Your facial features could indicate whether you look rich or poor – do you have a ‘resting rich face’?
HAVING a narrow, long-featured and friendly face could make people think you’re rich, a study suggests.
The shape of your face can bias what others perceive about your background and wealth, University of Glasgow researchers found.
Wider faces with flatter features, downturned mouths and a “darker complexion” were deemed incompetent, less trustworthy and poorer.
Dr Thora Bjornsdottir, now of the University of Stirling, said: “In our study, we provide new insights into what makes someone look rich or poor and show how these judgements relate to positive and negative stereotypes, such as competence versus incompetence.
“The results suggest that social class stereotypes explain the link between facial appearance and judgements of individuals’ social class standing.
“This highlights that the stereotypes we hold are consequential for how we perceive others – they bias our perceptions.
“Our impressions of other people can then lead to particular advantages or disadvantages for them.”
Previous research has shown people can guess if someone is wealthy just by looking at their face.
The latest study, published in the APA Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, looked at what traits people look at when deciding if people are rich or poor from their appearance.
They asked 15 men and 15 women aged 22 on average to make snap judgements about a person’s likely wealth or traits based on 3D images they were shown.
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Participants rated where they thought people fell on a seven-point scale of poorest to richest.
Faces deemed rich were also thought to be more trustworthy, warm and competent.
They had chiselled features, raised brows, smiley mouths, closely-spaced eyes and rosy cheeks - dubbed a "resting rich face" by some.
In contrast, so-called “poorer” faces had lowered eyebrows, shorter chins, downturned mouths and darker, cooler skin tones.
Professor Rachael Jack, of the University of Glasgow, said: “Our research demonstrates how specific facial attributes play a pivotal role in connecting social class perceptions with related stereotypes.
“These findings are not only valuable for advancing our understanding of central social perception theories, but could also help with future interventions designed to interrupt biased perceptions.”
What features are linked to looking poor or rich?
Features linked to looking rich included:
- chiselled features
- raised brows
- smiley mouths
- closely-spaced eyes
- rosy cheeks
Features linked to looking poor included:
- lowered eyebrows
- shorter chins
- downturned mouths
- darker, cooler skin tones