers” rely on posting perfectly crafted photos to attract followers, as well as the attention of big brands like Coca-Cola. In order to make money, influencers must persuade their followers to buy what they’re advertising. 

Instagram’s cultural emphasis on aesthetics and vanity opens the door to an interesting question: how powerful can physical attractiveness be in persuading others? 

The researchers tested this by presenting participants with a message along with an attractive and unattractive photo of the author to see how the participants' responses differed.  

To begin, participants were divided into two conditions and instructed to read a message written by the author of a blog. In the first condition, the message was related to attractiveness. That is, the message was about the use of skin care products.

In the other condition, the message was unrelated to attractiveness (i.e. dishwasher detergent). After reading the message, the participants were shown an attractive or unattractive photo of the author of the message. 

Following this, participants reported their attitudes towards the message and how confident they felt about those attitudes. 

 The researchers found that participants who were shown an attractive photo of the author were less confident about their attitudes towards the message. Attitudes that are held with less confidence are subject to change and less predictive of a person’s actual behavior. 

 However, this was only consistent when the message was unrelated to attractiveness (i.e. the dishwasher detergent message). 

 In contrast, when the message was related to attractiveness (i.e. the skin care message), an attractive author increased the participants' attitude-confidence. Thus, their attitudes were less likely to change and more predictive of their behavior.

 In the following experiment, the researchers examined whether making participants aware of their bias towards/against an attractive source may correct this bias. 

 Participants were once again presented with the same message about dishwasher detergent by the author of a blog. Next, participants were shown either an attractive or unattractive photo of the author. 

 Then, half of the participants were instructed to try to ignore the level of physical attractiveness of the author. The remaining participants weren’t given this instruction. Lastly, all of the participants reported their attitudes towards the message and how confident they felt about those attitudes. 

 Like the previous experiment, the results revealed that an attractive author plus a message unrelated to attractive (i.e. dishwasher detergent) led participants to be more open to changing their attitudes. 

 These results occurred regardless of whether the participants were given instructions to ignore the attractiveness of the author. 

 In addition, when participants weren’t given any instructions, attractiveness had a positive impact on the participants' attitudes. However, when the instructions were given, attractiveness led to less favorable attitudes. This likely occurred due to the participants attempting to correct for their bias.

Figure 1: When “no instructions” were given, an attractive (vs. unattractive) author was associated with more positive attitude ratings of the message. When “bias instructions” were given, an attractive (vs. unattractive) author was associated with more negative attitude ratings of the message.

In the last experiment, the researchers further examined how the attractiveness of a source could affect an individual’s resistance to changing their attitude. 

The participants were presented with a message advocating against the use of cell phones by children. Then, they were shown an attractive or unattractive photo of the author of the message. Following this, participants reported their attitudes towards the message and their confidence about those attitudes.

Afterwards, participants were presented with a second message. This message contrasted with the previous message and advocated in favour of children having a cell phone. For a second time, participants reported their attitudes and their confidence about those attitudes.  

As expected, attractiveness not only decreased the participants confidence about their attitudes, it also reduced attitude stability. This reduction in attitude stability means that participants were less resistant and more willing to change their attitudes about the message, but only if the author was attractive.

Overall, the researchers found that if the source of a message is physically attractive, people tend to be less confident about their attitudes towards the message and more willing to change those attitudes. However, this only occurs when the message is unrelated to attractiveness and can be somewhat counteracted by instructing people to be aware of their bias.