or so goes one explanation for this study, which seems to show that women who rate themselves as pretty are more likely to “respond angrily” in disputes. They are also more likely to have higher expectations of what they deserve. Another explanation might be that higher self-esteem is a common cause for self-attributions of attractiveness and believing oneself to deserve good stuff. And that the latter will make one more prone to “respond angrily”. (The study also seemed to show that others agree with the women’s self-attributions of attractiveness. But that doesn’t undermine the alternative explanation, since that might well contribute to the higher self-esteem.)
thanks Jender-Parents and Vishal!
Feminist Philosophers 
I would also like to know how they identified “angry” responses. Is this also from self-report, or by observation? Seems like the former is implied. Do we know whether women identify “angry responses” in the same way? If not, would that skew the results in some way?
I also find this bit interesting: “The researchers believe the findings have an evolutionary basis, ensuring that the “fittest” people mate and have offspring.” I am not sure what is the ‘fitness’ that is being identified here. Is is being angry, or getting one’s own way? Are the two linked somehow, or might there be many ways to get one’s own way?
I like your alternative explanation, Jender.
Bakka, as far as I can tell, the fitness is a tendency to get their way. I suppose that that might translate to children’s welfare or something, but it might also just mean someone is reasoning “if it sounds good, then it probably enhances survival.”
I wonder whether there’s an underlying causation here. I’ve been reading about how one can become susceptible to the narcissist and there’s an underlying characterization of the susceptible people that makes them sound like the opposite of the pretty women. That is, people who are compliant with a narcissist’s demands are often brought up in such a way that they don’t think they are very valuable, that their wants should be weighted heavily, etc.
So it could be that prettiness in girls gets them better parenting. Perhaps also, perhaps in young adulthood, well-parented self-confident women look pretty, other things being fairly equal. The idea of prettiness in the experiment seems to have had a lot to do with peer assessment.