The Hot or Not of Appearance 2: Plastic Surgery

Better looks through digital science. Maybe even worth the effort.

Now, where were we? Oh, yes. Obsessing over our physical appearance. Our last experiment, while interesting, really didn't test for changes in the actual physical form, did it? Let's make that happen this time. Remember that nose we discussed? Let's fix it.

Sometimes, its the little things that count. Our appearance in its totality, is composed of so many minute intangibles, measured in degrees. At what point do those exposed teeth go from an average smile to knockout pearly whites? I'm not sure. I do know that a group of smallish touches to a photo of my tired self after the Marine Corps Volkslauf 10k Mud Run should make a difference in how I am perceived.

First, let's lay down some clean contact paper. Have a look at our control image and its subsequent ratings:

I'm since in better shape. Uh, kinda. Anyway, note that while this shirtless, red-faced guy is now a solid Eight, he's still not a 10 in anyone's eyes. So what if he's hotter than 77% of the other hosers on the Hot or Not site? He's still mostly just a 5 in most raters's eyes; an average Joe. Cool.

Now, let's get out the computerized scalpel and see what's tweakable.

What a change a difference makes.

We crack open Photoshop and make incremental changes everywhere, in keeping with societal norms as expressed by those supermarket-checkout-lane men's health magazines. The short list of airbrushes includes:

* drop receding hairline
* desaturate race-reddened face
* narrow jaw, temples and cheeks
* shrink ears
* tweak eyes
* lighten rings under eyes
* whiten teeth
* thicken neck and trapezoids
* round out shoulders
* boost biceps
* tighten waistline
* square off stomach
* pull in beltline

Note that I didn't change my skin tone to make myself more tan (or should I say, tan at all) which is step one in image improvement for many. Oh, and you know what? I'm kinda happy with my busted-up nose. Indulge me as I maintain its cragglinesses as trophies of milestones passed / milestones impacted. I'll keep it as is.

Otherwise, these are all the changes we're going to make shrugging at us in the image at to the right.

How much is it worth? That little No to Yes switch was worth a 1.2 incremental change. I figure that all these, while slight modifications in all their own rights, should add up to a significant increase in our panel's perception. Perhaps a point and a half increase? At the outside, perhaps an increase in ratings to an average 9.2 or 9.5.

Wishful Thinking?

What are we gonna do with you? Not much, after all.

Good thing we didn't pay some Plastic Surgeon / Liposuction Practitioner / Personal Trainer / Body Double for all that tweakage. This ain't much movement on the Tachometer.

Seems like a lot of retouching to get us from an average of 8 - with no one among 241 raters thinking that I'm a perfect 10 - to an average of 8.4 with at least some small faction of 244 finding I'm a 10. I thought that was a total image makeover, and all it was worth was a measly 4 tenths of a point - a third of what we might have predicted, and a third of the impact of merely scribbling on my hand with Magic Marker in Test 1!

On the other hand, at this point, there are now some people giving this falsified image perfect 10 ratings, and that's something. Perfection. Wow.

But what price perfection? For our final exercise here, let's see which weighs more: the body sculpting, or the facial features. I'm curious about what garnered the 10's... was it from the Neck Up, or the Neck Down?

Because, well, I've always been adverse to the thought of undergoing plastic surgery (and I'm not at all certain that I'd like to imagine the process for narrowing one's skull, as we've just done), but making somototypical changes via exercise... that, I can handle.

Curious? I am.

Care to make a prediction? Face, or Flesh?

Taking everything at face value here. Shallow, I know.

Face.
First, we'll take our same image, and submit it for ratings with changes only from the neck up. These, as you recall, were

* drop receding hairline
* desaturate race-reddened face
* narrow jaw, temples and cheeks
* shrink ears
* tweak eyes
* lighten rings under eyes
* whiten teeth

Here's the image, and results:

Remember, we received an 8.4 with all changes, and here's an 8.4 with only facial changes. Seems that the bodily improvements made no difference at all in average rating. Interesting. But we're not finished unless we've seen the other side of the coin.

Flesh.
Now, we'll take our original image, and submit it for ratings with changes only from the neck down. These, as you recall, were

* thicken neck and trapeziods
* round out shoulders
* boost biceps
* tighten waistline
* square off stomach
* pull in beltline

Here's the image, and results:

Huh. An 8, just the same as our original, unretouched average rating. On the average, making all those bodily improvements didn't change our rating at all. What a waste for those poor aerobics instructors out there working tirelessly to improve their body images. Or is it?

Look again, and note the categorical responses. Ratings in the higher-end categories for our bad face/better body image were all more numerous for 6's, 7's, 8's, 9's and 10's compared to the better face/bad body image. This is to say, that the better face/bad body is higher on average simply because he's so average - scroll back up and take a second look at how far the 5 category outstrips all others. The better body/bad face is lower on the average, because he elicted so many 1's - nearly as many as the 5's - and a toiletbowl full of 2's as well. These were all unprovoked responses, by the way, from Computer Potatoes with bad bodies from the inactivity of sitting at their computers all day giving unwarranted poor ratings on Hot or Not to those with better bodies than themselves. If you'll notice, these same wanks ran the 1 ratings off the scale on our previous better body/better face total-everything makeover. See it again to confirm.

For the record, our better body/bad face guy has nothing against those with bad bodies, or, shall we say, those that are sex-appeal-impaired. They're just petty, vindictive snails and he pities them.

But we digress. All this is to say, in this instance, to attain a better appearance to the average viewer, getting a facial is the way to go. Don't ask me why another pretty face is average. Fuel for another experimental installment, perhaps.
On the other hand, if you wish to attain a much higher rating from one segment of viewers, and receive distain and hatred from the other portion, work on that body. Your keen physicality can induce admiration and adversion simultaneously.

Finally, let's examine our Final Findings.