Perrett suspects the link arises when our prejudices about faces turn into self-fulfilling prophecies, maintaining that our expectations can lead us to influence people to behave in ways confirming those expectations: consistently treat someone as untrustworthy and they will behave accordingly.
This effect sometimes works the other way round, however, especially for the cute. Zebrowitz has found that baby-faced men stimulate an emotional centre of the brain, the amygdala, which provokes a nurturing response from people who interact with them. Perhaps surprisingly, it has also been found they are more likely to commit an offense. Zebrowitz has found baby-faced boys to be assertive too, and more likely to be academically successful, which she suggests may derive from their striving to confound other people’s beliefs about them.
There is another theory that our personality moulds the way our faces look. It is convincingly backed up by a study which found that angry old people looked cross even when asked to strike neutral expressions. A lifetime of scowling has left its mark. In a way then, we get the face we deserve.
Questions
1. Perrett believes that people displaying dishonest behaviour
2. The writer suggests that males with babyish features
3. Zebrowitz believes that people who are trying to appear dominant
4. The writer supports the theory that people’s facial expressions