Students get better results if they find their teachers attractive, research suggests.
They are more likely to pay attention, be more motivated and rate teachers’ ability more highly if they consider them good-looking, psychologists found. They stressed the results were not driven by sexual attraction, saying such teachers might pick up on their students’ feelings and raise their game, or simply command closer attention.
The US research chimes with previous studies showing attractive people tend to be seen as more competent than uglier ones. Even the outcome of criminal trials can be affected as studies suggest jurors are strongly influenced by the physical attractiveness of the accused.
University of Nevada psychologists asked more than 100 students to listen to an audio recording of a physics lecture delivered either by a male or female tutor.
At the same time, the students were given a photograph of an attractive or unattractive man or woman, and told this was who they were listening to.
They were then tested on the lesson. Those who thought their lecturer was attractive scored better than those who did not.
The students also scored them more highly in terms of ability, intelligence and motivational powers, the Journal of General Psychology reports.
In a report on their findings researchers said it’s possible good-looking teachers pick up on pupils’ feelings and respond by improving their own performance.
‘They may engage more in behaviour that increases teaching effectiveness, like devoting more time to preparation, and less in behaviour that decreases effectiveness.
‘Or it may simply be that good-looking instructors command more attention from students than less attractive ones.
‘There is considerable evidence that attractive persons receive more attention than unattractive persons and maybe they are more persuasive and effective teachers.
‘If highly attractive teachers elicit greater attention and higher levels of motivation, we would expect students to learn more.
Professor Cary Cooper, a psychologist from Manchester Business School, said attractiveness does influence initial judgement of other people, both at school and in the workplace.
But the impact can be short-lived.
‘A person’s looks does influence our initial perception of them and there is a lot of research to show being good-looking does help when it comes to getting a job.
‘But while our initial perception of someone is based on looks, after that it’s about their personality.
‘So a lecturer may be attractive but that popularity would soon decline if there was not the personality to back it up.’
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