Friday, January 27, 2023

Pretty Privilege: Bias is Happening in Real Life and How To Overcome It


Seat back and take a deep breath, as we will dive into the ugly truth of pretty privilege, which is also used in an internet term coined to highlight the advantages of adhering to society's beauty norms. In a world where we are constantly told what products to buy, what clothes are the most flattering, and what foods not to eat, it becomes clear that we are expected to be nothing less than beautiful. Beauty is subjective; however, it presents itself in varying ways through societal beauty standards. These beauty standards are fluctuating ideals with extremely narrow criteria, ensuring that only a few can actually attain them.


Retrieved from The Cougar Star

Pretty privilege, often known as lookism, is a form of discrimination. According to a 2009 research in the Journal of Industrial Relations, this pretty privilege is described as bias or discrimination based on a person's appearance and happens in a broad range of situations, including dating and social environments, as well as workplaces. People who achieve these criteria frequently benefit from social perks and preferential treatment from those who find them appealing. These undeserved perks were coined by psychologists as ‘beauty premiums’. Therefore, we will overview how pretty privilege is considered an asset by researchers, how people perceive it, and some ways to overcome the issue in society.


To begin with, the evolution of privilege may equate to receiving better marks. Based on a study conducted by Hernández & Peters (2017), it is tested whether or not physical attractiveness plays a role in unobserved productivity by comparing attractiveness to grades in college courses. As a result, the study found that appearances mattered, as attractive female students earned higher grades than unattractive ones. Besides, being viewed as having pretty privilege might boost one’s performance as a better worker. The Halo Effect implies that we subconsciously believe people’s appearances represent their whole personalities (Nisbett & Wilson, 1977). Hence, it explains why attractive people frequently benefit from this bias from a young age, which results in greater confidence as adults. In most cases, employers regard attractive individuals as better employees. Mobius and Rosenblat (2006) investigated the influence of attractiveness on the recruiting process and based on the study, employers viewing photographs of potential employees were inclined to higher salaries by nearly 10.5% for most attractive people. 


Additionally,  pretty privilege might lead to romantic success. While other aspects such as personality are certain to impact who we find attractive, the significance of physical appearance in the realms of dating and romance cannot be overlooked. According to a study conducted by Chapman University (2015), the result showed that 84% of female participants and 92% of male participants reported ‘good-looking’ as one of the essential qualities for making a long-term partner. Essentially, attractive people are given better chances for romantic success due to others' evaluations of particular favourable attributes. Perhaps, social skills may also be the strongest indicator of long-term success.


Retrieved from My Imperfect Life

Continuing on, the psychological influence of upward comparisons indicates that comparing ourselves to individuals we believe are better than us may be immensely detrimental to our mental health. As a result, the number of privileges we grant to attractive people may cause those who are left out anxiously compare themselves to others behind (Li, 2019). Other unpleasant emotions that might result from upward comparisons include humiliation, inferiority, and depression. With so many social comparison possibilities available today via social media platforms, it is critical to learn how to mitigate these harmful consequences. Subsequently, most people usually define the ‘good-looking’ term as having a symmetrical face, big eyes and plump lips. It happens to fit what society considers to be a good-looking face and may imply strong and healthy genes. For instance, looking at how Korea perceive their beauty standards as having a small v-shaped face, double eyelids, symmetrical eyebrows, fair skin, and a slim body. Overall, these features are seen as having an ideal appearance that ultimately makes people who do not possess these features decide to undergo plastic surgery. 


Former Queen of England, Elizabeth (I)

Moreover, the trademark of ‘beauty is pain’ is a real thing. During Queen Elizabeth's (I) era, a pale white complexion was the hallmark feature of Queen Elizabeth's beauty standards. Queen Elizabeth’s (I) cosmetics embodied the 16th-century female ideal, with her pale skin reflecting nobility and earthly perfection. To attain such perfection, Queen Elizabeth smeared lead on her face, progressively poisoning her body. The queen didn't only use harmful cosmetics; she also smeared mercury on her lips and most likely used a mercury-based makeup remover that ate away at her skin. Queen Elizabeth (I) was held to much higher standards as a female monarch than her male counterparts. While battling Mary, Queen of Scots for her crown, Queen Elizabeth remarked that royalty couldn't allow a single stain or imperfection to appear. As she aged, the queen used more and more lead cosmetics, reputedly wearing mascara and lipstick an inch thick in her dying days, before she eventually died in 1603. This shows that since ancient times, people began to label beauty standards, and such behaviour will slowly destroy them without even realising it.


Retrieved from Matt Nyandjo

The pretty privilege may be something that is ingrained in our society. The major approach to fighting these privileges at this cultural level is to untrain our bias toward physically attractive people. Monteith & Parker (2017) discovered that counter-stereotyping dramatically reduced implicit prejudice and when individuals were aware of their own biases, they felt driven to self-regulate. Hence, unlearning our prejudices not only makes us feel more aware of ourselves but also leads to happiness. Research has shown that 40% of our happiness comes from how we experience recent life events. Failure in any sphere of life may cause people to doubt themselves, lowering their self-esteem and confidence. Besides, feeling at ease in our own skin is also an important step in combating the impacts of attractive privilege and upward comparisons. Stevens and Griffiths (2020) have shown that the recent emergence of the body positivity movement increases female confidence and improves their mental well-being.


Retrieved from zoeunlimited

All in all, attractive people are perceived to be brighter, funnier, smarter, sociable and successful. This gives them an edge in terms of career, establishing friends and simply being treated with basic human decency. However, this privilege may be hazardous if not controlled. The notion that an entire group of individuals might be treated unfairly just because they do not look a specific way is highly damaging to a person's self-esteem and self-worth. Therefore, everyone deserves to be loved, respected, and treated with care because it would be unfair that anyone would be treated differently than someone more attractive.


A video of how pretty privilege is dangerous by zoeunlimited


Tuesday, May 18, 2021

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[ When it comes to one’s career, a certified PMP can expect the best job offers wherever they are. Big companies worldwide recognize the need to have an expert project manager if they want their business to flourish. Clients will go to them once they realize how smoothly projects run and how they are finished on time with less cost and best results. Certified project management professionals occupy high managerial positions. They can also set up their consulting firm and give advice or guidance to other project managers. ]


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The PMP certification exam is one of the toughest certification tests to crack. Most of the questions are situational and using the dumps as part of PMP exam prep will give a candidate an idea about the topics that come out. Most of the questions and answers in the dumps are 100% real, valid, and updated, and being familiar with the test items can give a test-taker an advantage over others. If you do not have enough time to study, using the PMP dumps can guarantee a 100% passing rate.


About PMI Certifications

The Project Management Institute (PMI) is a global non-profit professional organization for project management. The project management standard developed by PMI has now became a global standard. Become a PMI certified professional will greatly promote your career development.

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Friday, July 6, 2018

How to not overthink


1. Awareness is the beginning of change.

Before you can begin to address or cope with your habit of overthinking, you need to learn to be aware of it when it's happening. Any time you find yourself doubting or feeling stressed or anxious, step back and look at the situation and how you're responding. In that moment of awareness is the seed of the change you want to make.


2. Don't think of what can go wrong, but what can go right.

In many cases, overthinking is caused by a single emotion: fear. When you focus on all the negative things that might happen, it's easy to become paralyzed. Next time you sense that you starting to spiral in that direction, stop. Visualize all the things that can go right and keep those thoughts present and up front.


3. Distract yourself into happiness.

Sometimes it's helpful to have a way to distract yourself with happy, positive, healthy alternatives. Things like mediation, dancing, exercise, learning an instrument, knitting, drawing, and painting can distance you from the issues enough to shut down the overanalysis.


4. Put things into perspective.

It's always easy to make things bigger and more negative than they need to be. The next time you catch yourself making a mountain out of a molehill, ask yourself how much it will matter in five years. Or, for that matter, next month. Just this simple question, changing up the time frame, can help shut down overthinking.


5. Stop waiting for perfection.

This is a big one. For all of us who are waiting for perfection, we can stop waiting right now. Being ambitious is great but aiming for perfection is unrealistic, impractical, and debilitating. The moment you start thinking "This needs to be perfect" is the moment you need to remind yourself, "Waiting for perfect is never as smart as making progress."


6. Change your view of fear.

Whether you're afraid because you've failed in the past, or you're fearful of trying or overgeneralizing some other failure, remember that just because things did not work out before does not mean that has to be the outcome every time. Remember, every opportunity is a new beginning, a place to start again.


7. Put a timer to work.

Give yourself a boundary. Set a timer for five minutes and give yourself that time to think, worry, and analyze. Once the timer goes off, spend 10 minutes with a pen and paper, writing down all the things that are worrying you, stressing you, or giving you anxiety. Let it rip. When the 10 minutes is up, throw the paper out and move on--preferably to something fun.


8. Realize you can't predict the future.


No one can predict the future; all we have is now. If you spend the present moment worrying about the future, you are robbing yourself of your time now. Spending time on the future is simply not productive. Spend that time instead on things that give you joy.


9. Accept your best.

The fear that grounds overthinking is often based in feeling that you aren't good enough--not smart enough or hardworking enough or dedicated enough. Once you've given an effort your best, accept it as such and know that, while success may depend in part on some things you can't control, you've done what you could do.


10. Be grateful.

You can't have a regretful thought and a grateful thought at the same time, so why not spend the time positively? Every morning and every evening, make a list of what you are grateful for. Get a gratitude buddy and exchange lists so you have a witness to the good things that are around you.


Overthinking is something that can happen to anyone. But if you have a great system for dealing with it you can at least ward off some of the negative, anxious, stressful thinking and turn it into something useful, productive, and effective.