How people judge your intelligence and social skills based on your looks: Take 2 • Hacker News Board

Re: How people judge your intelligence and social skills based on your looks: Take 2

#11

Post by rmATinnovafy » Wed, May 23, 2012, 11:52 AM UTC

From personal experience:

I've lost a bit more than a hundred (yes, 100) pounds during the last year. My social skills have improved due to an increase in my confidence.

But here is the interesting part.

People do treat me much better. I get more respect. More smiles. They think I am more intelligent, and show this by listening to what I have to say.

And even though I am an introvert, and somewhat shy, people tell me how "social" I am.

I have not changed the way I dress (jeans, t-shirt, sneakers). Though when I'm wearing exercise clothing (running shorts, a sleeveless shirt, running shoes), people are more likely to approach me.

So, this person does have a good point. We are indeed judged by our appearances. In fact, our social standing is calculated on the fly by others on how we look.

Edited to fix spelling disaster.

Re: How people judge your intelligence and social skills based on your looks: Take 2

#12

Post by wr1472 » Wed, May 23, 2012, 12:41 PM UTC

metabrew wrote: post #8

Those graphs are absolutely vile. I kept wondering how anyone who chooses hard-to-read shonky 3d bar charts like that could possibly perform a decent statistical analysis.

Agreed, not the prettiest graphics, but you shouldn't dismiss the data & findings because of it.

Unless of course you judge the validity of a study based on the appearance of its graphs?

Re: How people judge your intelligence and social skills based on your looks: Take 2

#13

Post by davidjohnstone » Wed, May 23, 2012, 12:46 PM UTC

wr1472 wrote: post #12

metabrew wrote: post #8

Those graphs are absolutely vile. I kept wondering how anyone who chooses hard-to-read shonky 3d bar charts like that could possibly perform a decent statistical analysis.

Agreed, not the prettiest graphics, but you shouldn't dismiss the data & findings because of it. Unless of course you judge the validity of a study based on the appearance of its graphs?

Well, the title of the blog post is "First impressions count".

Also, the irony of that title, and the way this is a second go at this blog post...

Re: How people judge your intelligence and social skills based on your looks: Take 2

#14

Post by dnda » Wed, May 23, 2012, 1:04 PM UTC

wr1472 wrote: post #12

metabrew wrote: post #8

Those graphs are absolutely vile. I kept wondering how anyone who chooses hard-to-read shonky 3d bar charts like that could possibly perform a decent statistical analysis.

Agreed, not the prettiest graphics, but you shouldn't dismiss the data & findings because of it. Unless of course you judge the validity of a study based on the appearance of its graphs?

To me, authors decision to use terrible 3D graphs and non zero Y axis makes makes me suspicious of his other decisions and comments.

Re: How people judge your intelligence and social skills based on your looks: Take 2

#15

Post by doubleconfess » Wed, May 23, 2012, 1:19 PM UTC

This would be an awesome resume piece to get a job at OKCupid.

Re: How people judge your intelligence and social skills based on your looks: Take 2

#16

Post by john_horton » Wed, May 23, 2012, 2:03 PM UTC

dnda wrote: post #14

wr1472 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed, not the prettiest graphics, but you shouldn't dismiss the data & findings because of it. Unless of course you judge the validity of a study based on the appearance of its graphs?

To me, authors decision to use terrible 3D graphs and non zero Y axis makes makes me suspicious of his other decisions and comments.

Agree that 3D graphs are terrible, but it's a canard that y-axes always need to start at 0 and that doing anything else is somehow misleading.

On this point, see http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/14/axes-of-evil/

Re: How people judge your intelligence and social skills based on your looks: Take 2

#17

Post by aaronjg » Wed, May 23, 2012, 2:11 PM UTC

john_horton wrote: post #16

dnda wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To me, authors decision to use terrible 3D graphs and non zero Y axis makes makes me suspicious of his other decisions and comments.

Agree that 3D graphs are terrible, but it's a canard that y-axes always need to start at 0 and that doing anything else is somehow misleading. On this point, see http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/14/axes-of-evil/

Y-axis need to start at zero when the data being presented is a bar graph and the bar is filled in. If it is a scatter plot with points being plotted, then it's generally not misleading to shift the axis.

Re: How people judge your intelligence and social skills based on your looks: Take 2

#18

Post by Mordor » Wed, May 23, 2012, 2:21 PM UTC

Used to have a terrible posture until it gave me back problems. Spent a week correcting it only to be shocked at the difference it made to my attractiveness to women - wish I'd known earlier '-(

Re: How people judge your intelligence and social skills based on your looks: Take 2

#19

Post by sk5t » Wed, May 23, 2012, 2:36 PM UTC

Mordor wrote: post #18

Used to have a terrible posture until it gave me back problems. Spent a week correcting it only to be shocked at the difference it made to my attractiveness to women - wish I'd known earlier '-(

Standing tall, head and shoulders back, making eye contact - almost everyone will treat you differently than when slouched or submissive-looking.

Re: How people judge your intelligence and social skills based on your looks: Take 2

#20

Post by frankiewarren » Wed, May 23, 2012, 3:04 PM UTC

How people judge your intelligence based on the looks of your graphs: Take 1.