Extraverts smile more, stand in energetic and less tense ways, and look healthy, neat and stylish. tired) are important cues to judge a variety of traits. "If you want potential employers or romantic suitors to see you as a warm and friendly individual, you should post pictures where you smile or are standing in a relaxed pose," suggests Naumann.įor example, whether you smile and how you stand (tense vs. With this kind of knowledge, individuals can choose to alter their appearance in specific ways, either to make identity claims or shape others impressions of them, Naumann says. Gosling cautioned that observers still make plenty of mistakes, but noted that this latest work is important because it sheds new light on the sources of accuracy and inaccuracy of judgments. "We have long known that people jump to conclusions about others on the basis of very little information," says Gosling, "but what's striking about these findings is how many of the impressions have a kernel of truth to them, even on the basis of something as simple a single photograph." The 10 traits were extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, openness, likability, self-esteem, loneliness, religiosity and political orientation. When observers saw naturally expressive behavior (such as a smiling expression or energetic stance), their judgments were accurate for nine of the 10 personality traits. But most traits were hard to detect under these conditions. The accuracy of the judgments was gauged by comparing them to the aggregate of self-ratings and that of three informants who knew the targets well, a criterion now widely regarded as the gold standard in personality research.Įven when viewing the targets in the controlled pose, the observers could accurately judge some major personality traits, including extraversion and self-esteem. The targets were viewed either in a controlled pose with a neutral facial expression or in a naturally expressed pose. In the study, observers viewed full-body photographs of 123 people they had never met before. "The appearance one portrays in his or her photographs has important implications for their professional and social life." "In an age dominated by social media where personal photographs are ubiquitous, it becomes important to understand the ways personality is communicated via our appearance," says Naumann. These findings will be published in the December 2009 issue of Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, co-written with Simine Vazire (Washington University in St. Despite the crucial role of physical appearance in creating first impressions, until now little research has examined the accuracy of personality impressions based on appearance alone. If you're having fun, others will be more likely to pick up on your energy and feel your enthusiasm.Ĭeleste Headlee is an award-winning journalist, radio host, speaker and best-selling author of " We Need To Talk: How To Have Conversations That Matter ″, "Do Nothing: How to Break Away from Overworking, Overdoing, and Underliving " and "Speaking of Race: Why Everybody Needs to Talk About Racism - and How to Do It." Follow Celeste on Twitter and Instagram. Keep a realistic outlook and think positively. But if you don't expect a perfect performance, you're less likely to overthink and stumble over your words. Meeting people for the first time can be a little awkward, and you might make mistakes. In social interactions, it's easy to overlook the potential upsides and instead obsess over all the things that can go wrong.
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