Personalities Accurately Judged by Physical Appearance Alone

Evidence that you CAN judge a book by it's cover:

'Observers were able to accurately judge some aspects of a stranger's personality from looking at photographs, according to a study in the current issue of Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (PSBP), the official monthly journal of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. Self-esteem, ratings of extraversion and religiosity were correctly judged from physical appearance.

Researchers asked participants to assess the personalities of strangers based first on a photograph posed to the researchers' specifications and then on a photograph posed the way the subject chose. Those judgments were then compared with how the person and acquaintances rated that individual's personality. They found that while both poses provided participants with accurate cues about personality, the spontaneous pose showed more insight, including about the subject's agreeableness, emotional stability, openness, likability, and loneliness.

The study suggested that physical appearance alone can send signals about their true personality.

"As we predicted, physical appearance serves as a channel through which personality is manifested," write authors Laura P. Naumann, University of California, Berkeley, Simine Vazire, Washington University in St. Louis, Peter J. Rentfrow, University of Cambridge, Samuel D. Gosling, University of Texas at Austin. "By using full-body photographs and examining a broad range of traits, we identified domains of accuracy that have been overlooked, leading to the conclusion that physical appearance may play a more important role in personality judgment than previously thought."'

From: [url]http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/12/091210130000.htm[/url] Dec 18th, 2009

This shouldn't be news to some people here though.

In my opinion physical appearance is part of the personality. But personality is also how the person behaves, what he says and what he does. Someone's voice could be considered part of his personality too.

There is no doubt that both personality and looks are important for a happy relationship. You can't be with someone if you're not attracted to his/her looks too. Personally I wouldn't want to be with a woman if I'm not attracted to her physical appearance too. Theoretically I could be with her but I don't think I would be happy.

Being with someone you're not physically attracted to is more a platonic love instead of a romantic or sexual love.

While it doesn't make a claim as to why the correlation is there, I think its less genetic and more societal. I know a lot of people who want to act in a way that isn't congruent with their 'image,' and people punish them for it in many subtle ways until these people are basically forced back into the confines of their 'image.' I think these personality traits are not so much their 'natural' personalities as much as it is the personality society expected of them and herded them into each step of the way.

So wait...if you strip people of all of their clothes and have them retain a blank face, you could still accurately judge their personality?

And what aspect of their personality does your appearance reveal about you?

This study sounds like bullshit.

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Originally Posted by uri [Dear Guest/Member you have to reply to see the link.click here to register]

In my opinion physical appearance is part of the personality.

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Physical appearance can affect/determine personality as good looking people tend to be treated differently in life (esp in grade school) compared to ugly people.

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Originally Posted by Frasbee

So wait...if you strip people of all of their clothes and have them retain a blank face, you could still accurately judge their personality?

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In everyday life, people don't walk around naked with a blank face. And even then, their hair and body language can still give clues about their personality.

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Originally Posted by Frasbee

And what aspect of their personality does your appearance reveal about you?

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I'm gonna assume you meant my personality not theirs.

I usually have a loose and relaxed posture. I dress rather casual (hoodies, graphic tees, and jeans) or really preppy (argyle sweater vest over a collared shirt) and I wear glasses. My clothes almost always match and look clean/neat. I'm average-skinny build. I'm short (5'6" - 5'7"). I usually have a straight face but I'm expressive during conversation.

What do you infer from that?

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Originally Posted by Frasbee

This study sounds like bullshit.

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You've never walked into a bar or party, taken a look around, and made generalizations about the people there?

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Originally Posted by Sanctuary [Dear Guest/Member you have to reply to see the link.click here to register]

Evidence that you CAN judge a book by it's cover

'Observers were able to accurately judge some aspects of a stranger's personality from looking at photographs, according to a study in the current issue of Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (PSBP), the official monthly journal of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology.

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I think the emphasis here is on "some". Because the history of social interaction is rife with misinterpretation of physical cues and inability to match correctly a person's posture to their motivations.

I think a more correct conclusion based on the evidence will be:

There is evidence that you CAN judge some aspects of the book by some aspects of it's cover though there are moderate chances of you being wrong until you read it.

Though that doesn't sound as exciting, does it?

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Originally Posted by Mishanya [Dear Guest/Member you have to reply to see the link.click here to register]

I think the emphasis here is on "some". Because the history of social interaction is rife with misinterpretation of physical cues and inability to match correctly a person's posture to their motivations.

I think a more correct conclusion based on the evidence will be:

There is evidence that you CAN judge some aspects of the book by some aspects of it's cover though there are moderate chances of you being wrong until you read it.

Though that doesn't sound as exciting, does it?

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Yes, there is truth to what you're saying.

But you don't have to be a genius to look at someone and determine that person's character with significantly higher than random accuracy.

I always rely upon my ability to guage a person's personality (and more importantly, the level of threat they represent to me) by their appearance. I thought everyone did this... Maybe it is more of a woman thing?

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Originally Posted by vashti [Dear Guest/Member you have to reply to see the link.click here to register]

I always rely upon my ability to guage a person's personality (and more importantly, the level of threat they represent to me) by their appearance. I thought everyone did this... Maybe it is more of a woman thing?

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I thought so too. I took a test on BBC and it told me I think a lot like a girl though lol.

Living in New York City has also made me wary of other people based on their appearance.

On another note, I think people who seem gifted socially are like that precisely because they are probably very empathic.

At a young age, people who are very socially attuned into the thoguhts and feelings of others get more precise feedback from their peers during conversations. Hence they learn what to say, what not to say and how to act.

People who can't tune in to what other people are thinking/feeling or read body language well never realize it when they themselves say something stupid or commit a social faux pas. As a result, these people never really learn from their interactions or learn very slowly.

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Originally Posted by Sanctuary [Dear Guest/Member you have to reply to see the link.click here to register]

On another note, I think people who seem gifted socially are like that precisely because they are probably very empathic.

At a young age, people who are very socially attuned into the thoguhts and feelings of others get more precise feedback from their peers during conversations. Hence they learn what to say, what not to say and how to act.

People who can't tune in to what other people are thinking/feeling or read body language well never realize it when they themselves say something stupid or commit a social faux pas. As a result, these people never really learn from their interactions or learn very slowly.

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I agree with the above

I think this is exactly why cues from physical appearance can be misleading. Empathic feedback, social acumen and interaction cues will give a much better and more accurate picture of the person's personality than examining a person's posture or appearance. A good judge of character will place most value on them.

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Originally Posted by Sanctuary [Dear Guest/Member you have to reply to see the link.click here to register]

You've never walked into a bar or party, taken a look around, and made generalizations about the people there?

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Of course I have.

But chances are, they're interacting with each other, therefore their demeanor and actions will affect my judgments of them.

Of course aspects of a person's personality can be determined by their physical appearance. Ask a cartoonist to draw a bully, and he'll draw someone with a wide face, and straight eye brows. Ask them to draw a snob, and they'll draw someone with a thin face, and an upturned nose. Ask them to draw a sweet girl, and they'll draw someone with big eyes, and a button nose. Caricaturist make a living by expressing personality through facial features alone.

I guess the real question is why? Do our personalities grow to match our appearance, or does our appearance grow to match our personality?

Duh comes to mind as the right answer here.
If a person looks sad/happy, then I think they might be sad/happy.
That required a research team to figure out?

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Originally Posted by Sanctuary [Dear Guest/Member you have to reply to see the link.click here to register]

On another note, I think people who seem gifted socially are like that precisely because they are probably very empathic.

At a young age, people who are very socially attuned into the thoguhts and feelings of others get more precise feedback from their peers during conversations. Hence they learn what to say, what not to say and how to act.

People who can't tune in to what other people are thinking/feeling or read body language well never realize it when they themselves say something stupid or commit a social faux pas. As a result, these people never really learn from their interactions or learn very slowly.

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I think the more befitting word would be perceptive rather than empathic.

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Originally Posted by ds615 [Dear Guest/Member you have to reply to see the link.click here to register]

Duh comes to mind as the right answer here.
If a person looks sad/happy, then I think they might be sad/happy.
That required a research team to figure out?

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Those are emotions, not personality traits.

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Originally Posted by Spring Haze [Dear Guest/Member you have to reply to see the link.click here to register]

I think the more befitting word would be perceptive rather than empathic.

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I did mean empathic, but apparently I lost all ability to accurately convey my thoughts onto written form and the result was a muddled and poorly written post.