The findings showed that the theory there is a “ugliness penalty” on wages isn’t that simple. When other traits were taken into account, such as health and intelligence, results showed people who were more conscientious, extroverted, and less neurotic earned significantly more than others.

Also, participants who were labeled as “very unattractive” always earned more than those who were just “unattractive.” This was also sometimes the case when very unattractive people were compared to those who were average-looking and attractive.

Alex Fradera offers an explanation for this in BPS Digest. He said the personality trait “Openness to Experience” may have been surprisingly correlated with lower earnings and higher attractiveness in this particular data set, when it is usually associated with higher pay.