漂亮的人佔盡這個世界的優勢。人見人愛自然容易交朋友，見工面試留下好印象受聘的機會較高，老闆考慮升職人選時當然先看英俊、美麗的員工。這種想法像是很合常理，但實際情況是否這樣呢？
      我們可能漏看了一種不變的硬道理，就是俗語說的“針沒兩頭利”。凡事有利必有弊，對於樣貌出眾也是一樣。
      Two new studies have identified a surprising penalty for good looks, with implications for professional and personal settings alike.
      Penalty解懲罰。相貌天生成，所以不應以貌取人，調過頭來看，原來美麗也可以是罪。最新的研究發現，good looks是要受罰的，在工作和個人生活上也出現這種情況：
      Researchers from Germany find the well-known beauty bias is actually flipped when attractive job candidates are appraised(評核) by a same-sex evaluator(評核者). Researchers from the U.S., separately, show a similarly negative effect when good-looking people have their apologies judged by their own gender.
      有關的研究有兩個。德國的一個看樣貌對見工面試的影響，美國的一個則看是否漂亮的人道歉時被對方接受的機會較大。

      同性相拒 異性相吸
      結果發現，這與面試考官和道歉對象的性別(gender)有關。Beauty bias是因漂亮而得到的優待。當考官與考生性別相同，情況就會flip(倒轉)過來。道歉也是一樣。
      "There are a lot of studies that show attractive people make more money, are more likely to get hired and get lighter sentences in court when they're convicted of crimes. But this shows the benefits might not be across the board," says April Phillips, co-author of the American research.
      (負責美國的研究其中一位學者April Phillips說：“有很多研究顯示有吸引力的人賺錢較多，受聘機會較高，就算犯了事被定罪法庭判刑都會較輕。但今次的研究發現，漂亮的人並非事事都有優勢。”)
      Phillips' study, to appear in a forthcoming issue of the journal Personal Relationships, found that a beautiful woman's apology was judged by other women as less sincere than the exact same mea culpa of a less attractive female.
      April Phillips的研究是有關道歉的那一個。道歉是apologize，名詞是apology。例如︰I will apologize to my friend for being late.(我會為遲到向朋友道歉。)Please accept our apology.(請接受我們的道歉。)
      上面一段中的mea culpa是拉丁文，解my fault, through my responsibility, I am to blame，承認自己的錯誤，所以也是解道歉。漂亮的女士向同性表示的mea culpa，會被認為誠意較低。若對方是異性，那beauty bias(漂亮的優勢)便繼續有。
      為什麼人會有這樣的反應？大概都是同性相拒、異性相吸的簡單道理。以專家的方法表述：
      Men would want to forgive a beautiful woman so the possibility of a relationship wasn't eliminated(勾消), whereas a woman might see her as a threat and thus be less open to a pardon(原諒).

      電腦專家 取代漂亮者
      其實影響人際關係的因素還有很多，看漂亮是否數這問題不必太認真。例如Garth Sundem在The Geeks' Guide to World Domination: Be Afraid, Beautiful People中，就以幽默的手法提出這個理論，就是漂亮的人統治世界的日子已結束，取代他們的是geeks(電腦專家)。文︰子慧