囧研究：相貌好看的人不容易生病

Economist Dr Nils Braakmann, who led the study, said: ‘Ratings of physical attractiveness at age 11 influence health at age 50, even when considering a large variety of childhood conditions, with unattractive people generally faring worse.
经济学家尼尔斯•巴拉克曼是这项调查的负责人。他说：“11岁时的相貌评分能影响50岁时的健康状况。哪怕综合考虑各种童年情况，那些长得丑的人基本上也还是不受待见。”

‘These results imply that individuals who are unattractive at an early age experience large welfare losses due to the way they’re treated by others.’
“这些结论说明，由于不受待见，长得不好看的人从小就享受不到很多好处。”

The fact that we rate certain features as more attractive may be driven by evolution — increasing the likelihood of having offspring.
事实上，人们对好看外貌特征的评价可能也受到了人类进化的影响——这也增加了孕育后代的几率。

For instance, long legs in women could be a visual clue of fitness for childbirth, with research at Gdansk University in Poland suggesting that taller women have wider pelvises, allowing easier births and larger birth-weight babies.
举例而言，腿长的女性可能被认为适合生小孩。波兰格但斯克大学的研究表明，高个女性的骨盆更宽，那么也就更容易生育——尤其是个头大的婴儿。

But Dr Viren Swami, reader in psychology at the University of Westminster, suggests there may be other, non-evolutionary explanations for links between health and beauty.
但是，威斯敏斯特大学心理学博士威伦•斯瓦密认为，健康与美貌之间的关系也可以通过“非进化论”的角度进行阐释。

‘People think that “what is beautiful is good”, and we call this a halo effect,’ he says.
“人们认为‘漂亮的就是美好的’，这就是光圈效应。”他说。

‘Attractive people are perceived as having all kinds of wonderful, positive qualities, and seen as being happier, more popular, more successful, and so on.
“长得好看的人会被认为具备各种美好积极的品质，比如更快乐、更受欢迎、更成功等等。”

‘We also treat them more positively than less attractive people.
“于是，人们对长相好看的人也会更加热情友善。”

'We give them more social space [e.g., more time and understanding to achieve a task] and we are more likely to help them.
“人们给长相好看的人更多社会空间，比如在完成任务时给他们更多时间和理解；人们也更愿意帮助长得好看的人。”

'This being the case, it’s quite possible that the health benefits of being attractive are the result of this better treatment.
“有鉴于此，那么，好相貌和好健康也可能是因为受到好待遇而产生的结果。”

‘For example, attractive people are more likely to be hired, less likely to be fired, and receive a higher starting wage, so it’s possible that any health benefit is the result of their better occupational outcomes.
“比如说，长得好看的人更容易找到工作、不太会被炒鱿鱼、起薪可能相对较高。所以，他们的良好健康也可能是职业发展顺利的结果。”

‘Or, conversely, less attractive people may be less likely to use health-care services because they are concerned about being judged or stigmatised, as in the case of overweight or obese individuals, which obviously has a detrimental effect on their health.
“反之，相貌不出众的人或许就不太去寻求保健服务，因为他们担心自己被人指指点点，对超重或肥胖的人而言尤其如此；而且，这显然会对他们的健康造成重大影响。”

‘So, the health benefit may be an indirect outcome of better treatment in societies that value attractiveness.
“所以，好健康也可能是这个尊崇美貌的社会在优待相貌好看的人时所造成的间接结果。”

'I’m not suggesting the evolutionary perspective is incorrect, only that it’s not the full explanation.’
“这不是说进化论角度的阐释不正确，只是这个解释还有待完善吧。”