We all know that people judge us based on our looks but hearing this makes it all the more real. We form impressions off of everyone we meet and their face is a huge part of that.
According to Alexander Todorov a psychology professor at Princeton University we can’t help but judge each other based off of looks. He actually went so far as to conduct tests in a lab where people responded to computer-generated faces. In this, he found that we assume attractive people are ‘good’ people most of the time.
This, of course, is something that has a lot to do with how we are brought up. You see, from a young age, we are taught that beauty is associated with how a person looks and we link good-looking to being more competent. I mean really, up until Shrek all knights in shining armor were attractive, right?
When looking at older faces he was able to determine that people consider them to be more intelligent right off the bat. Among other things, he found that people who were smiling were trusted more and those with baby faces were considered naive. We are constantly creating false notions of people in our heads.
We should try our best to not judge based on looks but the general conversation and behaviors of said person upon meeting them. Some of the best people in the world are not so pretty and some of the most untrustworthy are very attractive. You should never judge a book by its cover.
For more information on this and similar research please take the time to watch the video below.