Reevaluating the beautiful is moral stereotype by examining the impact of personal liking and belief in a just world

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cris.lastimport.scopus2025-08-29T03:11:33Z
dc.abstract.enAccording to the “beautiful is moral” stereotype, people perceive attractive individuals as more moral than unattractive ones. To refine this stereotype, we examined liking as a mediator and belief in a just world (BJW) as a moderator of this effect. Study 1 (N = 788; US sample) and Study 2 (N = 1913; Polish sample) confirmed that highly attractive individuals were perceived as more moral than moderately attractive ones, but only for female targets. As predicted, liking mediated the relationship between attractiveness and moral character judgments, supporting an affect-based explanation of this stereotype. In Study 3 (N = 1024; British sample), we independently manipulated the target’s attractiveness and liking and found that high attractiveness alone was no longer associated with greater morality. However, confirming the role of attitudinal influences, the liked target was judged as more moral than the disliked one. Across all three studies, BJW did not moderate the relationship between attractiveness and moral judgments, suggesting that the effect of attractiveness on morality operates primarily through affective mechanisms rather than belief in fairness or justice. These findings indicate that liking exerts a stronger influence on perceived morality than attractiveness, challenging traditional conceptions of the “beautiful is moral” stereotype.
dc.affiliationInstytut Psychologii
dc.affiliationWydział Psychologii w Sopocie
dc.contributor.authorBocian, Konrad
dc.contributor.authorSzekely-Copîndean, Raluca Diana
dc.contributor.authorMyślińska-Szarek, Katarzyna
dc.contributor.authorWojciszke, Bogdan
dc.date.access2025-04-11
dc.date.accessioned2025-04-11T12:05:48Z
dc.date.available2025-04-11T12:05:48Z
dc.date.created2025-04-01
dc.date.issued2025-04-11
dc.description.accesstimeat_publication
dc.description.grantnumberSUB/IPsy/2022/02
dc.description.grantnumber31/2025/FRBN/E
dc.description.physical1-19
dc.description.versionfinal_published
dc.description.volume15
dc.identifier.doi10.1038/s41598-025-97022-2
dc.identifier.eissn2045-2322
dc.identifier.urihttps://share.swps.edu.pl/handle/swps/1415
dc.identifier.weblinkhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-97022-2
dc.languageen
dc.language.abstracten
dc.language.subjecten
dc.pbn.affiliationpsychologia
dc.rightsCC-BY
dc.rights.questionYes_rights
dc.share.articleOPEN_JOURNAL
dc.subject.enAttractiveness
dc.subject.enAttitudes
dc.subject.enLiking bias
dc.subject.enMoral character
dc.subject.enStereotypes
dc.swps.sciencecloudsend
dc.titleReevaluating the beautiful is moral stereotype by examining the impact of personal liking and belief in a just world
dc.title.journalScientific Reports
dc.typeJournalArticle
dspace.entity.typeArticle