Static and Dynamic Facial Cues Differentially Affect the Consistency of Social Evaluations

Abstract

Individuals are quite sensitive to others' appearance cues when forming social evaluations. Cues such as facial emotional resemblance are based on facial musculature and thus dynamic. Cues such as a face's structure are based on the underlying bone and are thus relatively static. The current research examines the distinction between these types of facial cues by investigating the consistency in social evaluations arising from dynamic versus static cues. Specifically, across four studies using real faces, digitally generated faces, and downstream behavioral decisions, we demonstrate that social evaluations based on dynamic cues, such as intentions, have greater variability across multiple presentations of the same identity than do social evaluations based on static cues, such as ability. Thus, although evaluations of intentions vary considerably across different instances of a target's face, evaluations of ability are relatively fixed. The findings highlight the role of facial cues' consistency in the stability of social evaluations.

Eye Gaze and Head Posture Jointly Influence Judgments of Dominance, Physical Strength, and Anger

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Eyelid-openness and mouth curvature influence perceived intelligence beyond attractiveness.

“…Evaluations of dominance were found to be more consistent and rely heavily on static facial cues that depend on underlying bone structure; hence, less likely to change across time (Hehman et al, 2015). For example, the degree to which a person is smiling and has eyes wide open can change quickly.…”

Visualising mental representations: A primer on noise-based reverse correlation in social psychology

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