Spring 2023 Seminar Series No. 1 | Why Beauty Matters: Candidates’ Facial Appearance and Electoral Success

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Spring 2023 Seminar Series No. 1 | Why Beauty Matters: Candidates’ Facial Appearance and Electoral Success

Monday, 6th Mar, 2023 | 01:24PM Spring 2023 Seminar Series No. 1 | Why Beauty Matters: Candidates’ Facial Appearance and Electoral Success

Title: Why Beauty Matters: Candidates’ Facial Appearance and Electoral Success

Time: March 23 (Thur), 9:00 a.m.

Venue: Online (Google Meet). Click the button above to join the seminar. 

Reminder: please enter the online meeting with your microphone muted.

Join Seminar 

Guest Speaker: Yoshikuni ONO

Professor, School of Political Science and Economics, Waseda University, Japan

Short Bio
Yoshikuni Ono is a professor of Political Science at Waseda
University, a faculty fellow at the Research Institute of Economy,
Trade and Industry, and a research director at the Tokyo Foundation
for Policy Research. He completed his Ph.D. in political science at
the University of Michigan. Before joining Waseda University, he held
academic appointments at Tohoku University and the International
University of Japan. His work has appeared in the American Journal of
Political Science, Journal of Politics, Political Behavior, Political
Science Research and Methods, Public Opinion Quarterly, and other
journals.
 
Abstract
Why do better-looking candidates gain more votes in elections?
Existing research shows that candidates’ facial appearances—perceived
beauty, in particular—affect the fate of their election outcomes.
However, little is known about the mechanisms by which the candidates’
beauty creates a premium in elections. To solve this puzzle, we asked
more than 1,400 people to evaluate 494 real candidates’ faces from
multiple perspectives. We then analyzed the relationship between the
evaluation results and the percentage of votes cast in actual
elections to confirm the beauty premium. Subsequently, we conducted a
survey experiment with a national sample of approximately 3,000 voters
to examine the effects of candidates’ beauty on voter perceptions. We
found that beauty attracts voters’ attention and alters their
perceptions of candidates’ electability, suggesting that the
incentives to seek information and join the bandwagon drive voters to
support good-looking candidates. Our findings also reveal that
candidates’ facial expressions and impressions do not hinder the
positive influence of their perceived beauty on election outcomes. In
politics, beauty rules.
 

Joining Info

  • This event is free and open to all. No pre-registration required.
  • The event will be held via Google Meet and will be recorded for archival, educational, and related promotional purposes.
  • Please enter the online meeting with your microphone muted.