[LabRat]

I heard about this the other morning on NPR's Morning Edition.

With the additional tidbit:

Not Just Good Looks

Now, if the judges weren't going on the music, what was the X factor? Good looks? In a separate analysis, Tsay found it wasn't about superficial looks.

"I wouldn't necessarily say that this is indicative of superficial judgment," Tsay says. "There is something about visual information that is better able to convey cues such as passion or involvement or creativity. These elements are very much a part of high-quality performance."

In fact, Tsay's study is only the latest to show that people's judgments on all manner of issues are shaped by what they see. We know we shouldn't judge books by their covers, but marketers know we do anyway. Economists and political psychologists have found that voters can predict the winners of elections when they watch videos of the candidates — with the sound off.

"There is a very real gap between what people say they value — what people truly believe they value — and what is actually being used in these important evaluations," Tsay says.

That's a useful reminder — for the next time we judge other people, and the next time other people judge us.

italics mine.