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'Looks may decide whether to trust a person'
Thursday May 17, 2012 09:13:22 AM,
IANS
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London: Looks more likely decide who we would trust
with our money rather than their reputation, says a new study.
Researchers from Britain's University of Warwick Business School
and the University College London along with colleagues at the
Dartmouth College, US, carried out a series of experiments to see
if people made decisions to trust others based on their faces.
They found people are more likely to invest money in someone whose
face is generally perceived as trustworthy, even when they are
given negative information about that person's reputation, the
journal Public library of Science ONE reports.
The team used a computer algorithm to create a set of 20 pairs of
faces at opposing ends of the trustworthiness scale. This computer
software modifies the apparent trustworthiness of faces by
altering their features, according to a Warwick statement.
Researchers were able to experimentally manipulate the unfakeable
features (those related to shape of the face) that make a person
look trustworthy or untrustworthy. These 40 faces were then used
in a series of trust games with participants.
Each volunteer was given a sum of money and told they could invest
any part of the amount in a trustee whose face appeared on the
screen. Any amount they invested would be tripled and volunteers
were told it was then up to the trustee to decide how much to send
back to them.
Thus participants had an incentive to invest only in trustees who
could be expected to return more than the invested amount.
Researchers found that 13 out of 15 participants invested more, on
average, in the trustworthy identities.
In a second experiment, researchers gave the volunteers
information about whether the trustees had good or bad histories.
Even with this inside information, the average amount invested in
those who looked 'trustworthy' was six percent higher.
Chris Olivola from the University of Warwick's Business School
said: "Trustees with good and bad histories benefited equally from
trustworthy-looking facial features. The temptation to judge
strangers by their faces is hard to resist."
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