Is Your Profile Picture Worth 1000 Words? Photo Characteristics Associated with Personality Impression Agreement

Abstract

Social-Networking Websites (SNWs) are rapidly becoming a central media for social exchange. A basic question is how well are people able to get to know each other through these websites? In this study, we explore characteristics of the profile photographs and their association with impression agreement. Using a specially designed social networking website, we examined 1,316 first-impressions of profile owners who had posted photographs as part of a complete profile. The results suggest that photographs in which the profile owners were smiling, outdoors, and shown with others were associated with higher impression agreement. Several gender interactions suggested that other aspects of the photographs, including head covering and apparent weight, also affected impression agreement depending on the gender of the profile owner and visitors. These results were interpreted in light of the literature on interpersonal perception.

Exploring the Influence of Perceived Extroversion in Embodied Virtual Agents on Trust and Likability

“…In essence, if we consider the agents' design as representative of their 'inherent' personality, grounded in the human classi cation of non-verbal cues, and contrast this with the responses obtained, it becomes apparent that a pronounced alignment between the 'inherent' and perceived extroversion was not observed. This divergence nds resonance in studies pertaining to human-to-human interactions, wherein the dichotomy between actual and perceived personality traits has been well-documented (Evans et al 2008;Steele et al 2009;Cemalcilar et al 2018). These studies posit that actual personality attributes frequently diverge from their perceived counterparts, with the latter often assuming greater signi cance in the context of interpersonal communication and interaction.…”

A neuroscientific and design perspective on trust within a professional context

“…For example, individuals are perceived as being more friendly, sensitive, open and reliable when they present a profile picture in which they smile and look healthy (Turner & Hunt, 2014;Sutherland, et al, 2015). Something else that might help to manage the impression in a positive way is by revealing more facial features, such that the profile picture contains more information about an individual (Steele, Evans, & Green, 2009).…”