About the Bay: Study Is Sheer Joy For Bald Guys

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) - It's been suggested that "bald is beautiful." But aren't we also told that it's what's on the inside that counts?!

Forget about what mom used to say to you - it's time to listen to the experts, who have done their homework on the follicle-challenged among us. It turns out that a shiny dome is good for business.

"The basic finding is that people view the shaved head look as a powerful-looking look," summed up study author Albert Mannes, University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Management lecturer and behavioral expert. "Men with thinning hair were viewed as least favorably on a number of these attributes compared with the men with a shaved head."

"The basic finding," he continued, "was that the men with shaved heads were viewed as more dominant-looking figures than the men with hair."

The study was published online in July in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science.

In all, Mannes conducted three separate studies, each asking participants to rate men with various hairstyles on such perceived traits as dominance, attractiveness, physical strength and age. The first of the three studies involved university students who were shown pictures; the second two studies were conducted online. Pictures were made available in one of those studies; in the other, Mannes simply described the men in the pictures.

KCBS' Mike Sugerman Reports:

Perhaps the only lingering question not addressed by the data: why would Mannes research this topic? He was reportedly inspired by personal experience, having felt that strangers started treating him "differently" after he shaved his own head about 10 years ago.

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