Predicting Firm Success From the Facial Appearance of Chief Executive Officers of Non-Profit Organizations.

Recent research has demonstrated that judgments of Chief Executive Officers' (CEOs') faces predict their firms' financial performance, finding that characteristics associated with higher power (e.g., dominance) predict greater profits. Most of these studies have focused on CEOs of profit-based businesses, where the main criterion for success is financial gain. Here, we examined whether facial appearance might predict measures of success in a sample of CEOs of non-profit organizations (NPOs). Indeed, contrary to findings for the CEOs of profit-based businesses, judgments of leadership and power from the faces of CEOs of NPOs negatively correlated with multiple measures of charitable success (Study 1). Moreover, CEOs of NPOs looked less powerful than the CEOs of profit-based businesses (Study 2) and leadership ratings positively associated with warmth-based traits and NPO success when participants knew the faces belonged to CEOs of NPOs (Study 3). CEOs who look less dominant may therefore achieve greater success in leading NPOs, opposite the relationship found for the CEOs of profit-based companies. Thus, the relationship between facial appearance and leadership success varies by organizational context.

Individual differences in perceptions of gay men's sexual role preferences from facial cues.

Research has demonstrated that the sexual role preferences of gay men can be perceived with accuracies that exceed chance guessing from viewing photos of their faces. This research was conducted with only heterosexual perceivers making the categorizations. We therefore examined whether men who have sex with men (N = 121) were able to perceive sexual role preferences from faces and, critically, whether perceivers' masculinity, femininity, homonegativity, and own sexual role preference affected their categorizations of targets as "tops" or "bottoms." We found that men who have sex with men, like heterosexual perceivers in prior work, perceived gay men's sexual role preferences accurately. Furthermore, men who self-identified with a receptive (bottom) role were more accurate in their categorizations and male perceivers who self-reported higher levels of masculinity were more likely to categorize other men as bottoms. These findings suggest that men's masculinity could serve as a lens through which people perceive others and interact with the world.

Distinctive Facial Cues Predict Leadership Rank and Selection.

Facial appearance correlates with leadership, both in terms of who is chosen (leader selection) and how they do (leader success). Leadership theories suggest that exceptional individuals acquire positions as leaders. Exceptional traits can differ between domains, however, and so the qualities valued in leaders in one occupation may not match those valued among leaders in another. To test this, we compared the relationship between facial appearance and leadership across two domains: law firms and mafia families. Perceptions of power correlated with leadership among law executives whereas social skill correlated with leadership in organized crime. Critically, these traits were distinctive within their respective groups. Furthermore, an experimental test showed that the relative frequency of facial traits in a group can render them either an asset or liability. Perceived leadership ability is therefore enhanced by characteristics that appear unique among individuals who satisfy the basic criteria for their group.

Influence of Perceived Height, Masculinity, and Age on Each Other and on Perceptions of Dominance in Male Faces.

Several studies have examined the individual effects of facial cues to height, masculinity, and age on interpersonal interactions and partner preferences. We know much less about the influence of these traits on each other. We, therefore, examined how facial cues to height, masculinity, and age influence perceptions of each other and found significant overlap. This suggests that studies investigating the effects of one of these traits in isolation may need to account for the influence of the other two traits. Additionally, there is inconsistent evidence on how each of these three facial traits affects dominance. We, therefore, investigated how varying such traits influences perceptions of dominance in male faces. We found that increases in perceived height, masculinity, and age (up to 35 years) all increased facial dominance. Our results may reflect perceptual generalizations from sex differences as men are on average taller, more dominant, and age faster than women. Furthermore, we found that the influences of height and age on perceptions of dominance are mediated by masculinity. These results give us a better understanding of the facial characteristics that convey the appearance of dominance, a trait that is linked to a wealth of real-world outcomes.

The effects of facial adiposity on attractiveness and perceived leadership ability.

Facial attractiveness has a positive influence on electoral success both in experimental paradigms and in the real world. One parameter that influences facial attractiveness and social judgements is facial adiposity (a facial correlate to body mass index, BMI). Overweight people have high facial adiposity and are perceived to be less attractive and lower in leadership ability. Here, we used an interactive design in order to assess whether the most attractive level of facial adiposity is also perceived as most leader-like. We found that participants reduced facial adiposity more to maximize attractiveness than to maximize perceived leadership ability. These results indicate that facial appearance impacts leadership judgements beyond the effects of attractiveness. We suggest that the disparity between optimal facial adiposity in attractiveness and leadership judgements stems from social trends that have produced thin ideals for attractiveness, while leadership judgements are associated with perception of physical dominance.

Impressions of dominance are made relative to others in the visual environment.

Face judgments of dominance play an important role in human social interaction. Perceived facial dominance is thought to indicate physical formidability, as well as resource acquisition and holding potential. Dominance cues in the face affect perceptions of attractiveness, emotional state, and physical strength. Most experimental paradigms test perceptions of facial dominance in individual faces, or they use manipulated versions of the same face in a forced-choice task but in the absence of other faces. Here, we extend this work by assessing whether dominance ratings are absolute or are judged relative to other faces. We presented participants with faces to be rated for dominance (target faces), while also presenting a second face (non-target faces) that was not to be rated. We found that both the masculinity and sex of the non-target face affected dominance ratings of the target face. Masculinized non-target faces decreased the perceived dominance of a target face relative to a feminized non-target face, and displaying a male non-target face decreased perceived dominance of a target face more so than a female non-target face. Perceived dominance of male target faces was affected more by masculinization of male non-target faces than female non-target faces. These results indicate that dominance perceptions can be altered by surrounding faces, demonstrating that facial dominance is judged at least partly relative to other faces.

Men's facial masculinity: when (body) size matters.

Recent studies suggest that judgments of facial masculinity reflect more than sexually dimorphic shape. Here, we investigated whether the perception of masculinity is influenced by facial cues to body height and weight. We used the average differences in three-dimensional face shape of forty men and forty women to compute a morphological masculinity score, and derived analogous measures for facial correlates of height and weight based on the average face shape of short and tall, and light and heavy men. We found that facial cues to body height and weight had substantial and independent effects on the perception of masculinity. Our findings suggest that men are perceived as more masculine if they appear taller and heavier, independent of how much their face shape differs from women's. We describe a simple method to quantify how body traits are reflected in the face and to define the physical basis of psychological attributions.

Facial cues to perceived height influence leadership choices in simulated war and peace contexts.

Body size and other signs of physical prowess are associated with leadership hierarchies in many social species. Here we (1) assess whether facial cues associated with perceived height and masculinity have different effects on leadership judgments in simulated wartime and peacetime contexts and (2) test how facial cues associated with perceived height and masculinity influence dominance perceptions. Results indicate that cues associated with perceived height and masculinity in potential leaders? faces are valued more in a wartime (vs. peacetime) context. Furthermore, increasing cues of apparent height and masculinity in faces increased perceived dominance. Together, these findings suggest that facial cues of physical stature contribute to establishing leadership hierarchies in humans.

Looking like a leader-facial shape predicts perceived height and leadership ability.

Judgments of leadership ability from face images predict the outcomes of actual political elections and are correlated with leadership success in the corporate world. The specific facial cues that people use to judge leadership remain unclear, however. Physical height is also associated with political and organizational success, raising the possibility that facial cues of height contribute to leadership perceptions. Consequently, we assessed whether cues to height exist in the face and, if so, whether they are associated with perception of leadership ability. We found that facial cues to perceived height had a strong relationship with perceived leadership ability. Furthermore, when allowed to manually manipulate faces, participants increased facial cues associated with perceived height in order to maximize leadership perception. A morphometric analysis of face shape revealed that structural facial masculinity was not responsible for the relationship between perceived height and perceived leadership ability. Given the prominence of facial appearance in making social judgments, facial cues to perceived height may have a significant influence on leadership selection.

Preferences for very low and very high voice pitch in humans.

Manipulations of voice pitch have been shown to alter attractiveness ratings, but whether preferences extend to very low or very high voice pitch is unknown. Here, we manipulated voice pitch in averaged men's and women's voices by 2 Hz intervals to create a range of male and female voices speaking monopthong vowel sounds and spanning a range of frequencies from normal to very low and very high pitch. With these voices, we used the method of constant stimuli to measure preferences for voice. Nineteen university students (ages: 20-25) participated in three experiments. On average, men preferred high-pitched women's voices to low-pitched women's voices across all frequencies tested. On average, women preferred men's voices lowered in pitch, but did not prefer very low men's voices. The results of this study may reflect selection pressures for men's and women's voices, and shed light on a perceptual link between voice pitch and vocal attractiveness.

Apparent height and body mass index influence perceived leadership ability in three-dimensional faces.

Facial appearance has a well-documented effect on perceived leadership ability. Face judgments of leadership ability predict political election outcomes across the world, and similar judgments of business CEOs predict company profits. Body height is also associated with leadership ability, with taller people attaining positions of leadership more than their shorter counterparts in both politics and in the corporate world. Previous studies have found some face characteristics that are associated with leadership judgments, however there have been no studies with three-dimensional faces. We assessed which facial characteristics drive leadership judgments in three-dimensional faces. We found a perceptual relationship between height and leadership ability. We also found that facial maturity correlated with leadership judgments, and that faces of people with an unhealthily high body mass index received lower leadership ratings. We conclude that face attributes associated with body size and maturity alter leadership perception, and may influence real-world democratic leadership selection.

African perceptions of female attractiveness.

Little is known about mate choice preferences outside Western, educated, industrialised, rich and democratic societies, even though these Western populations may be particularly unrepresentative of human populations. To our knowledge, this is the first study to test which facial cues contribute to African perceptions of African female attractiveness and also the first study to test the combined role of facial adiposity, skin colour (lightness, yellowness and redness), skin homogeneity and youthfulness in the facial attractiveness preferences of any population. Results show that youthfulness, skin colour, skin homogeneity and facial adiposity significantly and independently predict attractiveness in female African faces. Younger, thinner women with a lighter, yellower skin colour and a more homogenous skin tone are considered more attractive. These findings provide a more global perspective on human mate choice and point to a universal role for these four facial cues in female facial attractiveness.

Voice pitch influences perceptions of sexual infidelity.

Sexual infidelity can be costly to members of both the extra-pair and the paired couple. Thus, detecting infidelity risk is potentially adaptive if it aids in avoiding cuckoldry or loss of parental and relationship investment. Among men, testosterone is inversely related to voice pitch, relationship and offspring investment, and is positively related to the pursuit of short-term relationships, including extra-pair sex. Among women, estrogen is positively related to voice pitch, attractiveness, and the likelihood of extra-pair involvement. Although prior work has demonstrated a positive relationship between men's testosterone levels and infidelity, this study is the first to investigate attributions of infidelity as a function of sexual dimorphism in male and female voices. We found that men attributed high infidelity risk to feminized women's voices, but not significantly more often than did women. Women attributed high infidelity risk to masculinized men's voices at significantly higher rates than did men. These data suggest that voice pitch is used as an indicator of sexual strategy in addition to underlying mate value. The aforementioned attributions may be adaptive if they prevent cuckoldry and/or loss of parental and relationship investment via avoidance of partners who may be more likely to be unfaithful.

Oxygenated-blood colour change thresholds for perceived facial redness, health, and attractiveness.

Blood oxygenation level is associated with cardiovascular fitness, and raising oxygenated blood colouration in human faces increases perceived health. The current study used a two-alternative forced choice (2AFC) psychophysics design to quantify the oxygenated blood colour (redness) change threshold required to affect perception of facial colour, health and attractiveness. Detection thresholds for colour judgments were lower than those for health and attractiveness, which did not differ. The results suggest redness preferences do not reflect a sensory bias, rather preferences may be based on accurate indications of health status. Furthermore, results suggest perceived health and attractiveness may be perceptually equivalent when they are assessed based on facial redness. Appearance-based motivation for lifestyle change can be effective; thus future studies could assess the degree to which cardiovascular fitness increases face redness and could quantify changes in aerobic exercise needed to increase facial attractiveness.