Dragon, I'm interested what controls were used to differentiate physical attractiveness from measured success. More than we could ever consciously realize, our notions of how a successful person dresses, carries themselves, talks, gets their hair cut, etc., influences our split-second judgment of attractiveness. And that split-second, strictly visual judgment is I think the most relevant measure of attractiveness, if we're trying hard to establish control procedures.
You said your friends will quickly come to a consensus on how attractive you are even though they might tell you. First of all, I'd like to note that we're no longer in "instant judgment" territory since clearly your friends have seen you many times before, so this is a somewhat different conclusion. In what circumstances are your friends queried? If they're all asked separately and without being prompted with the question beforehand, I'd like to see the evidence that your claim is true. If they're asked as a group or they've had time to discuss the issue as a group, it's unsurprising that they come to a consensus. Groups of people do this for nearly _any_ issue presented to them, it's the driving force behind groupthink.
It's also difficult to separate the long-term psychological effects of physical attractiveness (or unattractiveness) from what seems to be your hypothesis, which is that the world's perception of your attractiveness limits your potential as a human regardless of intellectual capability. However, it's very easy to be conditioned by society to believe that you're not capable of being successful (and in this situation I am assuming that society DOES believe this and projects the belief somehow) and as a result never pursue success, self-selecting for the conclusion you've reached.
I think that this is an interesting topic, but it's also difficult to pull too many meaningful results since (1) the definition and measurement of physical attractiveness overlaps with the definition and implied consequences of success and (2) the ultimate correlation between physical attractiveness and success (and more importantly, the reverse: physical unattractiveness and lack of success) doesn't prove that one is limited by society, since one could easily be _influenced_ by society and then self-limit as a result.
In either case, I still think that _motivation_ and to a lesser extent innate talent are sufficient (but not always necessary) in order for one to achieve success. At the very least, it's very easy to take a simple correlation like this and use it as an excuse to not try because one feels that one is unattractive and therefore doomed to be unsuccessful.
Anyway I've seen you on cam Dragon, you're a hottie.
You said your friends will quickly come to a consensus on how attractive you are even though they might tell you. First of all, I'd like to note that we're no longer in "instant judgment" territory since clearly your friends have seen you many times before, so this is a somewhat different conclusion. In what circumstances are your friends queried? If they're all asked separately and without being prompted with the question beforehand, I'd like to see the evidence that your claim is true. If they're asked as a group or they've had time to discuss the issue as a group, it's unsurprising that they come to a consensus. Groups of people do this for nearly _any_ issue presented to them, it's the driving force behind groupthink.
It's also difficult to separate the long-term psychological effects of physical attractiveness (or unattractiveness) from what seems to be your hypothesis, which is that the world's perception of your attractiveness limits your potential as a human regardless of intellectual capability. However, it's very easy to be conditioned by society to believe that you're not capable of being successful (and in this situation I am assuming that society DOES believe this and projects the belief somehow) and as a result never pursue success, self-selecting for the conclusion you've reached.
I think that this is an interesting topic, but it's also difficult to pull too many meaningful results since (1) the definition and measurement of physical attractiveness overlaps with the definition and implied consequences of success and (2) the ultimate correlation between physical attractiveness and success (and more importantly, the reverse: physical unattractiveness and lack of success) doesn't prove that one is limited by society, since one could easily be _influenced_ by society and then self-limit as a result.
In either case, I still think that _motivation_ and to a lesser extent innate talent are sufficient (but not always necessary) in order for one to achieve success. At the very least, it's very easy to take a simple correlation like this and use it as an excuse to not try because one feels that one is unattractive and therefore doomed to be unsuccessful.
Anyway I've seen you on cam Dragon, you're a hottie.