The Neuroscience of ‘30 Rock’

Thursday’s “30 Rock” was based on a simple premise: Beautiful people are treated differently from, er, the rest of us. The show’s had an ongoing arc where Liz Lemon is dating a doctor, played by “Mad Men”’s Disney-prince-handsome Jon Hamm.

They’ve slowly been unraveling that not all is right with this guy, and the latest episode lets the source of the crazy out: His handsomeness means he lives in a bubble, where he never has to wait for a table, the woman from the Food Network tells him it’s okay to use Orange Gatorade as a glaze (not when she’s on TV), and no one ever lets him know that he can’t speak French or play tennis.

It’s not an entirely new idea — it’s been on other shows before — but that’s mostly because it has such a firm grounding in real life. What you might not know, is it also has a firm grounding in science.

Unpleasant as it is, the facts are the facts. We do indeed perceive attractive people differently — and thus treat them differently:

* Attractiveness means earning 5% to 10% more than your plain coworkers.

* Attractive people are perceived as more competent.

* Attractive people are perceived as more trustworthy.

* Men, in the presence of an attractive woman, are more likely to take impulsive and risky actions.

*An attractive face can mean more votes if you’re a female candidate (though, this blog has covered contradictory evidence, indicating that being seen as a sex object can reduce electoral attractiveness)

* You’re even more likely to get away with a crime if you’re good looking.

There’s some good news, though. You can influence how people perceive your level of attractiveness:

* For instance, more head and face movements seen as feminine (blinking, nodding, head tilting) can make a woman seem more attractive.

* Or, perhaps more practically, you can be perceived as more attractive simply by displaying positive traits, such as honesty and helpfulness.

Of course, I’m still pretty sure it’s the attractive people — not the honest and helpful ones — who get complimentary app sampler.

Image via Wikipedia