Excerpts:
Dr. Berscheid said the importance of physical attractiveness is growing and will continue to grow as increases in geographic mobility, frequent job changes and divorce subject more people to ''onetime'' or ''few-time'' interactions with others, in which they are judged on the basis of first impressions.
Dr. Berscheid believes there is a hazard inherent in denying the impact of physical attractiveness: ''Unattractive children who are unpopular may wrongly attribute their lack of popularity to some flaw in their character or personality,'' she says. Such an error, she believes, could result in lasting and painful scars.
This is from 1981, believe it or not. The part I bolded is what I found most important. Things like the halo effect and just-world fallacy cause many people to blame someone's personality, when really, it's often simply their looks.
