TY - JOUR
T1 - Testing the functional basis of first impressions
T2 - Dimensions for children’s faces are not the same as for adults’ faces
AU - Collova, Jemma R
AU - Sutherland, Clare
AU - Rhodes, Gillian
PY - 2019/11
Y1 - 2019/11
N2 - Despite warnings not to “judge a book by its cover,” people rapidly form facial impressions. In Oosterhof and Todorov’s (2008) two-dimensional model of facial impressions, trustworthiness, and dominance underlie impressions and primarily function to signal the potential threat of others. Here, we test a key assumption of these models, namely that these dimensions are functional, by evaluating whether the adult-face dimensions apply to young children’s faces. Although it may be functional for adults to judge adult faces on dimensions that signal threat, adults associate different social goals with children, and these goals are likely to impact the impressions adults make of such faces. Thus, a functional approach would predict that the dimensions for children’s faces are not threat focused. In Studies 1 and 2, we build a data-driven model of Caucasian adults’ impressions of Caucasian children’s faces, finding evidence for two dimensions. The first dimension, niceness, is similar (although not identical) to the adult dimension of trustworthiness. However, we find a second dimension, shyness, that is clearly dissociable from dominance (Study 3), and critically, is not focused on threat. We demonstrate that adults are sensitive to subtle facial manipulations of these dimensions (Studies 4 and 5) and that these impressions impact adults’ behavioral expectations of children (Study 6). Finally, we show that niceness and shyness dimensions generalize to an independent sample of ambient images, demonstrating their robustness (Study 7). Our results suggest that social goals have the power to drive functional impressions and highlight the flexibility of our visual system when forming such inferences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)
AB - Despite warnings not to “judge a book by its cover,” people rapidly form facial impressions. In Oosterhof and Todorov’s (2008) two-dimensional model of facial impressions, trustworthiness, and dominance underlie impressions and primarily function to signal the potential threat of others. Here, we test a key assumption of these models, namely that these dimensions are functional, by evaluating whether the adult-face dimensions apply to young children’s faces. Although it may be functional for adults to judge adult faces on dimensions that signal threat, adults associate different social goals with children, and these goals are likely to impact the impressions adults make of such faces. Thus, a functional approach would predict that the dimensions for children’s faces are not threat focused. In Studies 1 and 2, we build a data-driven model of Caucasian adults’ impressions of Caucasian children’s faces, finding evidence for two dimensions. The first dimension, niceness, is similar (although not identical) to the adult dimension of trustworthiness. However, we find a second dimension, shyness, that is clearly dissociable from dominance (Study 3), and critically, is not focused on threat. We demonstrate that adults are sensitive to subtle facial manipulations of these dimensions (Studies 4 and 5) and that these impressions impact adults’ behavioral expectations of children (Study 6). Finally, we show that niceness and shyness dimensions generalize to an independent sample of ambient images, demonstrating their robustness (Study 7). Our results suggest that social goals have the power to drive functional impressions and highlight the flexibility of our visual system when forming such inferences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)
KW - Face perception
KW - First impressions
KW - Impression formation
KW - Person perception
KW - Social cognition
KW - PERSON PERCEPTION
KW - SOCIABILITY
KW - social cognition
KW - APPEARANCE
KW - BEHAVIOR
KW - person perception
KW - impression formation
KW - face perception
KW - PHYSICAL ATTRACTIVENESS
KW - first impressions
KW - TO-HEIGHT RATIO
KW - FACIAL-WIDTH
KW - CHARACTER
KW - JUDGMENTS
KW - LIFE
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85067029297&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.mendeley.com/research/testing-functional-basis-first-impressions-dimensions-childrens-faces-not-same-adults-faces
UR - https://abdn.pure.elsevier.com/en/en/researchoutput/testing-the-functional-basis-of-first-impressions(c82136b3-364c-4258-ae56-294f429d18ca).html
U2 - 10.1037/pspa0000167
DO - 10.1037/pspa0000167
M3 - Article
C2 - 31169388
SN - 0022-3514
VL - 117
SP - 900
EP - 924
JO - Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
JF - Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
IS - 5
ER -