It's a great article and there is probably a lot of truth to it but I suspect people who are constantly told how great they are are actually more likely to be jerks. I don't think beauty / intelligence are entirely uncorrelated with niceness to begin with.
> It's a great article and there is probably a lot of truth to it but I suspect people who are constantly told how great they are are actually more likely to be jerks.
They can both be true. The selection process is enough to explain a negative correlation regardless of whether the true correlation is negative, zero, or strongly positive.
Separately, it's very possible for a girl who naturally has 40 attractiveness points and 15 personality points, but who's happy dating men who only demand 30 points from their partners, to lower her expressed personality from +15 to -10. This would be a causative influence of high attractiveness (interacting with low ambition) on personality.
Yup the author describes how it's possible to see such a correlation even if they were uncorrelated. But the same would apply if they were slightly correlated. But I am neither intelligent nor beautiful so take my words with a grain of salt!
Here’s a thought, it’s possible to be disagreeable without being ignorant of the fact or malicious. Being blunt or assertive can be misinterpreted as being mean but meanness involves some intent to harm.
You might choose to ignore how what you're about to say will make someone feel, because in your mind you know you don't mean ill, but that won't change the outcome. Ignoring how you're about to make someone feel is still consequential. In other words, you can be right and still an asshole.
