How you look is who you are: The appearance reveals character lay theory increases support for facial profiling

People are excessively confident that they can judge others’ characteristics from their appearance. This research identifies a novel antecedent of this phenomenon. Ten studies (N = 2,967, 4 preregistered) find that the more people believe that appearance reveals character, the more confident they ar...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: MADAN, Shilpa, SAVANI, Krishna, JOHAR, Gita Venkataramani
Format: text
Language:English
Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2022
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/7247
https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/lkcsb_research/article/8246/viewcontent/Madan_Savani_Johar_Accepted.pdf
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Institution: Singapore Management University
Language: English
id sg-smu-ink.lkcsb_research-8246
record_format dspace
spelling sg-smu-ink.lkcsb_research-82462023-08-11T05:47:31Z How you look is who you are: The appearance reveals character lay theory increases support for facial profiling MADAN, Shilpa SAVANI, Krishna JOHAR, Gita Venkataramani People are excessively confident that they can judge others’ characteristics from their appearance. This research identifies a novel antecedent of this phenomenon. Ten studies (N = 2,967, 4 preregistered) find that the more people believe that appearance reveals character, the more confident they are in their appearance-based judgments, and therefore, the more they support the use of facial profiling technologies in law enforcement, education, and business. Specifically, people who believe that appearance reveals character support the use of facial profiling in general (Studies 1a and 1b), and even when they themselves are the target of profiling (Studies 1c and 1d). Experimentally inducing people to believe that appearance reveals character increases their support for facial profiling (Study 2), because it increases their confidence in the ability to make appearance-based judgments (Study 3). An intervention that undermines people’s confidence in their appearance-based judgments reduces their support for facial profiling (Study 4). The relationship between the lay theory and support for facial profiling is weaker among people with a growth mindset about personality, as facial profiling presumes a relatively unchanging character (Study 5a). This relationship is also weaker among people who believe in free will, as facial profiling presumes that individuals have limited free will (Study 5b). The appearance reveals character lay theory is a stronger predictor of support for profiling than analogous beliefs in other domains, such as the belief that Facebook likes reveal personality (Study 6). These findings identify a novel lay theory that underpins people’s meta-cognitions about their confidence in appearance-related judgments and their policy positions. 2022-02-01T08:00:00Z text application/pdf https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/7247 info:doi/10.1037/pspa0000307 https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/lkcsb_research/article/8246/viewcontent/Madan_Savani_Johar_Accepted.pdf http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business eng Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University lay theories appearance facial profiling overconfidence appearance-based judgments Marketing Personality and Social Contexts
institution Singapore Management University
building SMU Libraries
continent Asia
country Singapore
Singapore
content_provider SMU Libraries
collection InK@SMU
language English
topic lay theories
appearance
facial profiling
overconfidence
appearance-based judgments
Marketing
Personality and Social Contexts
spellingShingle lay theories
appearance
facial profiling
overconfidence
appearance-based judgments
Marketing
Personality and Social Contexts
MADAN, Shilpa
SAVANI, Krishna
JOHAR, Gita Venkataramani
How you look is who you are: The appearance reveals character lay theory increases support for facial profiling
description People are excessively confident that they can judge others’ characteristics from their appearance. This research identifies a novel antecedent of this phenomenon. Ten studies (N = 2,967, 4 preregistered) find that the more people believe that appearance reveals character, the more confident they are in their appearance-based judgments, and therefore, the more they support the use of facial profiling technologies in law enforcement, education, and business. Specifically, people who believe that appearance reveals character support the use of facial profiling in general (Studies 1a and 1b), and even when they themselves are the target of profiling (Studies 1c and 1d). Experimentally inducing people to believe that appearance reveals character increases their support for facial profiling (Study 2), because it increases their confidence in the ability to make appearance-based judgments (Study 3). An intervention that undermines people’s confidence in their appearance-based judgments reduces their support for facial profiling (Study 4). The relationship between the lay theory and support for facial profiling is weaker among people with a growth mindset about personality, as facial profiling presumes a relatively unchanging character (Study 5a). This relationship is also weaker among people who believe in free will, as facial profiling presumes that individuals have limited free will (Study 5b). The appearance reveals character lay theory is a stronger predictor of support for profiling than analogous beliefs in other domains, such as the belief that Facebook likes reveal personality (Study 6). These findings identify a novel lay theory that underpins people’s meta-cognitions about their confidence in appearance-related judgments and their policy positions.
format text
author MADAN, Shilpa
SAVANI, Krishna
JOHAR, Gita Venkataramani
author_facet MADAN, Shilpa
SAVANI, Krishna
JOHAR, Gita Venkataramani
author_sort MADAN, Shilpa
title How you look is who you are: The appearance reveals character lay theory increases support for facial profiling
title_short How you look is who you are: The appearance reveals character lay theory increases support for facial profiling
title_full How you look is who you are: The appearance reveals character lay theory increases support for facial profiling
title_fullStr How you look is who you are: The appearance reveals character lay theory increases support for facial profiling
title_full_unstemmed How you look is who you are: The appearance reveals character lay theory increases support for facial profiling
title_sort how you look is who you are: the appearance reveals character lay theory increases support for facial profiling
publisher Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University
publishDate 2022
url https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/7247
https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/lkcsb_research/article/8246/viewcontent/Madan_Savani_Johar_Accepted.pdf
_version_ 1779156836392370176