Self-construal and generalized trust predict first impressions from faces

Abstract

People readily form first impressions from faces, and they refer to these impressions when navigating their way through social life. An emerging line of research has pondered the contribution of perceivers' characteristics to first impressions from faces. To extend this line of research, we examined how self-construals and generalized trust predicted people's impressions of strangers in three studies. Participants reported their interdependent self-construal, independent self-construal, and generalized trust. They also evaluated target persons on a variety of traits based on solely faces. Across different samples, measurement, and covariates, we consistently found that participants higher on interdependent self-construal and generalized trust tended to perceive others as more warm, competent, and attractive, and thus form a better overall impression of others. These findings advance understanding of influences of perceiver characteristics on impression formation as well as social functions of self-construals and generalized trust.