Beauty in the Eye of the Grader : The Effects of Appearence on Grading

This study examines the effects of a person's appearence on grading. 80 teachers in Swedish have assessed a text, illustrated with a picture of the supposed author. The pictures were varied by attractiveness, personality in looks, and gender. Furthermore, a text illustrated by a drawing and an unillustrated text were also used in the study. The texts were sent to the teachers by e-mail and assessed on a scale from 1-10 and the Swedish grading scale IG-MVG (Did not pass – Passed – Passed with credit - Passed with great credit). The photos used had been assessed by university students with regards to attractiveness, intelligence, sympatethicness and ambitiousness. The later three categories were put together in a category named Personality in Looks. No significant effects of looks on grading were found in this study. However, substantial differences indicated that attractiveness seems to have a slight negative effect on grading and that the category Personality in Looks seems to have a slightly positive effect. Gender differences were nearly significant, in favour of the male authors