Computer-generated faces with features judged to look extremely trustworthy (top row) or untrustworthy used in a study by psychologists at the University of Aberdeen (Three's a crowd: Fast ensemble perception of first impressions of trustworthiness by Marini et al, 2023). Faces originally from Validation of Data-Driven Computational Models of Social Perception of Faces by Todorov et al, 2013.

Composite faces created by morphing together multiple images of faces judged by participants to look highly (top row) or un- trustworthy, dominant or attractive from a study led by a psychologist now at the University of Aberdeen (Social inferences from faces: ambient images generate a three-dimensional model by Sutherland et al, 2013).

PHYSIOGNOMY is the belief that a person’s character can be read from their face. It is a pseudoscience: no physiognomic theory has ever been proven to be true. Physiognomic beliefs date back thousands of years and have been popular in many different cultures. Physiognomy was introduced to medieval Europe through Arabic translations of ancient Greek texts and continued to be written about through to the 18th century when it became a popular pseudoscience. This led to the even more popular pseudoscientific field of phrenology which persisted into the 20th century.

Are such beliefs a thing of the past? In fact, research – including that by psychologists at the University of Aberdeen – finds that we do infer character from faces. These ‘face-based trait inferences’ are made immediately. Different observers tend to make similar judgements about someone’s character from their face, although some observers may disagree. It’s not just facial features that contribute to trait inferences either. Different photographs of the same face can produce different inferences, and putting on glasses will make someone look more intelligent!

The strongest and most consistent group of trait inferences relates to whether people have good or bad intentions towards us. Though strong, these impressions are generally inaccurate, as are most character impressions from faces. But people with faces consistently judged to be ‘trustworthy’ have been shown to be more likely to succeed in politics, business, and other social spheres; whereas people with ‘untrustworthy’ faces are more likely to be convicted in criminal trials. Is our society ‘face-ist’? What judgements do you make when you see a face?