Psychology: Inferences of competence from faces predict election outcomes

Alexander Todorov; Anesu N. Mandisodza; Amir Goren; Crystal C. Hall

doi:10.1126/science.1110589

Psychology: Inferences of competence from faces predict election outcomes

Alexander Todorov, Anesu N. Mandisodza, Amir Goren, Crystal C. Hall

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1096 Scopus citations

Abstract

We show that inferences of competence based solely on facial appearance predicted the outcomes of U.S. congressional elections better than chance (e.g., 68.8% of the Senate races in 2004) and also were linearly related to the margin of victory. These inferences were specific to competence and occurred within a 1-second exposure to the faces of the candidates. The findings suggest that rapid, unreflective trait inferences can contribute to voting choices, which are widely assumed to be based primarily on rational and deliberative considerations.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	1623-1626
Number of pages	4
Journal	Science
Volume	308
Issue number	5728
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1110589
State	Published - Jun 10 2005

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abstract = "We show that inferences of competence based solely on facial appearance predicted the outcomes of U.S. congressional elections better than chance (e.g., 68.8% of the Senate races in 2004) and also were linearly related to the margin of victory. These inferences were specific to competence and occurred within a 1-second exposure to the faces of the candidates. The findings suggest that rapid, unreflective trait inferences can contribute to voting choices, which are widely assumed to be based primarily on rational and deliberative considerations.",

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AU - Mandisodza, Anesu N.

AU - Goren, Amir

AU - Hall, Crystal C.

PY - 2005/6/10

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Psychology: Inferences of competence from faces predict election outcomes

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