3 ms·

> you can predict success to some extent based purely on people's yearbook photos It's already shown that facial attractiveness can predict athletic prowess:

> you can predict success to some extent based purely on people's yearbook photos It's already shown that facial attractiveness can predict athletic prowess: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1474704918801369 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1474704918801369 So it's likely that people's abilities can influence their appearance. There was a lot of evolutionary pressure to develop abilities to judge people based on appearance, so we would expect humans to be really good at it.

ethanbond 4y ago
This result isn’t surprising at all though, compared to financial success. Obviously athleticism would be physically visible on the face (and probably be considered more attractive).
- petesergeant 4y ago
  > Obviously athleticism would be physically visible on the face It what now? What athleticism cues other than body-fat are you getting from a face?
  - im3w1l 4y ago
    Testosterone is also visible. But it seems it's not necessarily a positive for attraction? https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.22.453412v1.full https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.22.453412v1....
  - barry-cotter 4y ago
    Testosterone levels. I know a cleft chin develops with high T. I’m sure there are other more subtle diagnostic traits. Probably more stereotypically masculine traits like heavy brow ridges.
    - WithinReason 4y ago
      Testosterone could also predict success in life based on yearbook photos, so we come full circle.
  - ethanbond 4y ago
    Why would you suppose a person needs more cues than body fat to see a difference? Seems perfectly sufficient on its own.
    - petesergeant 4y ago
      Because I think Vitalik Buterin probably has low athleticism and I think Ben Tameifuna probably has high athleticism, and a headshot of the former could be a school's star cross-country runner where the latter could be the school's star beer drinker.
      - ethanbond 4y ago
        "Sufficient to explain a correlation" does not mean "tails do not exist on the distribution." Pro athletes are also a tiny, tiny, tiny fraction of the world's athletic population.
layer8 4y ago
Be careful though, it’s easy to slide into pseudoscience: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physiognomy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physiognomy

ethanbond 4y ago

This result isn’t surprising at all though, compared to financial success. Obviously athleticism would be physically visible on the face (and probably be considered more attractive).

petesergeant 4y ago
> Obviously athleticism would be physically visible on the face It what now? What athleticism cues other than body-fat are you getting from a face?
- im3w1l 4y ago
  Testosterone is also visible. But it seems it's not necessarily a positive for attraction? https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.22.453412v1.full https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.22.453412v1....
- barry-cotter 4y ago
  Testosterone levels. I know a cleft chin develops with high T. I’m sure there are other more subtle diagnostic traits. Probably more stereotypically masculine traits like heavy brow ridges.
  - WithinReason 4y ago
    Testosterone could also predict success in life based on yearbook photos, so we come full circle.
- ethanbond 4y ago
  Why would you suppose a person needs more cues than body fat to see a difference? Seems perfectly sufficient on its own.
  - petesergeant 4y ago
    Because I think Vitalik Buterin probably has low athleticism and I think Ben Tameifuna probably has high athleticism, and a headshot of the former could be a school's star cross-country runner where the latter could be the school's star beer drinker.
    - ethanbond 4y ago
      "Sufficient to explain a correlation" does not mean "tails do not exist on the distribution." Pro athletes are also a tiny, tiny, tiny fraction of the world's athletic population.

layer8 4y ago

Be careful though, it’s easy to slide into pseudoscience: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physiognomy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physiognomy