IN RESPONSE TO: 'COMMUNICATOR PHYSICAL ATTRACTIVENESS & PERSUASION'
This is one of the most fascinating pieces of academic writing I've ever read. I'm partially basing my thesis on this, so I figured I could do a decent blog entry about it. Shelly Chaiken, a social psychologist, claimed that attractive communicators (identified by specific criteria including assertiveness, friendliness, physical attractiveness [measured on a five point scale,] expertise, sincerity [smiling was judged] and confidence [pauses in speech were measured]) were more effective persuaders than unattractive communicators.
After extensive studies, Chaiken concluded that:
"... Attractive and unattractive individuals do differ on dimensions other than physical appearance. Attractive communicators were more fluent speakers and faster speakers than their unattractive counterparts. Further, attractive communicators tended to report higher scores on two indices of educational accomplishment (grade point average, SAT scores) and described themselves somewhat more favorably along several dimensions (persuasiveness, attractiveness, interestingness, optimism about getting an excellent job) that may tap aspects of self-concept.
"... And although little is known concerning the psychology of the persuasive communicator (in contrast to the psychology of the message recipient,) it seems reasonable that factors such as self-concept and educational achievement, a frequently used indicant of intelligence, should contribute to one's effectiveness as a social influence agent."
In the simplest of terms? If you think you rocked that job interview and are convinced that you are the person for the job? Odds are you did.
I think it's fascinating that confidence has been scientifically discovered and analyzed as a factor of effective communication. It's a large part of what I'm dedicating the later portion of my academic career to and I think confidence is a large part of the lives of anyone my age. Talking about confidence is always going to seem a little cliche and monotone to me; yes, confidence is important, yes, we should have it in everything we do, blah blah blah.
It's never been proven to me with cold, hard facts before. With a scientific, lab study. The details are in the article and it might be locked to the database, but if you have an SCSU library code, you can access it. The statistics from Chaiken's study indicate that people found confident persuaders to be attractive, and the attractive persuaders to be more effective. I personally think this an awesome thing to have documented, rather than just having it be a general belief, and the proof is in the pudding, so to speak.
Like I said before, it's nice to know that if you think you nailed it? Odds are that you probably did, and that, especially in this economy/job market? Is supremely comforting.
Chaiken, S. (1979). Communicator physical attractiveness and persuasion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 1387-1397.
This article is definitely extremely interesting and your entry really caught my attention. What I wonder though, is that if someone did the study now, 20 years after the original was done, if the results would be the same? I agree with the fact that it is comforting to know that if you feel you did well with something, chances are you did. I feel that confidence is extremely important, especially in the world we live in today. So many people are, for example, looking for jobs and have years of experience under their belts. But, if you or I go into an interview with no experience with tons of confidence, while the experienced person has none, I wonder if that would be a deciding factor in choosing who would get the job. I feel that our society thrives on the attractive communicators and that "presentation," so to say, is everything.
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