IF YOU think that elections are becoming more about a politician鈥檚 image and less about policies, this will worry you: candidates who simply look more competent than their opponent are far more likely to win, according to a study of US congressional elections.
Alexander Todorov of Princeton University and his colleagues looked at how candidates鈥� faces can influence an election. They showed more than 800 people pairs of photographs of similar-looking candidates who had competed against each other in elections for the US senate or house of representatives. After seeing each face for less than a second, the participants were asked to judge them according to various criteria, including intelligence, likability, age, competence, trustworthiness, charisma, attractiveness and familiarity. If a participant recognised any of the candidates鈥� faces, the judgement for that pair was discounted.
The researchers found that the candidate judged to be more competent had won in about 70 per cent of the congressional races (Science, vol 308, p 1623). 鈥淚t鈥檚 possible that undecided voters may cast their votes on the basis of who looks the most competent by their face, or even that party leaders are promoted up the ranks according to their 鈥榗ompetent鈥� faces,鈥� says Todorov.
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鈥淚t is possible that undecided voters may cast their votes on the basis of whose face looks the most competent鈥�
So what exactly does a competent person look like? In a related paper, psychologist Leslie Zebrowitz from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, says the trait is associated with facial maturity, the opposite of a 鈥渂aby face鈥� (Science, vol 308, p 1565). A round face, large eyes, small nose, high forehead and small chin are all baby-faced features. 鈥淎lthough the study doesn鈥檛 tell us exactly what competence is, its traits include physical strength, social dominance and intellectual shrewdness, and baby-faced people are perceived as lacking in all these qualities, regardless of sex and ethnicity,鈥� she says. 鈥淲e often conclude that baby-faced adults are naive and weak.鈥�
If US citizens are choosing candidates based on how they look, it could explain why they have never chosen a woman president, says Zebrowitz.
鈥淪electing against baby-facedness could be a contributing factor, since women are naturally more baby-faced than men,鈥� she points out. 鈥淏ut the gap narrows when a mature-faced woman competes against a baby-faced man for a job requiring competence.鈥�
