Imagine the following scene: you are about to do the final interview for your dream job. He has gone through several stages, has the right curriculum and feels he has the necessary experience. However, when you are face to face with the owner of the company, she dismisses you for judging you by appearance and Facial expressions. She ended up committing “face-ism”.
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“Face-ism” is the tendency for people to judge others based solely on their appearance and facial expressions. In the fictional scene narrated above, it is possible that the employer laid eyes on you and, for some detail, believed that you would not be a good employee.
Recent research has shown that some people unconsciously come to conclusions about the personality of others just by their face. For example, they may believe that someone is reliable, intelligent, or has a leadership spirit because of some physical characteristic.
Most of the time, they are completely hasty conclusions. There is no template. The decisions are totally based on stereotypes kept in the psyche of each one.
“I didn’t go with the guy”
Research in Japan went even further. According to the scientists in this article, many people can arrive at judgments based on just in the appearance of the face.
In studies of over 300 participants, researchers have found that there are some “facial feature inferences” (FBTIs). This means that details in people's faces lead to a conclusion of character.
Researchers have also found that “face-ism” occurs in all groups of people. Volunteers of different genders, ages and ethnicities participated in the study and all presented a judgment based on appearance.
What is the danger of “face-ism” and judging people by appearance?
Judging people merely by their appearance causes us to associate certain physical stereotypes with qualities or defects. For example, you may believe that people with stern eyes and masculine features are untrustworthy; or that people with feminine traits and sweet eyes are incompetent.
In an interview with The Conversation, scientist Alexander Todorov has stated that these judgments are totally inaccurate. However, they are dangerous as first impressions often last.
know what you do
One of the ways to combat “face-ism” and stop judging people by their appearance is to be aware that this is common and can happen to anyone. Recent studies have shown that having this knowledge can change your mindset in the short term.
It's a simple solution to a big problem, which any of us could fall victim to in the future.
Graduated in Social Communication at the Federal University of Goiás. Passionate about digital media, pop culture, technology, politics and psychoanalysis.
