Impressions from still photos of individuals can be greatly misleading, a new study shows.
Researchers explained that the even small variations in how an individual's face is viewed can lead to people forming notably different first impressions of that person.
The study by Alexander Todorov of Princeton University and Jenny Porter of Columbia University, conducted an online survey to see and rate target faces on characteristics such as attractiveness, competence, creativity, cunning, extraversion, meanness, trustworthiness or intelligence.
The photos were all headshots taken in similar lighting. But, researchers noted minor differences across the photos of the same individual, reflecting natural variations in facial expression.
Researchers then evaluated the ratings of the photos give by the participants. They found that there was just as much inconsistency in trait ratings based on different photos of the same individual as there was in trait ratings across photos of different individuals. In simple words, the researchers found that different images of the same individual were associated with significantly changed first impressions.
Moreover, the participants tended to favor certain headshots for some contexts. For instance, they preferred one shot of an individual when they were told the photo was for an online dating profile, but they preferred another shot when they were told the individual was auditioning to play a movie villain, and yet another shot when they were told he was running for political office, researchers explained in a press release.
Importantly, liking for certain photos happened even when the photos were displayed for just a fraction of a second.
"What we have shown here is something that people in the business of image manipulation have known for a long time," Todorov and Porter write. "Yet most psychology research treats face images as veridical representations of individuals."
The researchers said that it was doubtful that a single photo of a person could accurately reflect the full range of that individual's personality. "The face is not a still image frozen in time but rather a constantly shifting stream of expressions that convey different mental states," they note.
"The findings suggest that the images we post online can affect us in unexpected, and undesired, ways, subtly biasing other people's decisions," Todorov said.
Past studies have shown that people get first impressions about any person after seeing their face only briefly. However, the current study proves the notion that an image offers a single, true representation of what a person is like, wrong.
The study was published in the journal 'Psychological Science'.
