Inferring character from faces: a developmental study

Abstract

Human adults attribute character traits to faces readily and with high consensus. In two experiments investigating the development of face-to-trait inference, adults and children ages 3 through 10 attributed trustworthiness, dominance, and competence to pairs of faces. In Experiment 1, the attributions of 3- to 4-year-olds converged with those of adults, and 5- to 6-year-olds' attributions were at adult levels of consistency. Children ages 3 and above consistently attributed the basic mean/nice evaluation not only to faces varying in trustworthiness (Experiment 1) but also to faces varying in dominance and competence (Experiment 2). This research suggests that the predisposition to judge others using scant facial information appears in adultlike forms early in childhood and does not require prolonged social experience.

Keywords: cognitive development; open data; open materials; physical appearance; social cognition; social perception.

Figure 1

Sample stimuli from Experiment 1.

Figure 2

Average rates of attributing “nice” to trustworthy and “mean” to untrustworthy faces. Error bars represent SEM.

Figure 3

Average rates of attributing “strong” to dominant and “not very strong” to submissive faces.

Figure 4

Average rates of attributing “smart” to competent and “not very smart” to incompetent faces.

Figure 5

Average rates of attributing “nice” to submissive and “mean” to dominant faces (Experiment 2).

Figure 6

Average rates of attributing “nice” to competent and “mean” to incompetent faces.