Open AccessInterpretation of Appearance: The Effect of Facial Features on First Impressions and Personality
Author(s) -
Karin Wolffhechel,
Jens Fagertun,
Ulrik Plesner Jacobsen,
Wiktor Majewski,
Astrid Sofie Hemmingsen,
Catrine Lohmann Larsen,
Sofie Katrine Lorentzen,
Hanne Jarmer
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0107721
Subject(s) - personality , big five personality traits , face (sociological concept) , psychology , facial expression , cognitive psychology , focus (optics) , interpretation (philosophy) , face perception , impression formation , perception , social perception , social psychology , computer science , communication , sociology , neuroscience , programming language , social science , physics , optics
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.
Accelerating Research
Robert Robinson Avenue,
Oxford Science Park, Oxford
OX4 4GP, United Kingdom
Address
John Eccles HouseRobert Robinson Avenue,
Oxford Science Park, Oxford
OX4 4GP, United Kingdom