Abstract
Appearance is known to influence social interactions, which in turn could potentially influence personality development. In this study we focus on discovering the relationship between self-reported personality traits, first impressions and facial characteristics. The results reveal that several personality traits can be read above chance from a face, and that facial features influence first impressions. Despite the former, our prediction model fails to reliably infer personality traits from either facial features or first impressions. First impressions, however, could be inferred more reliably from facial features. We have generated artificial, extreme faces visualising the characteristics having an effect on first impressions for several traits. Conclusively, we find a relationship between first impressions, some personality traits and facial features and consolidate that people on average assess a given face in a highly similar manner.
Highlights
We tend to evaluate others on their appearance and move on to treat and interact with them based on these first impressions
Specific facial features important for generating a first impression have been identified, for example is a large facial width-to-height ratio used as an indicator for a less trustworthy and more dominant personality type [4,5,6] - perhaps due to higher levels of testosterone in the blood resulting in a wider face [7]
There is some truth behind first impressions - it has been shown that valid inferences are made for at least four personality traits (Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, and Dominance) from facial features [10,11,12,13] - on the other hand, first impressions are not always accurate, e.g. people with infant-like facial traits are perceived as more emotionally warm, submissive, and naive [14], but often the direct opposite is true, as seen in many adolescent boys [15]
Summary
We tend to evaluate others on their appearance and move on to treat and interact with them based on these first impressions. There is some truth behind first impressions - it has been shown that valid inferences are made for at least four personality traits (Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, and Dominance) from facial features [10,11,12,13] - on the other hand, first impressions are not always accurate, e.g. people with infant-like facial traits (small chin, high eyebrows, and large eyes) are perceived as more emotionally warm, submissive, and naive [14], but often the direct opposite is true, as seen in many adolescent boys [15]. One cause of these inaccuracies is that people generate trait evaluations based on neutral facial expressions resembling actual emotional expressions – an effect named the overgeneralisation hypothesis [16]
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