Personality in Perspective: Judgmental Consistency across Orientations of the Face

Though the psychological literature is replete with information about the perception of faces presented at a full-frontal view, we know very little about how faces are perceived–and impressions formed–when viewed from other angles. We tested impressions of faces at full-frontal, three-quarter, and profile views. Judgments of personality (aggressiveness, competence, dominance, likeability, and trustworthiness) and physiognomy (attractiveness and facial maturity) were significantly correlated across full-frontal, three-quarter, and profile views of male faces. When under time pressure, with only a 50 ms exposure to each face, the correlations for profile with full-frontal and three-quarter view judgments of personality (but not physiognomy) dropped considerably. However, judgments of the full-frontal and three-quarter faces were significantly correlated across the self-paced and 50 ms viewing durations. These findings therefore show that perceptions of full faces lead to relatively similar interferences across both viewing angle and time.

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