Beauty growth-mindset promotes prosocial and altruistic behavior

Abstract

The effects of beauty on judgment and behavior are well-established and somewhat "unidirectional" (i.e., it seems that only beautiful people reap social benefits). In particular, a person's beauty does not seem to have any effect on his/her own prosocial behavior. In the current research, we focus on how people relate themselves to beauty, namely beauty mindset, and how it may shape prosocial and altruistic behavior. We present 10 experiments (N = 4,449). Participants who hold a beauty growth-mindset (i.e., believing that beauty is improvable) donated more money to charity (vs. fixed-mindset), were more likely to get vaccinated against COVID-19 after exposure to an intervention focusing on herd-protection (vs. self-protection), and showed increased intention to engage in other forms of prosocial and altruistic behavior. Empirically, these effects are mediated by a self-perception of the ability to exert impact on others. The present research serves as a starting point for investigating how beauty growth-mindset brings profound societal effects such as promoting prosociality.

Fig. 1

Donation amount. Donation amount as a function of beauty mindset in Studies 1 and 2. In Study 1, participants (N = 1,003) donated out of their €0.50 bonus, whereas in Study 2 (N = 214) the donation amount was the allocation out of €1.00 to a more other-empowering charity organization. *P < .05. Error bars denote standard errors.

Fig. 2

Vaccination rates and behavioral intentions in Studies 3 to 6 (total N = 1,693). (a) The relationship between measured beauty mindset and the likelihood of being vaccinated (Study 3, N = 429). (b) Intention for recommending vaccination to others. Beauty mindset was measured (Study 4, N = 410; top) or experimentally varied (Study 5, N = 424, error bars denote S.E.; bottom). (c) Vaccination rates and intention. Top, vaccination intention (Study 6, N = 430). Bottom, vaccination rates 4 weeks after exposure to intervention messages (Follow-up study of Study 6). For measured beauty mindset, higher (lower) number means higher tendency of holding a beauty fixed (growth) mindset (a,b top, and c). **P = .003; ns = non-significant.