Directions:
Read the text below. Write an essay in about 120 words, in which you should summarize the key points of the text and make comments on them. Try to use you own words.
You might think that good-looking men have every advantage in life.
But new study suggests being handsome may not always work in a man' s favour—at least when it comes to his career.
The research claims that attractive men are less likely to be given a job in a competitive work- place because they intimidate bosses. "It' s not always an advantage to be pretty," says Marko Pite- sa, an assistant professor at the University of Maryland. "It can backfire if you are perceived as a threat. "
Interestingly, in Pitesa' s study, it was male attractiveness in particular, rather than female beauty, that made the most difference. If the interviewer expected to work with the candidate as part of a team, then he preferred goodlooking men. However, if the interviewer saw the candidate as a potential competitor, the interviewer discriminated in favour of unattractive men.
"l——he results suggest that interviewers were not blinded by beauty, and instead calculated which candidate would further their own career.
"The dominant theoretical perspective in the social sciences for several decades has been that biases and discrimination are caused by irrational prejudice," Pitesa says.
"The way we explain it here, pretty men just seem more competent, so it is actually subjec- tively rational to discriminate for or against them. "
On a deeper level, she adds, the behaviour remains irrational, since there' s no evidence that a real link exists between looks and comoetence.
