Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
publishedVersion
Publication Date
3-2018
Abstract
People generally hold positive stereotypes of physically attractive people and because of those stereotypes often treat them more favorably. However, we propose that some beliefs about attractive people, specifically, the perception that attractive individuals have a greater sense of entitlement than less attractive individuals, can result in negative treatment of attractive people. We examine this in the context of job selection and propose that for relatively less desirable jobs, attractive candidates will be discriminated against. We argue that the ascribed sense of entitlement to good outcomes leads to perceptions that attractive individuals are more likely to be dissatisfied working in relatively less desirable jobs. When selecting candidates for relatively less desirable jobs, decision makers try to ascertain whether a candidate would be satisfied in those jobs, and the stereotype of attractive individuals feeling entitled to good outcomes makes decision makers judge attractive candidates as more likely to be dissatisfied in relatively less (but not more) desirable jobs. Consequently, attractive candidates are discriminated against in the selection for relatively less desirable jobs. Four experiments found support for this theory. Our results suggest that different discriminatory processes operate when decision makers select among candidates for relatively less desirable jobs and that attractive people might be systematically discriminated against in a segment of the workforce.
Keywords
attractiveness, bias, discrimination, selection decisions
Discipline
Gender and Sexuality | Industrial and Organizational Psychology | Organizational Behavior and Theory
Research Areas
Organisational Behaviour and Human Resources
Publication
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
Volume
114
Issue
3
First Page
422
Last Page
442
ISSN
0022-3514
Identifier
10.1037/pspi0000114
Publisher
American Psychological Association
Citation
LEE, Margaret; PITESA, Marko; PILLUTLA, Madan M.; and THAU, Stefan.
Perceived entitlement causes discrimination against attractive job candidates in the domain of relatively less desirable jobs. (2018). Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 114, (3), 422-442.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/5364
Copyright Owner and License
Publisher
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000114
Included in
Gender and Sexuality Commons, Industrial and Organizational Psychology Commons, Organizational Behavior and Theory Commons