Cuteness in the workplace

The tendency to trust baby-faced employees more

This unconscious bias also manifests itself in the workplace. People tend to be more trusting and forgiving of colleagues or employees who have more childlike or attractive facial features.

This phenomenon is known as the cuteness halo effect.

Unconscious favoritism in assigning responsibilities and error tolerance

A boss might inadvertently give more responsibilities or entrust more sensitive information to an employee who they find cute or pleasant-looking.

They are also more likely to forgive their mistakes or believe their excuses more easily. All of this happens completely unconsciously.

The ''halo effect'': Beautiful or cute people are perceived as more competent

The halo effect is a well-known cognitive bias.

It involves our overall positive impression of a person in one area (e.g., their physical attractiveness) influencing our opinion of their other qualities.

We tend to think that beautiful or cute people are also smarter, more competent, and more honest, even if we have no evidence for this.

The vicious cycle of demoralization for ''non-cute'' employees

This unconscious favoritism can create a very damaging vicious cycle.

Employees who don't benefit from this bias may receive fewer opportunities, be judged more harshly, and feel demoralized. Their performance may decline, which in turn confirms the boss's initial bias.

Being aware of the existence of this bias is the first and most important step to combating it and making fairer and more objective decisions at work.

Summary

People ofte