12 ms·

The Introverted Face

148 points by rosser 12y ago

Dewie 12y ago
> All that these studies really tell us, Olivola said, is "'I've managed to fool you into thinking I'm extroverted, because that's how I like to be seen.' Of course, because who wouldn't like to be seen as an extrovert? They're just Better People..
carsongross 12y ago
But then Clinton looks like an incompetent introvert: http://kpbs.media.clients.ellingtoncms.com/img/news/tease/2012/10/31/Clinton_15_t700.jpeg http://kpbs.media.clients.ellingtoncms.com/img/news/tease/20... so... there are mitigating factors.
- ripter 12y ago
  Compared to Bob Dole, he looks confident, intelligent, and trustworthy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_1996#mediaviewer/File:Bob_Dole,_PCCWW_photo_portrait.JPG http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_elec...
NathanCH 12y ago
The pile of evidence against ugly people continues to mount. Not even smiling will save you.
- nether 12y ago
  Don't even go down that rabbit hole. Don't read "Looks" by Gordon Patzer. It's devastating to see the data if you are an ugly person.
wamatt 12y ago
While not conclusive, some of you may be surprised to discover that there exists some evidence, for a physiological basis for the E/I spectrum. An fMRI study of personality influences on brain reactivity to emotional stimuli. http://spl.stanford.edu/pdfs/2001%20Behavioral%20Neuroscience%20-%20An%20fMRI%20study%20of%20personality.pdf http://spl.stanford.edu/pdfs/2001%20Behavioral%20Neuroscienc... Neuroanatomical Correlates of Extraversion and Neuroticism (Neuroticism correlates with introversion in this context) http://cercor.oxfordjournals.org/content/16/12/1809.full http://cercor.oxfordjournals.org/content/16/12/1809.full Happy faces trigger different brain reactions in extroverts and introverts http://news.stanford.edu/news/2002/july10/sciencegab-710.html http://news.stanford.edu/news/2002/july10/sciencegab-710.htm... and study: http://www.cogsci.msu.edu/DSS/2012-2013/Gabrieli/CanliScience-2002Personality.pdf http://www.cogsci.msu.edu/DSS/2012-2013/Gabrieli/CanliScienc... An event-related potential analysis of extraversion and individual differences in cognitive processing speed and response execution. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10821201 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10821201 Individual Differences in Amygdala-Medial Prefrontal Anatomy Link Negative Affect, Impaired Social Functioning, and Polygenic Depression Risk http://www.jneurosci.org/content/32/50/18087.full http://www.jneurosci.org/content/32/50/18087.full
- erikb 12y ago
  All the links don't really help to understand your point. What is an E/I spectrum? Why should I be surprised? Sorry, not everybody here has a scientific background in that area.
lucio 12y ago
Have you noticed that "Unreliable -> Trustworthy" is also "Male -> Female"?
- quadratini 12y ago
  no.
- hristov 12y ago
  Yeah, the trustworthy face is far more feminine looking that the unreliable one.
- marcosdumay 12y ago
  Not only that, but the extrovert face has a smile and vivid eyes, while he introvert one has tired eyes and a concentrated "smile". Also, the competent face looks like he's paying attention, while the incompetent one does not. Except for the trustworthy (that is female), every face seems to be decided on current expression, instead of static traits.
  - zamalek 12y ago
    > while he introvert one has tired eyes and a concentrated "smile". Who's more likely to sign up to a scientific study? An extrovert or an introvert minding their own business? I can't prove it, but it would make sense that there would be more extroverted volunteers. The idea that I get [as an introvert] is that extroverts see introverts as depressed precisely because extroverts would likely find that lifestyle depressing. I myself find extroverts' lifestyles depressing. Given more introvert volunteers in the study you might have found that the result of that particular test may have been inverted. The same principle may apply to all the other faces.
    - infinite8s 12y ago
      I don't believe the faces they showed in the article were from actual people, but an attempt to take neutral averaged faces and digitally perturb certain characteristics that have been identified as being relevant to trustworthiness or extroversion.
Xcelerate 12y ago
I strongly agree with the author that "face-ism" is a highly overlooked issue that needs to be dealt with. People treat other people differently on the basis of what their face looks like, and it gets tiring. (Although I'm not one to judge, as I've found I'm not immune to the phenomenon myself. For instance, my initial impulse is to regard people who have a "bro" or "frat" face with contempt before realizing how irrational that is.) I almost feel like people begin to act how others expect them to act on the basis of their face; their personality is shaped as a response to the stimulus of other people's interactions with them. Someone who has a "friendly" face is going to be picked first in sports, is going to be talked to first out of a group of strangers, etc., and this creates a feedback loop where these people actually do become friendly, talkative, and outgoing. Likewise, those with "antisocial, don't-talk-to-me" faces are going to be ignored or treated standoffishly, and this too creates a feedback loop where these people assume since no one wants to interact with them, they will just stay by themselves instead. It's frustrating.
- fchollet 12y ago
  Does every aspect of spontaneous human thought need to be given a -ism name and be tagged as a sin? "Face-ism" is essentially pattern-matching, which is the way cognition operates on a fundamental level. Cognition is about finding statistical regularities in perception data, then using these regularities to make predictions about the future. So, on a completely unconscious level, you are using your memory of thousands of past experiences with people you know to predict a stranger's characteristics based on their appearance (among many other things). Sometimes, the generalization does not work and your unconscious predictions turn out to be mistaken. The only way not to make mistakes is not to think. And for that, you would have to turn your brain off entirely, since these thoughts are not occurring at a conscious, rational level that you can deliberately police.
  - presumeaway 12y ago
    Cognitionism! Yeah, it's silly. I think it's not too unlike calling everything "hacking." I "hacked" my eyesight by looking out the window for a minute at the end of every chapter, etc. I moved more and lost weight, brilliant body "hack." We like to use language to make concepts more or less appealing, and assign them ethical value, even if it's incorrect, or impossible.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
jamespitts 12y ago
Augmented reality might help offset facial structure bias, or even use it as a sort of short cut. For example, AR could modify the faces around you based on actual/relevant characteristics, including your own history with that person. Your view would of course indicate where alterations were made.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
incision 12y ago
I've recently come to realize that I'm consistently terrible at recognizing faces. Anecdotal of course, but at this point I've noticed and heard / seen it demonstrated by other people enough to give me pause. When I think about describing someone, it's almost always in terms of what they've said - specific choices of words, tone or body language, certainly never about the face. If true, I wonder if this would be any sort of advantage / disadvantage?
- chriskanan 12y ago
  You might consider being evaluated for prosopagnosia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosopagnosia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosopagnosia There is a lot of research on the topic. I haven't seen any research that suggests there might be advantages for having it, but it is an interesting thought.
- mrfusion 12y ago
  Wow me too! I've always been curious if that's a thing.
- brm 12y ago
  I'm the opposite, I rarely if ever forget a face and can recognize people who waited on me in a grocery line, walking down the street in a different city years later. I have no idea what it is or what it means, but we seem to be opposite ends of some sort of spectrum.
nanexcool 12y ago
So now I want a service where I can upload a pic and it'll tell me if I'm trustworthy or not.
slingerofwheat 12y ago
How much of this is a feedback loop? Being perceived as more competent will open better opportunities and lead you to be happier leading your face to be brighter more often and vice versa. This is interesting to me, because personally, I feel like on happy days, good things happen, and on sad days, people stay away and it becomes a vortex of pain.
VLM 12y ago
Just pointing out that WRT the reliability of the source, the same site's top stories are: "The Disappointment of Michael Sam Getting Cut From the Cowboys" and "How Your Cat Is Making You Crazy" Not saying the other articles being fluff necessarily disprove this article, but be really careful guys, this is just a thin slice above "The Onion" its not exactly JAMA or Nature...
- dubfan 12y ago
  The Atlantic should not be taken seriously any longer. They've been nothing more than a slightly upmarket Buzzfeed for several years now.
aligajani 12y ago
What if the extrovert has depression. Would look like the one on left.
pizza 12y ago
carsongross's comment got me thinking about how presidents have been regarded (esp. George Bush in recent years). So I looked up how presidents have been regarded over the years [0]. Salient quote, assuming rankings and competence are somewhat compatible (maybe they aren't): > Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt and George Washington are consistently ranked at the top of the lists. Often ranked just below those Presidents are Thomas Jefferson and Theodore Roosevelt. > The remaining places in the top ten are often rounded out by Harry S. Truman, Woodrow Wilson, Dwight D. Eisenhower, James K. Polk, and Andrew Jackson. Presidents such as John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton tend to be rated among the greatest in public opinion polls, but do not always rank as highly among presidential scholars and historians. > The bottom ten often includes Andrew Johnson, Franklin Pierce, Warren G. Harding, Millard Fillmore, George W. Bush, Herbert Hoover, Martin Van Buren, Zachary Taylor, and John Tyler. Now, compare that to their portraits [1]. Personally, the biggest example of "face-ism" I can recall during my lifetime is George W. Bush's portrayal in the media during his presidency. But I guess he also did screw some things up... [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_rankings_of_Presidents_of_the_United_States#General_findings http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_rankings_of_Presiden... [1] http://sonowiknowdotcom.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/allpresidentslarge.jpg http://sonowiknowdotcom.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/allpresi...
GuiA 12y ago
Seems like there'd be an opportunity for a consulting business which guides you on which haircut to get, how to trim your eyebrows, which glasses to wear, etc. in order to get a promotion, be perceived as more more intelligent or more extroverted, depending on how you aspire to progress in your career. Maybe such a thing already exists and I'm not in the loop. (I'm not talking about a personal stylist here- these seem to be to look more attractive/fashionable. Maybe there's a style that makes you look much more competent, at the detriment of your attractiveness- but you care about the former). I'm also reminded of this: http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Moustache.txt http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Moustache.txt
- mabbo 12y ago
  Alternatively, one could build software to do this for them. Consider: Facial recognition with a camera facing the person is pretty well understood. It's not perfect, but it's probably good enough. Could we extend that to also pick up the subtle facial cues that this research is talking about? And then based on that, train a person on how to manually adjust those cues? Maybe we're not quite there today- but I bet we're not far off. I can imagine seeing this as an app that you whip out just before you walk into that interview, like a mirror to adjust your hair, but for your facial expression.
- erikb 12y ago
  I think this is not a new idea and there are already many people who make lots of money by advising other people how to look and act.
bdr 12y ago
An interesting "paradox": people at the two ends of the trustworthy-appearance spectrum are the least incentivized to act trustworthy. Those on the right end will get the benefit either way; those on the wrong end have to work too hard to get the benefit. It is the people in the middle who gain the most from acting trustworthy.
gtr32x 12y ago
In chinese there is a proverb consist of four characters: 相由心生。Its derived meaning is basically that: you will look how you are. For years I've been daunting over the implications of it. I was never a firm believer nor a firm disbeliever. Advances in modern science such as this article only brings new light to how I think about this. Whilst it may seem to be a form of discrimination to judge a person by their appearance just like racism or sexism, maybe there is certain evolutionary notion behind this. Maybe we as human have evolved certain abilities to recognize a person's inner traits/personality based on their look. I certainly do not believe that beauty or handsomeness maybe a fact in determining the personality of a person. But through observation a person's confidence or innocence can be somewhat picked out by how they appear. Which I do not believe is correlated with how they portray themselves in terms of exterior such as haircuts or the amount of make up they put on. But rather, their gaze betray them of the real self. Perhaps that old Chinese proverb has some truth in it, and our science is about to uncover it.
- joshuaheard 12y ago
  Reminds me of the lyrics to an old Talking Heads song: Seen and Not Seen "He would see faces in movies, on T.V., in magazines, and in books.... He thought that some of these faces might be right for him....And through the years, by keeping an ideal facial structure fixed in his mind....Or somewhere in the back of his mind....That he might, by force of will, cause his face to approach those of his ideal....The change would be very subtle....It might take ten years or so.... Gradually his face would change its' shape....A more hooked nose... Wider, thinner lips....Beady eyes....A larger forehead. He imagined that this was an ability he shared with most other people....They had also molded their faced according to some ideal....Maybe they imagined that their new face would better suit their personality....Or maybe they imagined that their personality would be forced to change to fit the new appearance....This is why first impressions are often correct... Although some people might have made mistakes....They may have arrived at an appearance that bears no relationship to them.... They may have picked an ideal appearance based on some childish whim, or momentary impulse....Some may have gotten half-way there, and then changed their minds. He wonders if he too might have made a similar mistake."
colordrops 12y ago
The archetypical introvert looks a lot like Kevin Spacey. He definitely plays introverts in many movies.
mleonhard 12y ago
In Taiwan, Korea, and many other Asian countries, job applicants are expected to provide a color photograph in their resume. In Korea, many new graduates get cosmetic surgery to improve their employment prospects. Face-ism is common and unfortunate. It harms the efficiency of societies.
blablabla123 12y ago
Quite interesting, although one shouldn't draw wrong conclusions like face-ism from it. When the corners of your mouth point downwards, it's a sign that you are afraid of something. I guess being introvert doesn't imply to be afraid of something. More over, introverts, by definition, are difficult to characterize, so most people will have problems to detect introverts, rendering the title non-sense. ;)
marincounty 12y ago
I immediately trusted the first guy who wasen't smiling, but after reading the article I started to doubt my first impression. I have been burned financially, and personally by full time Smilers? Or, that guy who just seems too happy for no reason?
stronglikedan 12y ago
This is interesting to me, as it kind of hits home. I'm more introverted than extroverted, but I can be a true extrovert when I choose to be. I grew up with the introverted face, and had trouble with relationships (friendships, really, at that age). One day in high school, a girl that I liked told me that I should smile more. I took that advice to heart, and from that day on, I told myself that I would try to smile all-the-time. Well, fast forward a couple of decades, and I can honestly say that that is the one piece of advice that has stuck with me all of these years. The results were instant and measurable. People, in general, treated me differently...better. My social awkwardness faded to but a memory. So much so, that I don't feel guilty doing introverted activities (which I do...a lot), because I know I don't have to be.
kuni-toko-tachi 12y ago
What nonsense like this does is focus on a small aspect of overall human traits and then attempts to make generalizations to promote an ideological agenda. Bias is a valuable evolutionary trait and judgement is a fact of life. You get dealt a hand of cards when you are born. You may have an "introvert" face, but you might also have an above average IQ. "-isms" are cop outs that play into a victimization narrative that is then used to drive political agendas which ultimately are not beneficial to the supposed wrongs they attempt to remedy. This is a limitless world, and don't let fluff like this rain on your parade. Get up, get out, and get doing. Enjoy the knocks along the way, and if you are inclined to feel the underdog, use it to prove 'em wrong.
- ejk314 12y ago
  It's still a problem, even if you can "enjoy the knocks along the way". You're right that you shouldn't use this kind of thing as an excuse, but I think it's valuable to be aware of it. For example, if you've got a bias-inducing face then perhaps you can mitigate that fact by avoiding face-to-face interviews and opting for phone interviews whenever possible.
madaxe_again 12y ago
I've kept on noticing myself, and others, doing this thing in meetings whereby ones eyebrows are raised, eyes are wide open, and this makes sense in the context of what this article talks about - it's a "trust me" face - and it apparently works.
dharmach 12y ago
Why unreliable, incompetent and introvert faces in the article look northern and the other ones southern?
calebm 12y ago
It's funny - I know a guy who I consider extremely unreliable, and the "unreliable face" looks a lot like him.
joshuaheard 12y ago
Facial recognition starts in infancy, so it makes sense. I would like to see an app that takes a picture of a face and gives you the corresponding qualities.

148 points by rosser 12y ago

Dewie 12y ago

> All that these studies really tell us, Olivola said, is "'I've managed to fool you into thinking I'm extroverted, because that's how I like to be seen.' Of course, because who wouldn't like to be seen as an extrovert? They're just Better People..

carsongross 12y ago

But then Clinton looks like an incompetent introvert: http://kpbs.media.clients.ellingtoncms.com/img/news/tease/2012/10/31/Clinton_15_t700.jpeg http://kpbs.media.clients.ellingtoncms.com/img/news/tease/20... so... there are mitigating factors.

ripter 12y ago
Compared to Bob Dole, he looks confident, intelligent, and trustworthy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_1996#mediaviewer/File:Bob_Dole,_PCCWW_photo_portrait.JPG http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_elec...

NathanCH 12y ago

The pile of evidence against ugly people continues to mount. Not even smiling will save you.

nether 12y ago
Don't even go down that rabbit hole. Don't read "Looks" by Gordon Patzer. It's devastating to see the data if you are an ugly person.

wamatt 12y ago

While not conclusive, some of you may be surprised to discover that there exists some evidence, for a physiological basis for the E/I spectrum. An fMRI study of personality influences on brain reactivity to emotional stimuli. http://spl.stanford.edu/pdfs/2001%20Behavioral%20Neuroscience%20-%20An%20fMRI%20study%20of%20personality.pdf http://spl.stanford.edu/pdfs/2001%20Behavioral%20Neuroscienc... Neuroanatomical Correlates of Extraversion and Neuroticism (Neuroticism correlates with introversion in this context) http://cercor.oxfordjournals.org/content/16/12/1809.full http://cercor.oxfordjournals.org/content/16/12/1809.full Happy faces trigger different brain reactions in extroverts and introverts http://news.stanford.edu/news/2002/july10/sciencegab-710.html http://news.stanford.edu/news/2002/july10/sciencegab-710.htm... and study: http://www.cogsci.msu.edu/DSS/2012-2013/Gabrieli/CanliScience-2002Personality.pdf http://www.cogsci.msu.edu/DSS/2012-2013/Gabrieli/CanliScienc... An event-related potential analysis of extraversion and individual differences in cognitive processing speed and response execution. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10821201 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10821201 Individual Differences in Amygdala-Medial Prefrontal Anatomy Link Negative Affect, Impaired Social Functioning, and Polygenic Depression Risk http://www.jneurosci.org/content/32/50/18087.full http://www.jneurosci.org/content/32/50/18087.full

erikb 12y ago
All the links don't really help to understand your point. What is an E/I spectrum? Why should I be surprised? Sorry, not everybody here has a scientific background in that area.

lucio 12y ago

Have you noticed that "Unreliable -> Trustworthy" is also "Male -> Female"?

quadratini 12y ago
no.
hristov 12y ago
Yeah, the trustworthy face is far more feminine looking that the unreliable one.
marcosdumay 12y ago
Not only that, but the extrovert face has a smile and vivid eyes, while he introvert one has tired eyes and a concentrated "smile". Also, the competent face looks like he's paying attention, while the incompetent one does not. Except for the trustworthy (that is female), every face seems to be decided on current expression, instead of static traits.
- zamalek 12y ago
  > while he introvert one has tired eyes and a concentrated "smile". Who's more likely to sign up to a scientific study? An extrovert or an introvert minding their own business? I can't prove it, but it would make sense that there would be more extroverted volunteers. The idea that I get [as an introvert] is that extroverts see introverts as depressed precisely because extroverts would likely find that lifestyle depressing. I myself find extroverts' lifestyles depressing. Given more introvert volunteers in the study you might have found that the result of that particular test may have been inverted. The same principle may apply to all the other faces.
  - infinite8s 12y ago
    I don't believe the faces they showed in the article were from actual people, but an attempt to take neutral averaged faces and digitally perturb certain characteristics that have been identified as being relevant to trustworthiness or extroversion.

Xcelerate 12y ago

I strongly agree with the author that "face-ism" is a highly overlooked issue that needs to be dealt with. People treat other people differently on the basis of what their face looks like, and it gets tiring. (Although I'm not one to judge, as I've found I'm not immune to the phenomenon myself. For instance, my initial impulse is to regard people who have a "bro" or "frat" face with contempt before realizing how irrational that is.) I almost feel like people begin to act how others expect them to act on the basis of their face; their personality is shaped as a response to the stimulus of other people's interactions with them. Someone who has a "friendly" face is going to be picked first in sports, is going to be talked to first out of a group of strangers, etc., and this creates a feedback loop where these people actually do become friendly, talkative, and outgoing. Likewise, those with "antisocial, don't-talk-to-me" faces are going to be ignored or treated standoffishly, and this too creates a feedback loop where these people assume since no one wants to interact with them, they will just stay by themselves instead. It's frustrating.

fchollet 12y ago
Does every aspect of spontaneous human thought need to be given a -ism name and be tagged as a sin? "Face-ism" is essentially pattern-matching, which is the way cognition operates on a fundamental level. Cognition is about finding statistical regularities in perception data, then using these regularities to make predictions about the future. So, on a completely unconscious level, you are using your memory of thousands of past experiences with people you know to predict a stranger's characteristics based on their appearance (among many other things). Sometimes, the generalization does not work and your unconscious predictions turn out to be mistaken. The only way not to make mistakes is not to think. And for that, you would have to turn your brain off entirely, since these thoughts are not occurring at a conscious, rational level that you can deliberately police.
- presumeaway 12y ago
  Cognitionism! Yeah, it's silly. I think it's not too unlike calling everything "hacking." I "hacked" my eyesight by looking out the window for a minute at the end of every chapter, etc. I moved more and lost weight, brilliant body "hack." We like to use language to make concepts more or less appealing, and assign them ethical value, even if it's incorrect, or impossible.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

jamespitts 12y ago

Augmented reality might help offset facial structure bias, or even use it as a sort of short cut. For example, AR could modify the faces around you based on actual/relevant characteristics, including your own history with that person. Your view would of course indicate where alterations were made.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

incision 12y ago

I've recently come to realize that I'm consistently terrible at recognizing faces. Anecdotal of course, but at this point I've noticed and heard / seen it demonstrated by other people enough to give me pause. When I think about describing someone, it's almost always in terms of what they've said - specific choices of words, tone or body language, certainly never about the face. If true, I wonder if this would be any sort of advantage / disadvantage?

chriskanan 12y ago
You might consider being evaluated for prosopagnosia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosopagnosia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosopagnosia There is a lot of research on the topic. I haven't seen any research that suggests there might be advantages for having it, but it is an interesting thought.
mrfusion 12y ago
Wow me too! I've always been curious if that's a thing.
brm 12y ago
I'm the opposite, I rarely if ever forget a face and can recognize people who waited on me in a grocery line, walking down the street in a different city years later. I have no idea what it is or what it means, but we seem to be opposite ends of some sort of spectrum.

nanexcool 12y ago

So now I want a service where I can upload a pic and it'll tell me if I'm trustworthy or not.

slingerofwheat 12y ago

How much of this is a feedback loop? Being perceived as more competent will open better opportunities and lead you to be happier leading your face to be brighter more often and vice versa. This is interesting to me, because personally, I feel like on happy days, good things happen, and on sad days, people stay away and it becomes a vortex of pain.

VLM 12y ago

Just pointing out that WRT the reliability of the source, the same site's top stories are: "The Disappointment of Michael Sam Getting Cut From the Cowboys" and "How Your Cat Is Making You Crazy" Not saying the other articles being fluff necessarily disprove this article, but be really careful guys, this is just a thin slice above "The Onion" its not exactly JAMA or Nature...

dubfan 12y ago
The Atlantic should not be taken seriously any longer. They've been nothing more than a slightly upmarket Buzzfeed for several years now.

aligajani 12y ago

What if the extrovert has depression. Would look like the one on left.

pizza 12y ago

carsongross's comment got me thinking about how presidents have been regarded (esp. George Bush in recent years). So I looked up how presidents have been regarded over the years [0]. Salient quote, assuming rankings and competence are somewhat compatible (maybe they aren't): > Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt and George Washington are consistently ranked at the top of the lists. Often ranked just below those Presidents are Thomas Jefferson and Theodore Roosevelt. > The remaining places in the top ten are often rounded out by Harry S. Truman, Woodrow Wilson, Dwight D. Eisenhower, James K. Polk, and Andrew Jackson. Presidents such as John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton tend to be rated among the greatest in public opinion polls, but do not always rank as highly among presidential scholars and historians. > The bottom ten often includes Andrew Johnson, Franklin Pierce, Warren G. Harding, Millard Fillmore, George W. Bush, Herbert Hoover, Martin Van Buren, Zachary Taylor, and John Tyler. Now, compare that to their portraits [1]. Personally, the biggest example of "face-ism" I can recall during my lifetime is George W. Bush's portrayal in the media during his presidency. But I guess he also did screw some things up... [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_rankings_of_Presidents_of_the_United_States#General_findings http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_rankings_of_Presiden... [1] http://sonowiknowdotcom.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/allpresidentslarge.jpg http://sonowiknowdotcom.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/allpresi...

GuiA 12y ago

Seems like there'd be an opportunity for a consulting business which guides you on which haircut to get, how to trim your eyebrows, which glasses to wear, etc. in order to get a promotion, be perceived as more more intelligent or more extroverted, depending on how you aspire to progress in your career. Maybe such a thing already exists and I'm not in the loop. (I'm not talking about a personal stylist here- these seem to be to look more attractive/fashionable. Maybe there's a style that makes you look much more competent, at the detriment of your attractiveness- but you care about the former). I'm also reminded of this: http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Moustache.txt http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Moustache.txt

mabbo 12y ago
Alternatively, one could build software to do this for them. Consider: Facial recognition with a camera facing the person is pretty well understood. It's not perfect, but it's probably good enough. Could we extend that to also pick up the subtle facial cues that this research is talking about? And then based on that, train a person on how to manually adjust those cues? Maybe we're not quite there today- but I bet we're not far off. I can imagine seeing this as an app that you whip out just before you walk into that interview, like a mirror to adjust your hair, but for your facial expression.
erikb 12y ago
I think this is not a new idea and there are already many people who make lots of money by advising other people how to look and act.

bdr 12y ago

An interesting "paradox": people at the two ends of the trustworthy-appearance spectrum are the least incentivized to act trustworthy. Those on the right end will get the benefit either way; those on the wrong end have to work too hard to get the benefit. It is the people in the middle who gain the most from acting trustworthy.

gtr32x 12y ago

In chinese there is a proverb consist of four characters: 相由心生。Its derived meaning is basically that: you will look how you are. For years I've been daunting over the implications of it. I was never a firm believer nor a firm disbeliever. Advances in modern science such as this article only brings new light to how I think about this. Whilst it may seem to be a form of discrimination to judge a person by their appearance just like racism or sexism, maybe there is certain evolutionary notion behind this. Maybe we as human have evolved certain abilities to recognize a person's inner traits/personality based on their look. I certainly do not believe that beauty or handsomeness maybe a fact in determining the personality of a person. But through observation a person's confidence or innocence can be somewhat picked out by how they appear. Which I do not believe is correlated with how they portray themselves in terms of exterior such as haircuts or the amount of make up they put on. But rather, their gaze betray them of the real self. Perhaps that old Chinese proverb has some truth in it, and our science is about to uncover it.

joshuaheard 12y ago
Reminds me of the lyrics to an old Talking Heads song: Seen and Not Seen "He would see faces in movies, on T.V., in magazines, and in books.... He thought that some of these faces might be right for him....And through the years, by keeping an ideal facial structure fixed in his mind....Or somewhere in the back of his mind....That he might, by force of will, cause his face to approach those of his ideal....The change would be very subtle....It might take ten years or so.... Gradually his face would change its' shape....A more hooked nose... Wider, thinner lips....Beady eyes....A larger forehead. He imagined that this was an ability he shared with most other people....They had also molded their faced according to some ideal....Maybe they imagined that their new face would better suit their personality....Or maybe they imagined that their personality would be forced to change to fit the new appearance....This is why first impressions are often correct... Although some people might have made mistakes....They may have arrived at an appearance that bears no relationship to them.... They may have picked an ideal appearance based on some childish whim, or momentary impulse....Some may have gotten half-way there, and then changed their minds. He wonders if he too might have made a similar mistake."

colordrops 12y ago

The archetypical introvert looks a lot like Kevin Spacey. He definitely plays introverts in many movies.

mleonhard 12y ago

In Taiwan, Korea, and many other Asian countries, job applicants are expected to provide a color photograph in their resume. In Korea, many new graduates get cosmetic surgery to improve their employment prospects. Face-ism is common and unfortunate. It harms the efficiency of societies.

blablabla123 12y ago

Quite interesting, although one shouldn't draw wrong conclusions like face-ism from it. When the corners of your mouth point downwards, it's a sign that you are afraid of something. I guess being introvert doesn't imply to be afraid of something. More over, introverts, by definition, are difficult to characterize, so most people will have problems to detect introverts, rendering the title non-sense. ;)

marincounty 12y ago

I immediately trusted the first guy who wasen't smiling, but after reading the article I started to doubt my first impression. I have been burned financially, and personally by full time Smilers? Or, that guy who just seems too happy for no reason?

stronglikedan 12y ago

This is interesting to me, as it kind of hits home. I'm more introverted than extroverted, but I can be a true extrovert when I choose to be. I grew up with the introverted face, and had trouble with relationships (friendships, really, at that age). One day in high school, a girl that I liked told me that I should smile more. I took that advice to heart, and from that day on, I told myself that I would try to smile all-the-time. Well, fast forward a couple of decades, and I can honestly say that that is the one piece of advice that has stuck with me all of these years. The results were instant and measurable. People, in general, treated me differently...better. My social awkwardness faded to but a memory. So much so, that I don't feel guilty doing introverted activities (which I do...a lot), because I know I don't have to be.

kuni-toko-tachi 12y ago

What nonsense like this does is focus on a small aspect of overall human traits and then attempts to make generalizations to promote an ideological agenda. Bias is a valuable evolutionary trait and judgement is a fact of life. You get dealt a hand of cards when you are born. You may have an "introvert" face, but you might also have an above average IQ. "-isms" are cop outs that play into a victimization narrative that is then used to drive political agendas which ultimately are not beneficial to the supposed wrongs they attempt to remedy. This is a limitless world, and don't let fluff like this rain on your parade. Get up, get out, and get doing. Enjoy the knocks along the way, and if you are inclined to feel the underdog, use it to prove 'em wrong.

ejk314 12y ago
It's still a problem, even if you can "enjoy the knocks along the way". You're right that you shouldn't use this kind of thing as an excuse, but I think it's valuable to be aware of it. For example, if you've got a bias-inducing face then perhaps you can mitigate that fact by avoiding face-to-face interviews and opting for phone interviews whenever possible.

madaxe_again 12y ago

I've kept on noticing myself, and others, doing this thing in meetings whereby ones eyebrows are raised, eyes are wide open, and this makes sense in the context of what this article talks about - it's a "trust me" face - and it apparently works.

dharmach 12y ago

Why unreliable, incompetent and introvert faces in the article look northern and the other ones southern?

calebm 12y ago

It's funny - I know a guy who I consider extremely unreliable, and the "unreliable face" looks a lot like him.

joshuaheard 12y ago

Facial recognition starts in infancy, so it makes sense. I would like to see an app that takes a picture of a face and gives you the corresponding qualities.