Women’s attractiveness can alter perceptions at work

A WSU researcher found that a woman’s attractiveness changes how trustworthy they are seen in the workplace.

“We found that attractiveness is a liability for women, but not men when it comes to how truthful they are perceived as being,” said Leah Sheppard, assistant professor of management in the Carson College of Business.

Sheppard collaborated with Stefanie Johnson, associate professor of management at the University of Colorado, to conduct this research. They call their findings the “femme fatale effect.”

Sheppard said the reason for the femme fatale effect is situated in sexual insecurity. She said attractiveness can elicit a feeling of threat or jealousy, which leads to the perception that they are deceptive or less truthful.

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About the Author: DrStefanieKJohnson

Dr. Stefanie K. Johnson is an Associate Professor of Management at the Leeds School of Business, University of Colorado Boulder. She holds a Ph.D. from Rice University and is particularly interested in the effects of unconscious biases in the evaluation of women and minorities, with the goal of finding ways to mitigate those biases. Dr. Johnson brings bias to light with an engaging and humorous approach to advanced scientific research, which has earned her numerous accolades and invitations to present her work at meetings around the world, including the White House for a 2016 summit on diversity in corporate America on National Equal Pay Day, and the 2016 Harvard Negotiation and Leadership Conference. She has published over 70 journal articles and book chapters in outlets such as Harvard Business Review, Journal of Applied Psychology and The Academy of Management Journal. She has extensive consulting experience and has created and delivered leadership-development training with an emphasis on evidence-based practice. In recognition of her unique research, Dr. Johnson has been awarded nearly three million dollars in external funding to study leadership and create leadership development programs aimed at increasing safety. Media outlets featuring her work include: The Economist, Newsweek, Time, and CNN. Stefanie lives in the Boulder Bubble in Colorado with her Biology Professor husband, two young kiddos, and two old kitties.