Who likes whom? The interaction between perceiver personality and target look

Abstract

We investigated determinants of liking at zero-acquaintance, focusing on individual differences in perceivers’ reactions to appearance cues. Perceivers (N = 385) viewed portrait photographs of Targets (N = 146). Perceiver’s Agreeableness and Extraversion were uniquely associated with liking targets. Targets who expressed positive emotions, looked relaxed, were physically attractive, and looked healthy and energetic, were the most liked. There were individual differences in how perceivers were influenced by almost all appearance cues, and traits could explain some of these differences. High Openness was, as expected, associated with liking targets who looked less traditional, more distinctive, and less well prepared. Physical attractiveness made more (less) of an impression on those high in Extraversion (Openness). Perceivers rated targets who displayed non-Duchenne (fake) smiles less favorably than targets who did not smile or targets who displayed Duchenne (authentic) smiles. High Neuroticism and high Conscientiousness were associated with viewing non-Duchenne smiles even more negatively.