The Advantage of Being Attractive: Alex From Target

A 22-year-old woman was in the lobby of a hotel on the French Riviera when she was discovered by renowned author Colette Viola Ceste Gigi That's My Gigi The author whispered that the woman was Audrey Hepburn 22 Hepburn's acting career could be summed up as a few lines despite this, she was immediately cast as the lead at first glance for an upcoming Broadway musical. I think a lot of people fantasize about

being

discovered by a famous casting director as they go about their daily lives and their lives transform from average to super stardom. What's different today is that the Internet has made it entirely possible with the click of a button, although it's not comparable to Hepburn.

The modern version of the story of him happening to this teller on

target

, sending him to Internet celebrity status overnight, but years later, the teller who led the teenager. Girls Crazy has disappeared from the Internet Welcome to Psych Irl My name is Donna Sorry, I've been away for a while. I got a new job in the beauty industry as a plastic surgeon. Am I using this wrong? Yes, of course, but I didn't want to. look bald, so today I'm here to sell you the benefits of

being

attractive

. See if I had a nickel every time I hear someone say that they are only popular because they are

attractive

, they would be a millionaire, so today we are going to examine that your life would be better if you were attractive.

We will examine that we are going to investigate the case of Alex from Target. Someone who benefited greatly from being attractive. It was just another day packing groceries for a 16 year old. Alex had been working as a cashier at this Texas

target

for three months, near the end of his shift, his manager approached him and showed him that he was going viral on Twitter. A girl took a photo of him and posted it on it. twitter and instagram and it read, guess how 821,000 people retweeted it in 24 hours, that's crazy in 24 hours, 821,000 times it was retweeted and then also, uh, Target's

alex

hashtag started trending, other teenage girls They take the bait and start commenting. about

alex

's american good luck saying all i want for christmas is target's alex and target's alex is a hot heart face emoticon added bam a meme is created and target's alex who gained over 500,000 followers on Twitter in 24 hours it becomes the latest viral sensation Alex looks like an average teenager, but for many other teenagers at that time, in 2014, he was the new heartthrob, so now you wonder, of course, what is it about him?

He has so many followers on Twitter and now what has Alex done that triggered him? this is absolutely nothing why this went viral some would say why this keeps going viral over and over again to answer this question we must first examine our relationship with attractiveness looks aren't everything it's what counts on the inside this is the ugly thing people say it's a joke when someone says conventionally attractive what does that mean? For the purposes of this video, we will focus on facial attractiveness as we are going to examine its role in social media success, so of course personality is very attractive, but that can be edited depending on the medium. in which it is uploaded, the body type can also be manipulated with Photoshop and the faces in camera angle, on the other hand, can also be manipulated, but if you plan to meet in person or become a celebrity, it is risky to drastically change the Because of your appearance, you will need to make a public appearance at some point.

I'm sure many of you come from the school of thought that attractiveness is subjective, yeah number one baby, what may be attractive to your friend may not be. For you, while it's true, there are surely objective measures that tell us how attractive one is, after all, they seem to pick a similar looking person on the cover of magazines, so let's separate and define subjective versus objective attractiveness through time and culture, the standard of beauty. It's a change and it's constantly changing now, when we look at early Renaissance paintings for example, men and women looked physically fit, but there was a little more meat on their bones compared to beauty standards. current at a time when famine and famine plagued most of the population.

Those with more fat were seen as healthier, wealthier and therefore more attractive had access to quality food. Ordinary people did not. In a time where food seems to be abundant, the ideal image of beauty has gone in the opposite direction, having a Lower body fat percentage, once again, indicates that you have access to quality food. Physical fitness may indicate that the individual has a career that allows them the luxury of exercising the standard of beauty. It also differs between cultures. Asian countries, for example, prefer a lighter complexion than a darker one. The quantity of products. that an individual can buy to achieve that goal is quite revealing: countries that have a large number of workers in agriculture often show the same pattern or people have to work in the fields while the rich are inside and do not have to do it.

Working in the sun When we look at Western countries like the United States, where most people work in an office, a factory or somewhere indoors, a darker complexion is often preferred, someone with a tan can leave vacation and go on adventures, while those who don't do so. Today I have to work 2 million jobs just to make ends meet. I think kids like that broccoli hair. Despite time and culture, there are some traits that seem to withstand everything. One of them is an asymmetrical face, which is the image of your right side. To your left, there's even a ticking trend where users use this mirror filter to see if their faces are symmetrical.

Many of you who pick up the mirror or try this filter on yourself, you may have had the feeling that your symmetrical self is something like this. To be honest it's creepy, I found a lot of those who try the symmetrical self of this trend to be creepy, the reason why this is the case is that symmetry alone is not enough to make a face attractive. I mean, think about it if you have a huge eye on one. side and a mirror image of that on the other you definitely look a little weird. Another factor that makes it attractive is the average of faces, this means that if you take, say, 60 faces, place them on top of each other and then take the average of where each feature is located how each feature looks how far apart the features are. characteristics of the other, etc.

The average of that is considered more attractive than anything that deviates. This hypothesis originates in the 19th century. Of course, there are modern studies that prove this too, but I thought we could prove or disprove it ourselves with Instagram stories. I pulled four faces from faceresearch.org. The website is run by Lisa de Bruin and Ben Jones, who also run the facial research laboratory at the University of Glasgow. Three of these faces. They are normal individual faces, while one is a face composed of several faces. I posted this as a poll on Instagram and over 2000 of you voted, so if you ever want to be a guinea pig in these experiments, be sure to follow me. let's go to the results starting from the bottom with five percent of the votes, face number three comes first which is a single face, then with eleven percent of the votes came face number four, this again is a single face with 18.5 percent of the votes. face number one more than half of you voted for face number two.

I hate to break it to you, but face number two is not a real face, it's a combination of multiple faces. Even today, a hypothesis formulated in the 19th century remains valid. and it clearly affected several of you. Also one thing to keep in mind is that men and women are obviously attractive in different ways and for this video we are going to talk about attractiveness in the general sense, not gender specific, now that we have an idea of ​​what makes someone is conventionally attractive, let's see how much

advantage

it has, if any, in impacting one's life.

I have 2 million followers on Instagram and I actually went up to 20,000 since last night. there isn't any to the story, but alex is from target, it's not too hard to become a celebrity, i know, just know you're a little guy, work at target, that's all you need to do, clearly after the internet of 2014 will declare that Alex has his heartthrob, the opportunities began. For good measure, he made several television appearances discussing how this all happened. It was the same story on every news station over and over again. I was working and my phone was off and my manager came up to me and showed me the photo I thought of.

It was fake until these girls showed up about an hour later right before my shift ended and they showed me my profile and I got thousands of followers and I was really confused, it was almost like, we understand how it happened. Can you ask him something interesting? Please, unfortunately that never happened, I think it was more important that these streams capitalize on this meme, thank God, it's Sunday so the Lord can still cleanse all your ungodly thoughts, it didn't matter what the content of the questions was, it mattered that He was at the station, he even made a couple appearances on Ellen in a segment, he didn't even say anything, all he had to do was give someone a gift.

Can anyone name an easier job because of this chaotic lifestyle? Alex had to leave high school and start. being homeschooled in 2015, he went on tour with other social media stars, collaborating with them and even living with them, while that last point may not seem like a big deal to you, it's pretty crazy to me how much power social media can have. following oral looks at who circle of friends you get into, where managers probably talk in the background discussing how both parties could benefit each other, but it's still a strange way to become friends and it happens a lot in the world of social media , friendships are dictated by the number of followers and who.

You know, in this case, Alex's appearance led to him gaining a multitude of opportunities and friendships, not everyone who has a genetic blessing becomes a Hollywood celebrity, but if we were to compare them with an average person of similar background, it is They may still have the

advantage

we have. It's been hotly discussed how appearance can play a role in stardom, but what role does it play for the average Joe? If he woke up tomorrow with a more attractive face, would his life really be easier? One study sent out more than 11,000 resumes for job openings everywhere.

Italy sent eight resumes to each position, four of them had a photo, it included an attractive man, an unattractive man, an attractive woman and an unattractive woman. The last four did not include any photos, but two were of Italian citizens and the other two were of foreigners. The results were expected to favor attractive candidates with callback rates of around 50 percent 54 for women 47 for men unattractive women had a callback rate of 7 percent while men 24 the study also found that foreign candidates received a lower callback rate, but it was not as important as a condition of attractiveness in finally getting the job.

Another study found that better-looking people were more likely to receive promotions than their coworkers. Not only do attractive people have an advantage in their careers, they also have an advantage in the justice system. A laboratory. One study found that a mock jury was less certain of guilt when evaluating a good-looking person, plus they were also given a less severe punishment. Let's look at this real life example. Jeremy Meeks was arrested for possession of a firearm and resisting arrest. He also had a previous record of assaulting a 16-year-old when he was 18. After his mugshot was published in 2014, he rose to fame when he was dubbed the Hot Offender and is generating comments praising his high cheekbones, chiseled and his striking blue eyes. he was receiving letters from fans in prison.

I received I think 45 contracts, either modeling management films and even dated a multi-millionaire heiress. There's a lot of discussion about why you've been talking about this guy. He has done some very bad things, but to be fair. For this guy, it's out of his control. I think he was as surprised as everyone else. He is not the first viral prisoner. Remember this woman. She was never convicted, but her 2010 mugshot of her went viral. I love seeing the reform, millions of people who have had a similar past to him will definitely take a more unpleasant path, well for him now I know what you're thinking, maybe attractive people are just better workers and unattractive people are just they happen. suchmaybe commit more crimes, but maybe this competition arose from how they looked in the first place, not even taking into account the benefits I mentioned above, the bias in favor of conventionally attractive people is quite solid, it is based only on the appearance of attractive people. perceived as more sociable, more competent, happier, smarter, and more successful than their unattractive counterparts, that perception alone may be responsible for creating a self-fulfilling prophecy, like in those movies where a psychic tells a boy his future. and the boy really wants to change it. so he does everything he can in the present to change it, but with his actions he actually fulfills his prophecy because he knows his future, for example, let's look at the character trait sociability, since attractive people are seen as more sociable and are more likely to let them approach them.

Since they are more likely to be approached, this gives them more opportunities to practice their social skills, so it actually increases their sociability in real life. Unattractive people are seen as less sociable, therefore they are not likely to be approached, therefore they cannot practice their social skills, therefore not really. increasing your sociability in real life the same goes for other traits that were mentioned above this bias is seen in classrooms because teachers see their most attractive students as competent and intelligent, they are more likely to give that student more attention and instruction because they are given more attention and instruction they learn material more, thus increasing their chances of success and happiness, all of this creates the beautiful is good bias.

You could argue that the mainstream media is what creates this bias, but there is research that indicates that this bias is innate in television and movies, the protagonist. It is often attractive, the question then becomes: Do we believe that beautiful is good because we have been conditioned to think that way? o Do we believe that beauty is good because beautiful people do good things and that is why it is reflected so much in the media? One study can completely overcome this dilemma, research conducted in the United Kingdom examined newborns and found that babies looked at attractive faces for longer compared to unattractive ones;

However, the finding strongly suggests that preferences for attractive faces are present shortly after birth and are not the result of a long period of observation. This strong preference to see attractive faces from birth may explain why magazines, movies, and television shows choose attractive people as their main models. Look at the amazing difference between a Walmart commercial and the people at Walmart. Meme. The people in the commercial are not your perceived typical ones. demonstration of people shopping at Walmart companies use beautiful is good bye is to associate beautiful with their company or product beautiful people shop here beautiful is good, therefore shopping here is good, Alex from Target not only had this as an advantage, but he also had it. the advantage of the teenage girls fan base i don't think you need a study to tell you that teenage girls will go out of their way for whoever or whatever, they are obsessed with what separates this case from a musical artist or a tv show .

That Alex didn't really do anything to get his fan base, so how did he get it for music artists and television? You could argue that they got their fandom from a good song or story. An explanation for Alex's fame could be found by looking at the theories. From evolutionary psychology, one theory to consider is mate selection, now the average viewer knows that they probably won't get a date with the celebrity of their choice, the biological attraction that occurs when seeing an image of them, although it still happens, for Generally, adolescent girls are entering a stage. of life when they start exploring what they like and don't like romantically, that's why you see that crazy girl obsessed with the boy band, she can discuss with her friends what she likes and what she doesn't like When it comes to doing that with your peers it is a bit awkward and has social consequences.

He may not like her. You may have a girlfriend who doesn't like what she has to say. The list goes on and on in the world of celebrities. She can explore it. I like her and I don't like her without any negative repercussions. You see companies taking advantage of this all the time. I've explained this in previous videos before, but you'll find it when you look closely at the music heartthrob industry. The lyrics to many of the heartthrobs' songs are designed. As if the singer was professing his unconditional love to the listener, let's go back to mate selection theory, what does facial attractiveness tell us about potential mates?

According to evolutionary psychology, all living beings have a primitive drive to make copies of themselves in order to make To ensure the survival of a human species that is producing babies, to give this human the best possible chance of survival, the couple that Choose must be genetically healthy, unless you plan to swab the inside of your potential partner's cheek in the way that is closest to how we determine genetic health. It is because of its appearance when we examine facial symmetry once again we find a relationship between symmetry and perceived health. Humans have bilateral symmetry, that is, our right side develops as a mirror image of our left during the development stage, the Things can go wrong and can cause these genes to be expressed unequally, something we don't want in a partner.

Additionally, things that can greatly affect symmetry include inflammation, allergic reactions, and stress, so In short, facial attractiveness is one way to determine the genetic health of a potential mate, so in short, babies are naturally attracted to attractive faces. In life, we unconsciously perceive that attractive people have a number of traits. positives and we use attractiveness as a cue for mate selection, that's a lot of positive things, come to my office and I'll make you attractive. I'll tell you the negatives so you know that Alex from the target meme no longer exists. What happened today. Alex would be 22 years old.

He is still quite young. He disappeared from the Internet. Nor was it the usual way for a popular person to lose relevance. continue uploading but viewers are no longer interested alex completely disappeared without a trace the videos on his youtube channel are all deleted the last tweet from his verified twitter account was in 2017 and the links to his instagram appeared to be deleted, He barely took advantage of the opportunities that landed in his lap, the last interview I could find about him was conducted by Emily Brosnia and Lily Gizen of J14, which was published in September 2020, but the interview itself was conducted in 2018.

Alex explains that After going viral he was afraid to leave his house and admits he didn't know how to handle the fame that happened overnight. He was immediately put in a celebrity position without any preparation. He didn't even have any prior inclination to pursue this career, as a result, he felt out of place. among other influencers simultaneously, this business is full of disgusting people willing to take advantage of anyone, since Alex built his YouTube channel with around 150,000 subscribers, his manager took it away from him. Unfortunately, this article doesn't explain how that happened, but I guess. Once Alex achieved fame, his manager convinced him to start a YouTube channel to which he owned the rights.

Alex was probably told that you can upload whatever you want and have your creative freedom since you are new to social media, although we will manage your YouTube well. channel so you don't have to worry about the logistics of anything. YouTube, simply put, Alex most likely signed a contract that required him to create videos for a channel that was owned by his manager, despite having his name on everything, he didn't actually have the rights to this channel. This resulted in Alex having to start from scratch, something he couldn't really recover from in 2018. He reactivated his Instagram, but it doesn't seem like he's looking to be in the spotlight anytime soon, his posts are more sparse and he's just Documenting your normal life as a fitness trainer is fine, as an ethical plastic surgeon, I have to say that there are many benefits despite this, happiness for the success that came with your attractiveness will not be something that you may not be happy about, happiness it could be the ultimate goal we strive for as humans.

Beings and attractiveness do not guarantee that perhaps Target's Alex was facing the same dilemma that may explain his breakup with social media. According to self-determination theory, people are motivated to grow and change by meeting three psychological needs: autonomy, competence and relatedness, a study from the journal of positive psychology took a look at the modeling industry. I would say that modeling is very comparable to Alex's line of work. It is an industry that depends mainly on appearance. Let's look at the nature of this career and see if it meets everyone's basic psychological needs. According to the theory of self-determination autonomy, people want to feel that they have complete control of the decisions they make.

It is difficult to feel autonomous when working for another company. In general, most people have to work to earn a salary to survive. They are not working. because they want to, they are working because they need the money; However, when people feel included in an organization, that their work contributes to the bigger picture, they stay in that career longer, they work because they love the job and not because they have it. Unless you're one of the big names in modeling, it can be difficult to find autonomy, especially in the beginning, you work gigs because you want to build your portfolio.

Alex from Target had no past inclination to enter this industry, he felt he had to do this because it was an opportunity that could not be passed up. This is the opposite of autonomy. The next psychological need we want is competition. People like it. continually learn and master new skills, more importantly, people like to feel validated by those skills they have mastered come from someone who doesn't know how to pose in photos. There is a level of skill that comes from being a model. The problem is that they are valued more for their appearance than their skills.

I'm sure you've heard many times phrases like why are you so popular, are you simply popular for being attractive, which again is the opposite of competence, your skills didn't help you succeed in your career, it was your appearance, for example. Lastly, we have relationships, this refers to making connections or friends with people in your industry now for models. I'm sure this depends on the individual, but in this particular study they had little bearing on the article by j14. Alex says he felt out of place among the other influencers in the studio. He concluded that fashion models in this study reported slightly lower levels of well-being and substantially lower levels of psychological need satisfaction compared to non-model comparison participants.

The mediation analysis suggested that the lower well-being between the models can be explained by their lower need satisfaction. The point is that your career did not meet your psychological needs, which led to lower well-being. The way you look shapes the way you see the world because it also shapes how the world reacts to you. Good-looking people have a slight advantage in life, for sure, instead of getting depressed. about how life has not blessed you with good genes, although I think a better way to look at it is to realize that it is possible to use this information for your own benefit, the next time you see an advertisement for something, ask yourself if you really want this product.

Or do you think you want the product because it looks like someone attractive is enjoying it next time? Want a confidence boost for a job interview to ask your crush out or even to be more productive, dress better than usual. Hey, great thing. about being human is that you can increase your attractiveness by the way you dress, unlike those disgusting peacocks, poor people are stuck with what they have, not only does dressing well change the way people perceive you, you gain Confidence in yourself because you think you look good, that becomes also a self-fulfilling prophecy. That's the end of the video.

I'll see you next time, stay tuned.