Perception and Judgment Lab

The following videos illustrate how social judgments change as facial features change. The videos are based on data-driven computational models of social judgments. The models were developed by Oosterhof & Todorov (2008) and Todorov & Oosterhof (2011). For a recent review of how these models are computed, see Todorov & Oh (2021). The models capture systematic biases in judgments or perceptions of visual stereotypes. They should not be used as mapping onto real personality characteristics. For the notorious history of physiognomy — the pseudoscience of reading character from faces — see Chapter 1 of Face Value.

Model of Perceived Dominance

Model of Perceived Extroversion

The following videos illustrate recently developed models of social judgments of hyper-realistic faces. These data-driven ML models of social judgments were developed by Peterson, Uddenberg, Griffiths, Todorov, & Suchow (2022). As the older models illustrated above, these newer ML models capture systematic biases in judgments or perceptions of visual stereotypes. They should not be used as mapping onto real personality characteristics. For the notorious history of physiognomy — the pseudoscience of reading character from faces — see Chapter 1 of Face Value.

Model of Perceived Dominance

Model of Perceived Dominance Controlling for Age