Do Mean Girls Make More Money?

Just when we were starting to accept that pretty people made all the money, we get hit with yet another study. First, we were told that attractive people are paid $230,000 more over a lifetime based solely upon appearance and not experience. If that wasn’t depressing enough, a more recently published study is saying that people who are ruder make more.

Does this sound crazy to you?

The study, titled “Do Nice Guys — and Gals — Really Finish Last ?” looked at data compiled from around 10,000 workers over nearly 20 years, drawing on three surveys that sampled a range of ages and professions. The study’s findings are pretty clear — Researchers examined “agreeableness” using self-reported survey data and found that ruder women earned about 5% or $1,828 more than their agreeable counterparts.

Does that mean we should all go to work and tell our bosses what we really think about our jobs? Eh, probably not. But, I think it’s important to at least know what the study meant by “agreeableness.” The authors are careful to explain what exactly constitutes “disagreeable.” Rather than a raving psychopath, a disagreeable person is “more likely than people high in trait agreeableness to behave disagreeably in certain situations by, for instance, aggressively advocating for their position during conflicts (van de Vliert & Euwema, 2004).”

With that being said, I can’t help but wonder if a woman being more aggressive and assertive is being taken for “rudeness.”

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