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Although we may not like to admit it, we make snap judgments about personality based on people’s appearance. These authors asked 371 participants to judge “head shots” of pairs of competing congressional candidates from the 2000, 2002, and 2004 elections to determine the more competent individual. Subjects were given no further information, and an answer was censored if the subject recognized a face.
When participants had unlimited time to view the photographs, they judged as more competent 71.6% of winners of the Senate races and 66.8% of winners of the House races. To test the effect of fast, unreflective decisions, the researchers allowed another 40 participants only one second to view each pair of faces; subjects’ judgments of competence…