We conducted a trust game experiment to investigate whether women are trusted more when they wear makeup than when they do not. Facial attractiveness, which was manipulated through the application of makeup by a professional makeup artist, was measured before and after makeovers. Trustors were shown a photograph of their female counterparts before they made decisions about money transfers to trustees. The results showed that wearing makeup increased perceived attractiveness, which in turn led trustors to make larger transfers to female trustees during the trust game. Additionally, we discovered a pure makeup premium that was mediated by gender. Specifically, female trustees with makeup received larger transfers than female trustees without makeup when the trustors were men, even after controlling for female trustees’ levels of attractiveness.

我们进行了一项信任游戏实验，以调查女性在化妆时是否比在不化妆时更受信任。在化妆前后，通过专业化妆师的化妆操作来控制面部吸引力。在做出有关向受托人进行汇款的决定之前，向信托人展示了女同行的照片。结果表明，化妆可以提高人们的吸引力，从而导致信托人在信托博弈中向女性受托人进行更大的转移。此外，我们发现了由性别介导的纯净妆容。具体而言，即使在控制了女性受托人的吸引力水平之后，当受托人为男性时，有化妆的女性受托人比没有化妆的女性受托人获得的转移额更大。