Looks: Why They Matter More Than You Ever Imagined (Hardcover)

~ Gordon Patzer Ph.D. (Author)
Key Phrases: facial dominance, attractive infants, mock jurors, United States, New York, African American (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Here is a book whose title says it all. Written by an academic expert on lookism who is also director and founder of the Appearance Phenomenon Institute, this volume is an exhaustive examination of how the handily summarized PA (for personal attractiveness) gets you everywhere, from the better job and the better spouse to the better verdict at your criminal trial. Beginning with early evidence of lookism in history, Patzer analyzes preferential treatment given to pretty people from beautiful babyhood onward. While consumers of women's magazines might not find as much new information as other readers, Patzer refers to dozens of studies, articles and investigation to prove his thesis. Yet Patzer's volume doesn't offer much in the way of solutions, apparently because you've either got it or you don't. While Patzer does criticize the overzealousness of the media, reality television and unethical plastic surgeons, he only devotes one chapter to personal affirmations to help deal with and fight back on image obsession. Although he concludes by proclaiming the reader's newfound awareness of lookism's pervasiveness is a step forward, one can't help seeing the weakness in a conclusion that leaves the reader with little more than a well-argued reminder of our culture's shallow side. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Description

We all know one hard and undeniable truth: Physical beauty comes with tremendous power, and tremendous benefits. Those who possess it are generally luckier in love, more likely to be popular, and more apt to get better grades in school. But very few of us realize just how much looks affect every aspect of our lives. Recent studies document that people blessed with good looks earn about 10% more than their average-looking colleagues. They are also more likely to get hired and promoted at work. What exactly is this "physical attractiveness" phenomenon and how does it affect each and every one of us?

Dr. Gordon L. Patzer has devoted the last 30 years to investigating this unsettling phenomenon for both women and men, and how it touches every part of our lives. In Looks, he reveals not only its impact on romance, but also on family dynamics, performance in school, career, courtroom proceedings, politics and government. Looks is the first book to explore how the power of beauty affects both sexes and how the rise of reality TV shows, cosmetic surgery, and celebrity culture have contributed to our culture’s overall obsession with being beautiful.

Unflinching and topical, Looks uncovers the sometimes ugly truth about beauty and its profound effects on all our lives.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: AMACOM (January 30, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0814480543
• ISBN-13: 978-0814480540
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #147,849 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This is the REAL "Secret" -- Forget that other book!, February 7, 2008

By	poem2poes - See all my reviews

I was looking on Amazon for a book that could tell the hard, cold, objective facts about the influence of physical appearance on general success in life. First, I found Dr. Patzer's earlier book. It seemed chock-full of studies and as much objective material as I could ask for, but the reviews complained it was too textbook-like and scholarly. Dr. Patzer must have taken the criticism to heart, because he published "Looks" in 2008, so the average layman/woman can understand the profound influence that their LOOKS can have on every single aspect of their lives.

I didn't need to be convinced of this, but I wanted some proof and data. "Looks" provides ample proof and data, along with true stories from the past and present, quotations and even statistics. For instance, did you know that highly attractive people may earn from 7.5 -15% more than their average looking peers? See page 82! "Looks" is loaded with details like this that will make you re-evaluate everything about your social and economic life -- your job, your friends, your education, even your relationships with parents and siblings.

And lest you think that this is merely a phenomenon of the modern era, Dr. Patzer has some proof that our bias towards the beautiful is not only ancient, but built into our very genetic code.

If you ever need to be convinced to lose some weight, dress for success, get your hair cut, rethink that total-body tattoo project, "Looks" is the book I would highly recommend.

Dr. Patzer also touches on the subject of "lookism" and identifies the few states that have laws that prohibit it.

About the only criticism I have is the end portion that focuses on what you can do to avoid being personally obsessed with the way you look and how others perceive you. While this subject has its place, it seems self-defeating to me to take chapter after chapter to prove how looks influence virtually everything in your life, and then end by telling people they shouldn't be worried about that pesky 5 pounds. Seems to me most of the world is right on worrying about the pesky 5 pounds, if 10 or 20 can influence your love life, employment status, economic security, influence over others and social class so profoundly.

In general, however, this is an eye-opening book about the world, the way it REALLY works, and anyone who takes the time to read it is doing themselves a huge favor. I was grateful to get the unvarnished truth from a social scientist committed to studying this aspect of human relations.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An interesting and informative book for people interested in beauty and its effects on our life, June 19, 2008

By	Gang Chen "LEEDSeries.com, Bestselling Author... (http://www.ArchiteG.com/) - See all my reviews

As the Dean of Chicago's Roosevelt University, and the Director and Founder of the Appearance Phenomenon Institute, Dr. Gordon L. Patzer summarized his 30 years of research and investigation of lookism for both women and men in "Looks: Why They Matter More Than You Ever Imagined."

"Almost from the moment of birth, each of us is judged­ - silently, unconsciously, and nearly instantly - on the basis of everything that goes into the mix of qualities known as" `physical attractiveness.' Dr. Patzer wrote, "...Sometimes termed `lookism' - treating people in ways biased by their perceived individual level of physical attractiveness - the `physical attractiveness (PA)' phenomenon has been studied in depth for decades by social scientists of many disciplines, including psychologists, sociologists, biologists, and anthropologists."

Dr. Patzer continued to cover other aspects of his research of looks, he divided this book into 10 chapters: Older Than Civilization; Pass the Genes, Please: How Looks Drive Dating, Courtship, and Marriage; As the Twig Is Bent: How Physical Attractiveness Affects Family Dynamics; Readin', Ritin', Rithmetic,' n `Ridicule; The Job Is Looking Good; Rendering Judgment: How Looks Affect Courtroom Results; Physiognomy and Public Service; Seeing Is Believing; The Dark Side of Physical Attractiveness; What Price for Good Looks? The Big Business of Beauty, and an Epilogue entitled "Rising Above the Effects of Lookism."

The following are some other interesting facts and statements covered by the book:

PA has a profound influence on how we define role models, who governs us, what products we buy, and what services we consume.

"Personal beauty is a greater recommendation than any letter of reference" - Aristotle

To ancient Hebrews and the Christians, physical beauty was a reward from the Almighty, and its opposite was punishment.

A Woman's face is most beautiful and alluring once a month - exactly when she is at the peak of her fertility.

America's last PA-challenged president was elected in 1860.

"Looks: Why They Matter More Than You Ever Imagined" has 288 pages. It is written in simple and plain English. It is an interesting and informative book for people interested in beauty and its effects on our life.

Gang Chen, a Book Reviewer for Bookpleasures
Author of "LEED AP Exam Guide" & "Planting Design Illustrated." LEED AP, AIA

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A refreshingly HONEST view of the world, not someone telling you to "just be positive and confident", April 21, 2008

By	J. Mills (Australia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

People who read this book may want to believe that this never occurs, or that the author is just using some extreme examples when they fail to view the other side of the story as well. These people will just be denying their belief systems the sad truth - that your looks matter most to everyone you will ever come into contact with in your life. After all, if there are no pre-conceived notions of a person, what else is someone going to judge you on? They don't know what you're like on the inside, how much money you have, etc. All they can see about you at first meet is what you LOOK like. And first impressions, they say, are lasting impressions, and count the most in how people evaluate and think of us.

The author even makes mention of the show "Average Joe" in his book to highlight the fact that given someone who has everything going for him with lesser than perfect looks versus someone who has reallt nothing else going for him except for his looks, the female candidate in this case chose looks over substance.

The chapter on looks and how they affect you in the workforce is quite eye-opening, and may explain countless people's frustration as to why they never got the promotion or given the leadership role when they, and everyone else around them knew that they were the best candidates for the job.

I also like his analysis of how the population keeps on getting better looking as all the "uglies" are left on the single scrapheap, and beacuse of better genetics we look for better looking partners.

I don't agree with the last chapter though, where the author highlights 2 case studies and says they need to re-affirm their use of affirmations to convince themselves that what happens in their lives is not solely based on their looks, whereas everything else up untiil that point in the book is stating the obvious otherwise.

Still, I can realte to the guy in the last chapter and his case in life. But I do not that these affirmations won't work, especially in the pursuit of true answers to the questions that plague people about why they cannot achieve as much as others in life, given that they are on equal footing in all other areas.

Myself, I'm a shorter than average 5"6 male living in a western society where height is THE MOST sought after value looked for by a female for their mate. I know I've always had problems getting promoted at work over my colleagues, even though my work was of the same standard. I long to meet a woman who i'm physically attracted to, but the women I am attracted to always seem to rule themselves out of anything with me. I went prematurely bald (age 18), spent hundreds of dollars on self-help books and colognes that make me "smell" more attractive to women. Spent over $3000.00 on a sorry-looking hair transplant at the age of 20 which made the front of my heasd look like an un-attended rice paddock (thank god, after wearing this hairstyle for 9 years I had the deceny of mid to shave it all off, which left me with these horribly big scars across the back of my head), and over $2500.00 on a course to meet and be more confident with women, which after over approaching over 1000 women I haven't managed to find the woman of my dreams yet (nor i believe has any other guy who took the course wih me). I wish these companies had just been upfront with me about all of this in the first place instead of scamming me of all my hard-earned money. It took me reading this book to re-affirm why none of the above had ever worked for me.

When I think about it LOGICALLY my next big saving is for some scar reductions and leg-extensions in order to get me up to around an average male height for a western society. And after reading this book it has only re-affirmed my belief as the best course of action, the best reason to save my money. I wonder if they do a face-off style operation too (like from the movie "Face Off") where they can change my whole facial look as well. Some more incentive to save my money for.

Don't let anyone try to convince you ever again that looks aren't everything in life. Sad, but true, they are everything in life and affect every single area of your life, whether you conciously know it or incorrectly deny it.

A refreshingly true read. Don't believe the lies!