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Research Article

The functional basis of face evaluation

Nikolaas N. Oosterhof and Alexander Todorov
PNAS August 12, 2008 105 (32) 11087-11092; https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0805664105
Nikolaas N. Oosterhof
Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08540
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Alexander Todorov
Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08540
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  • For correspondence: atodorov@princeton.edu
  1. Communicated by Charles G. Gross, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, June 12, 2008 (received for review March 20, 2008)

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Abstract

People automatically evaluate faces on multiple trait dimensions, and these evaluations predict important social outcomes, ranging from electoral success to sentencing decisions. Based on behavioral studies and computer modeling, we develop a 2D model of face evaluation. First, using a principal components analysis of trait judgments of emotionally neutral faces, we identify two orthogonal dimensions, valence and dominance, that are sufficient to describe face evaluation and show that these dimensions can be approximated by judgments of trustworthiness and dominance. Second, using a data-driven statistical model for face representation, we build and validate models for representing face trustworthiness and face dominance. Third, using these models, we show that, whereas valence evaluation is more sensitive to features resembling expressions signaling whether the person should be avoided or approached, dominance evaluation is more sensitive to features signaling physical strength/weakness. Fourth, we show that important social judgments, such as threat, can be reproduced as a function of the two orthogonal dimensions of valence and dominance. The findings suggest that face evaluation involves an overgeneralization of adaptive mechanisms for inferring harmful intentions and the ability to cause harm and can account for rapid, yet not necessarily accurate, judgments from faces.

  • emotions
  • face perception
  • social cognition

Footnotes

  • ↵*To whom correspondence should be addressed at: Department of Psychology, Green Hall, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544-1010. E-mail: atodorov{at}princeton.edu
  • Author contributions: N.N.O. and A.T. designed research; N.N.O. and A.T. performed research; N.N.O. implemented computer models; A.T. analyzed data; and A.T. wrote the paper.

  • The authors declare no conflict of interest.

  • This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/0805664105/DCSupplemental.

  • Received March 20, 2008.
  • © 2008 by The National Academy of Sciences of the USA
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The functional basis of face evaluation
Nikolaas N. Oosterhof, Alexander Todorov
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Aug 2008, 105 (32) 11087-11092; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0805664105

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The functional basis of face evaluation
Nikolaas N. Oosterhof, Alexander Todorov
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Aug 2008, 105 (32) 11087-11092; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0805664105
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