Judging the Book by its Cover: A Study on Naive Facial Inferences of Leadership Traits and Hormones
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Date
2013-11
Authors
Murray, Allison K.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Oregon
Abstract
First impressions carry much weight in social interaction. Working off of the
evidence that individuals are remarkably accurate at judging faces for various
traits, this study seeks to understand if this ability extends to judging a face for
that person's hormonal profile. Forty-six undergraduates rated male and female
faces across six personality dimensions - leadership, competence, dominance,
facial maturity, likeability, and trustworthiness- as well as two hormonal traits
- masculinity and stress (terms representing the general effects of the
hormones testosterone and cortisol). Significant differences in the mean ratings
made by male and female perceivers of target faces were found for likeability,
facial maturity, and masculinity. A correlation between male targets'
testosterone over cortisol ratio (T /C) and whether or not they were smiling was
also found. Males' T /C ratio was also indicative of others' perceptions of them as
more trustworthy, more likeable, and less stressed.
Description
42 pages. A thesis presented to the Department of Psychology and the Clark Honors College of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for degree of Bachelor of Arts, Fall 2013.
Keywords
First Impressions, Testosterone, Cortisol, Judgment, Faces, Leadership Traits