Study and Application #1: Personality Judgments Based on Physical Appearance
A study “Personality Judgments Based on Physical Appearance” in the 2009 issue of personality and Social Psychology Bulletin has many interesting contents. As most of us realize, physical appearance does play an important role in forming first impression: however, how accurately is that? In this study, observers were able to accurately judge some aspects of a stranger’s personality traits from looking at photographs.
The 10 traits the researchers focus on are extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, openness, likability, self-esteem, loneliness, religiosity and political orientation.
Researchers take photographs of targets in two different conditions –standardized and spontaneous conditions. For photographs in standardized condition, targets are instructed where to look, where to stand, which facial expressions to keep. Basically, their postures and facial expressions are constrained. On the other hand, for photographs in spontaneous condition, targets are not instructed at all. They are allowed to express themselves freely thorough pose and facial expression.
During this study, researchers examine three research questions (1663).
1. What traits can be perceived accurately based on physical appearance in a standardized (posed) photograph?
2. Does accuracy improve when nonverbal expressive behavior is visible to observers?
3. Which static and dynamic appearance-based cues are associated with the targets’ actual personalities and with the observers’ judgments?
Through the experiment to test the first question, researchers predicted that “Observers would be able to judge extroversion from standardized photograph (1663). They also predict that “Observers would be able to judge openness accurately from a standardized photograph when the targets’ full body is available (1663).” For the second question, they predict that “judgment made in the spontaneous condition would have greater accuracy than judgments made in the standardized condition overall (1664).” When there is more information available on the photographs, the greater the overall accuracy will be. In spontaneous photographs, observers are able to see the increased amount of nonverbal behaviors. For the third question, prior several researches suggest that both static and dynamic cues provide personality-relevant information for observers to form impressions and each cue are distinctively related to each personality characteristics, and Brunswik’s lens model suggests that these different appearance-based cues are related to observers’ judgments.
In this study, observers viewed full-body photographs of 123 undergraduate students who never met before. Two types of photographs – spontaneous and standardized – were taken of each target participants. The accuracy of judgments was based on the aggregate of the targets’ self-ratings and their informants’ ratings of them. This criterion is now widely regarded as the gold standard in personality research.
As a result, the observers could accurately judge some major personality traits of targets such as extroversion and self-esteem. When observers were able to see more nonverbal behaviors such as a smiling expression or posture, their judgments were more accurate than that of the standardized photographs.
“As we predicted, physical appearance serves as a channel through which personality is manifested (1669),” say the authors Laura P. Naumann, University of California, Berkeley, Simine Vazire, Washington University in St. Louis, Peter J.Rentfrow, University of Cambridge, and Samuel D. Gosling, University of Texas at Austin. “Authors concludes that “By using full-body photographs and examining a broad range of traits, we identified domains of accuracy that have been overlooked, leading to the conclusion that physical appearance may play a more important role in personality judgment than previously thought (1670)”
For our class activity, we utilize the results of Big Five Personality Test that each member of our group took. This is pretty much like StrengthQuest. There are 45 questions and it estimates how a person fits in each five fundamental personality traits: openness, conscientiousness, extroversion agreeableness, and neuroticism. We ask class to rate each member of the group and write down how they think each of us will fit in each category. And after classmates finish writing, each member of the group shares their result so they can see how accuracy it is to judge someone based on their physical appearance.
Personally, I do believe that physical appearance does play an important role in judging impressions of others. It is true that people tend to judge and conclude about others based on very little information. However, even though physical appearance does not express everything about the person, according to this study, people’s judgments on others’ impressions are pretty accurate.
This study reminds me to pay more attention to how we look or what to dress. All the nonverbal behaviors I do really have a big influence on how people judge me. It teaches me that physical appearance can help manipulate how people view my personality. For example, if I want to be looked extroversion then I will have to smile more, stand energetically, and look healthy and stylish.
Mark Twain says “Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.” They certainly do.
The 10 traits the researchers focus on are extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, openness, likability, self-esteem, loneliness, religiosity and political orientation.
Researchers take photographs of targets in two different conditions –standardized and spontaneous conditions. For photographs in standardized condition, targets are instructed where to look, where to stand, which facial expressions to keep. Basically, their postures and facial expressions are constrained. On the other hand, for photographs in spontaneous condition, targets are not instructed at all. They are allowed to express themselves freely thorough pose and facial expression.
During this study, researchers examine three research questions (1663).
1. What traits can be perceived accurately based on physical appearance in a standardized (posed) photograph?
2. Does accuracy improve when nonverbal expressive behavior is visible to observers?
3. Which static and dynamic appearance-based cues are associated with the targets’ actual personalities and with the observers’ judgments?
Through the experiment to test the first question, researchers predicted that “Observers would be able to judge extroversion from standardized photograph (1663). They also predict that “Observers would be able to judge openness accurately from a standardized photograph when the targets’ full body is available (1663).” For the second question, they predict that “judgment made in the spontaneous condition would have greater accuracy than judgments made in the standardized condition overall (1664).” When there is more information available on the photographs, the greater the overall accuracy will be. In spontaneous photographs, observers are able to see the increased amount of nonverbal behaviors. For the third question, prior several researches suggest that both static and dynamic cues provide personality-relevant information for observers to form impressions and each cue are distinctively related to each personality characteristics, and Brunswik’s lens model suggests that these different appearance-based cues are related to observers’ judgments.
In this study, observers viewed full-body photographs of 123 undergraduate students who never met before. Two types of photographs – spontaneous and standardized – were taken of each target participants. The accuracy of judgments was based on the aggregate of the targets’ self-ratings and their informants’ ratings of them. This criterion is now widely regarded as the gold standard in personality research.
As a result, the observers could accurately judge some major personality traits of targets such as extroversion and self-esteem. When observers were able to see more nonverbal behaviors such as a smiling expression or posture, their judgments were more accurate than that of the standardized photographs.
“As we predicted, physical appearance serves as a channel through which personality is manifested (1669),” say the authors Laura P. Naumann, University of California, Berkeley, Simine Vazire, Washington University in St. Louis, Peter J.Rentfrow, University of Cambridge, and Samuel D. Gosling, University of Texas at Austin. “Authors concludes that “By using full-body photographs and examining a broad range of traits, we identified domains of accuracy that have been overlooked, leading to the conclusion that physical appearance may play a more important role in personality judgment than previously thought (1670)”
For our class activity, we utilize the results of Big Five Personality Test that each member of our group took. This is pretty much like StrengthQuest. There are 45 questions and it estimates how a person fits in each five fundamental personality traits: openness, conscientiousness, extroversion agreeableness, and neuroticism. We ask class to rate each member of the group and write down how they think each of us will fit in each category. And after classmates finish writing, each member of the group shares their result so they can see how accuracy it is to judge someone based on their physical appearance.
Personally, I do believe that physical appearance does play an important role in judging impressions of others. It is true that people tend to judge and conclude about others based on very little information. However, even though physical appearance does not express everything about the person, according to this study, people’s judgments on others’ impressions are pretty accurate.
This study reminds me to pay more attention to how we look or what to dress. All the nonverbal behaviors I do really have a big influence on how people judge me. It teaches me that physical appearance can help manipulate how people view my personality. For example, if I want to be looked extroversion then I will have to smile more, stand energetically, and look healthy and stylish.
Mark Twain says “Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.” They certainly do.