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Dave Johns writes in Slate Magazine about the resurgence of the long-discredited ‘science’ of physiognomy, the idea that personality attributes can be inferred from facial features alone.
Now some of the “new physiognomists” are resurrecting an old claim: that you can gauge a man’s penchant for aggression by the cut of his jib. Last fall University of California-Santa Barbara psychologist Aaron Sell reported that college students could accurately estimate the upper body strength of unfamiliar men after viewing their faces alone. (The men’s necks were obscured.) The students did equally well with fellow undergraduates and men from South American indigenous groups—all of whom had had their strength measured using gym equipment. Interestingly, the toughest-looking undergrads also reported getting in the most fights. Another study by Sell suggests that such formidable men are more prone to use violence—or advocate military action—to resolve conflicts.”
My attention was grabbed by this on both a professional and personal basis. It is crucial for those in the behavioral sciences today to find their own position on the resurgence of biological determinism some would say has come to dominate the field. And, personally, I have always been dogged by the fact that people’s initial reaction to me seems to have a greater-than-chance tendency to find me intimidating. (I could understand it if they waited to hear what comes out of my mouth, but I think the reaction precedes any interaction with me.) It would be fine if I were the exception that proves the rule, but I think that, as is true of most of us, I am all too capable of falling into the role that has been shaped for me by those initial preconceptions. In addition to all the other prejudices in our society, are we face-ist?
A number of studies have demonstrated that most people hold …stereotypes about what criminals look like and believe that “the face fits the crime.” This can play out in court: The psychologist Leslie Zebrowitz has shown that “mature-faced” defendants are more likely to be found guilty of certain kinds of crimes. And when baby-faced defendants are found guilty, they tend to get more lenient sentences. She calls this form of discrimination “face-ism” and argues that defendants shouldn’t be required to show their faces in court. But if it is proved that the male face does indeed reveal “honest” signals about aggressiveness, jurors might deserve access to that information. (Then, too, defense attorneys might want to adopt a novel legal strategy: the meathead defense. “My client can’t be blamed for his actions because he suffers from high testosterone. Just look at his face!”)
Many of the supposedly indicative features are shaped by testosterone, which is linked to ‘masculine’ appearance and to aggression. But if the development of our frontal lobes has supposedly conferred on humans a much greater capacity to modulate our behavior, does the persistence of masculine aggression really reinforce biological determinism or merely that we have been pitiful failures at modifying the traditional male role definitions?
[On a lighter but related (?) note, I just realized that an anagram for my name is “genial towel.” Do I seem like a genial towel to you?]
For what it’s worth, most people’s first impression of me is that I’m aloof and, I guess you could say, intimidating. In my case, though, I’m pretty sure it’s more personality than looks: I’m an introvert and don’t give off all of the expected social cues when meeting people.
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Genial owlet might suit you best. friendly, nocturnal, wise, young, bird of prey. A low gentile would not.
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Does this study measure actual physical structure or facial expression?
If you spend all day scowling or all day smiling eventually your face will naturally relax into scowling or smiling, is that what people are picking up?
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The Canadian military is, in fact, doing research into how to “read” a person’s face electronically to detect hostile intent and/or fatigue:
“The objective is the design and development of a decision support system through the fusion of biometrics signals for behavioural diagnostic applications. The design and development of the system will be completed over 3 phases. The system will be based on the automatic processing and the classification of data stemming mainly from Electroencephalogram (EEG), Electrocardiogram (ECG) recordings and tracking of 3D stereoscopic facial characteristics. This processing should provide the integrated system capability, including vital signs, stereoscopic cameras and EEG, to quantify and provide automated diagnosis of the stressors that may affect the operational readiness of Canadian Forces (CF) operators and identify behavioural patterns with the aim of detecting hostile inten(t).”
Next question: how would you feel about a machine reading your face and deciding you’re too tired to work?
A bit more on this here http://is.gd/4HkgW if you’re interested.
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