A study of 4,000 young men and women found that beauty boosted pay cheques more than intelligence.

    Those judged to be the easiest on the eye earned up to 10 per cent more than their less attractive friends and colleagues.

    Applied to the average salary of ￡25,000, the 'plainness penalty' would make a difference of ￡2,500 a year - or around ￡50 a week.

    It is unclear what is behind the phenomenon but it may be that beauty breeds confidence. The self-assured may appear to be doing better than they are and will have fewer qualms about badgering for a pay rise.

    Researcher Jason Fletcher, of Yale University in the U.S., rated the attractiveness of the young men and women. Just over half were judged average, while 7 per cent were felt to be very attractive and 8 per cent were judged unattractive or very unattractive.

    Plainness penalty: Beautiful people, like Birmingham City's MD Karren Brady （left） are paid more than less attractive colleagues, like Ugly Betty （right）

    It is a blow for the Ugly Bettys and Plain Janes - research shows that good looks lead to better pay.

    The volunteers also sat an IQ test and disclosed their salary. It became clear that pay scales were far from fair.

    For instance, a 14-point increase on the IQ score was associated with a 3 to 6 per cent increase in wage. But being of above-average looks boosted pay by 5 to 10 per cent.

    For a plain person to be paid the same as a very attractive one, they would have to be 40 per cent brighter, the journal Economics Letters reports.

    Dr Fletcher said: 'The results do show that people's looks have an impact on their wages and it can be very substantial.'

    一項(xiàng)調(diào)查顯示，好的長(zhǎng)相能帶來(lái)較高的薪水。這對(duì)于長(zhǎng)相不佳或容貌平平的女孩們來(lái)說(shuō)的確是個(gè)打擊。

    一項(xiàng)對(duì)四千名年輕男女開(kāi)展的調(diào)查發(fā)現(xiàn)，美貌比智慧更能帶來(lái)薪水的增長(zhǎng)。

    與長(zhǎng)相一般的朋友和同事相比，那些被認(rèn)為長(zhǎng)得好看的人能多掙10%.

    如果按照平均年薪2.5萬(wàn)英磅來(lái)算，由長(zhǎng)相而導(dǎo)致的收入差別一年可達(dá)2500英鎊--每周約50英鎊。

    究竟是什么原因?qū)е逻@一現(xiàn)象目前還不清楚，但可能是因?yàn)槊烂材軒��?lái)自信。自信的人可能看起來(lái)做的要比實(shí)際好，而且在要求加薪方面也沒(méi)有那么多的顧慮。

    美國(guó)耶魯大學(xué)的研究人員杰森？弗萊切給這些年輕男女的容貌進(jìn)行打分。超過(guò)一半的人屬于中等長(zhǎng)相，7%的人被認(rèn)為十分有吸引力，8%的人被認(rèn)為沒(méi)有吸引力或非常缺乏吸引力。

    這些參與調(diào)查的志愿者們還接受了一個(gè)IQ測(cè)試，并透露了他們的薪水。他們的工資水平顯失公平。

    舉例來(lái)說(shuō)，IQ得分每增長(zhǎng)14分，工資能增長(zhǎng)3%至6%.但如果長(zhǎng)相不凡，工資則會(huì)增長(zhǎng)5%至10%.

    據(jù)《經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)信箋》期刊的報(bào)告，如果一個(gè)長(zhǎng)相平平的人想和長(zhǎng)得漂亮的人拿一樣的薪水，那么他們的智商必須比漂亮的人高40%.

    弗萊切博士說(shuō)："這些結(jié)果表明，長(zhǎng)相對(duì)于薪資的確有影響，而且這一影響可能還相當(dāng)大。"