It is unclear what is behind the phenomenon but it may be that beauty breeds confidence. The self-assured may appear to be doing better than they are and will have fewer qualms about badgering for a pay rise.

究竟是什么原因导致这一现象目前还不清楚，但可能是因为美貌能带来自信。自信的人可能看起来做的要比实际好，而且在要求加薪方面也没有那么多的顾虑。

Researcher Jason Fletcher, of Yale University in the U.S., rated the attractiveness of the young men and women. Just over half were judged average, while 7 per cent were felt to be very attractive and 8 per cent were judged unattractive or very unattractive.

美国耶鲁大学的研究人员杰森•弗莱切给这些年轻男女的容貌进行打分。超过一半的人属于中等长相，7%的人被认为十分有吸引力，8%的人被认为没有吸引力或非常缺乏吸引力。

The volunteers also sat an IQ test and disclosed their salary. It became clear that pay scales were far from fair.

For instance, a 14-point increase on the IQ score was associated with a 3 to 6 per cent increase in wage. But being of above-average looks boosted pay by 5 to 10 per cent.

这些参与调查的志愿者们还接受了一个IQ测试，并透露了他们的薪水。他们的工资水平显失公平。

举例来说，IQ得分每增长14分，工资能增长3%至6%。但如果长相不凡，工资则会增长5%至10%。

For a plain person to be paid the same as a very attractive one, they would have to be 40 per cent brighter, the journal Economics Letters reports.

Dr Fletcher said: 'The results do show that people's looks have an impact on their wages and it can be very substantial.'

据《经济学信笺》期刊的报告，如果一个长相平平的人想和长得漂亮的人拿一样的薪水，那么他们的智商必须比漂亮的人高40%。

弗莱切博士说：“这些结果表明，长相对于薪资的确有影响，而且这一影响可能还相当大。”