Large beauty premium: Attractiveness & trustworthiness perception increased with makeup wearing; male trustors transferred more money to women with makeup; effect is larger for less attractive females

Is the beauty premium accessible to all? An experimental analysis. Angela Cristiane Santos Póvoa et al. Journal of Economic Psychology, February 21 2020, 102252. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2020.102252

Highlights
• There is a large beauty premium caused by makeup wearing.
• Both attractiveness and trustworthiness perception increased with makeup wearing.
• Makeup wearing increased transfers in the trust game.
• Male trustors transferred more money to women with makeup than female trustors did.
• The makeup effect is larger in magnitude for less attractive female trustees.

Abstract: We conducted a trust game experiment to investigate whether women are trusted more when they wear makeup than when they do not. Facial attractiveness, which was manipulated through the application of makeup by a professional makeup artist, was measured before and after makeovers. Trustors were shown a photograph of their female counterparts before they made decisions about money transfers to trustees. The results showed that wearing makeup increased perceived attractiveness, which in turn led trustors to make larger transfers to female trustees during the trust game. Additionally, we discovered a pure makeup premium that was mediated by gender. Specifically, female trustees with makeup received larger transfers than female trustees without makeup when the trustors were men, even after controlling for female trustees’ levels of attractiveness.

Keywords: trusttrust gamebeauty premiummakeupgender
Jel Code: C71 D003 C91