“Yeah, sometimes people are just more willing to help us,” says Allison. “It's strange, but you’re given more credibility and you’re given a lot more attention when you’re attractive looking I guess.”

In fact, many people seem to want to help the truly attractive on their journeys to anywhere, which we learned when we had our subjects ask for directions. They're going to approach people this time, walk right up and ask how to find a place that's actually two blocks away.

Nobody was treated rudely, but again, we saw some special treatment. People who simply overheard Allison’s inquiry would come over to help. And only Allison was actually escorted to her destination

But we wondered about something else. When time is of the essence, would people still be so accommodating to our models? It’s lunch time and everyone seems to want to go to a particular sandwich shop. The goal for our group is to try to cut the line. Shockingly, everyone is able to find someone to go ahead of. But again, the reactions are different. With our NBCers they are allowed in and the interaction, the conversation just stops. But with Allison, the person she cuts continues the conversation while they wait in line. And the women model Anthony went ahead of seem thrilled to have to wait a little longer to get their lunch.

But what about when the stakes are higher, like when money is involved, or when there is a potential to be ripped off? And might good looks ever be a hindrance? Do beautiful people get better service, better deals, even better medical treatment?

We've seen that life is not necessarily fair. It's even a different world at an auto garage.

With the help of the AAA, we had cars checked over to make sure they were in good working order. Now each of our group will make a trip to the same garage asking for an oil change. Will anyone be told they needed unnecessary repairs?

Everyone receives appropriate service for an appropriate charge, but , model Anthony does receive some different treatment.

”He just seemed enamored and was telling me that I should be on television that I looked like a movie star,” Anthony says of the man at the shop.

“Did he give you a deal or anything?” asked Allison.

“No, he didn’t,” says Anthony. “He didn’t even cut me any kind of a deal (you know that happens sometimes people get enamored and throw in an extra thing and say don’t worry about it) but it was more that he was just so complimentary.”

And good looking individuals get different treatment in some situations you might least expect it, such as a doctor's office.

“We see in medical interactions, patients who go to physicians ,and those of higher physical attractiveness, the physicians will spend more time with that person and will also spend more time answering individual questions that that person asked,” says Dr. Patzer.

And this special treatment starts very early on.

“For example, in a nursery, before newborn babies are released from a hospital, those babies who are higher in physical attractiveness, at this level defined as more cute , are touched more, held more and spoken to more,” says Dr. Patzer, who notes the trend continues in school. “You see that those teachers when they interact with children of higher physical attractiveness, they ask more questions, they prompt them for more answers. We expect those children to do better and consequently they fulfill our expectations and they actually do do better.”

And says Dr. Patzer, we are just hard wired to respond more favorably to attractive people. EVen studies with babies show they will look more intently and longer at prettier faces.

“This is something anthropologically that has existed for as long as history exists,” he says.

However, we did find a situation where looks did not matter. At the bank, where we inquired about rates for an auto loan, the information was punched into a computer and the same rate was given to everyone.

For the bank loan, it didn’t seem to make any difference, and yet if Dr. Patzer’s theory is correct, presumably it would be easier to get a loan if you’re better looking.

“And that offers us a glimmer of hope,” says Dr. Patzer. “Where we're taking objective data, statistics and numbers, putting them into a computer program to get a decision, when we take it out of an individuals hands, it takes the differential treatment out of the equation.

Of course though, in life, we interact all the time with people who do, however unconsciously, make judgments about us based on what we look like.

So it does make a difference, and most likely always will, no matter what we try to do about it. But it doesn't hurt to know that next time we're drawn to one human being over another, that our reasons might not be quite be quite as rational, nor even as fair, as we like to think they are.

In fact, Dr. Patzer says even justice is not blind to beauty. Studies have shown that juries find arguments more persuasive if they're made by attractive lawyers. But if beauty's in the eye of the beholder, getting 12 jurors to agree beyond a reasonable doubt on who's attractive could make for some long deliberations.

© 2004 MSNBC Interactive