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Our first impression of people arises almost instantly (within 100 milliseconds), and we immediately form judgments such as like/dislike, kind/cruel, and even detect sexual orientation (Ambady et al., 1999; Rule & Ambady, 2008). In 2006, Alexander Todorov and Janine Willis published a study in which a large sample of participants was asked to evaluate five traits—friendliness, trustworthiness, competence, aggressiveness, and attractiveness—based on photographs of people with neutral facial expressions.
Judgments made after 100 milliseconds were very similar to those made with unlimited time. Thus, in society, people read these traits very quickly, but their interpretation of such “readings” may be influenced by what can be called perception errors.
These “errors” should be taken into account by profilers, behavioral analysts, marketers, HR specialists, and anyone who relies on objective analysis of human behavior (as well as fraudsters who use such errors). It is also important to consider Brunswik’s configurational facial effects (the tendency to perceive certain facial configurations as expressing specific emotions), which are used by casting directors and in animated film production to shape character traits (Brunswik, 1956).
Some of the “errors” in our perception:
* Faces without distinctive features, closely resembling the “average” face of the population, cause more trust.
* Attractive ppl are trusted more than unattractive ones. An attractive face is one that approximates the golden ratio, with proportional three levels of the face.
* Faces that resemble the “child scheme”—large eyes, rounded protruding mouth, small nose, and weakly pronounced chin—evoke more trust. (Such a face was described in Homer’s “Odyssey.”)
* Strong facial asymmetry is perceived negatively. Normally, 94% of men and women have asymmetry in the facial skeleton, which is functional, and only 6% is due to trauma, illness, or congenital defects. (“Facial Skull Asymmetry in Various Forms in Adults” by Evgeniya Igorevna Dubovik, Candidate of Medical Sciences, dissertation, 2009; soft tissue asymmetry—B.A. Nikityuk, 1959; V.S. Speransky, 1980, 1996).
What do you think about these “errors” of perception?
