People vote based on who looks competent

[fourier jr]

Competent faces can swing voters, researchers say
Last Updated: Monday, October 22, 2007 | 6:30 PM ET
CBC News

Who will be the next prime minister of Canada, or the next president of the United States?

According to a study by Princeton University researchers, choosing a leader can all come down to voters' quick glances of the candidates.

Voters form snap judgments of the competency of a candidate based on his or her facial features, Charles Ballew and Alexander Todorov wrote in the latest issue of the periodical Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

The researchers asked test subjects to judge competency after viewing each candidate's photo. Subjects were shown the photos for three durations: 100 milliseconds, 250 milliseconds and an unlimited amount of time.

"Predictions were as accurate after a 100-ms exposure to the faces of the winner and the runner-up as exposure after 250 ms and unlimited time exposure," the duo wrote. "The findings suggest that rapid, unreflective judgments of competence from faces can affect voting decisions."

*snip*

The predictions were improved when issues such as gender and ethnicity were factored out, the report said. Of the 55 gubernatorial races where the candidates were the same gender and ethnicity, the correct predictions improved slightly to 69 per cent.

Groups of between 64 and 120 students at Princeton, in New Jersey, were used in the studies.

The researchers said their study showed that while a competent face may not be the main reason a political candidate gets elected, it is a key factor.

"Competent-looking incumbents may deter undecided voters, who have a mild preference for challengers, from voting for the challenger," they wrote.

"Our findings suggest that, in many cases, the effects of appearance on voting decisions may be subtle and not easily recognized by voters."

http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2007/10/22/science-faces.html

How long before politicians figure out a way to exploit this?

 

[BobG]

If they haven't, then it's because some things are hard to fake. The phenomenon itself has been studied for a while: http://www.apa.org/monitor/mar05/slices.html

In just the first few seconds of a class, the class as a whole can judge the effectiveness of a teacher and predict how effectively they'll learn the subject. I'm not sure the principle would be nearly as effective when judging Presidential candidates since most voters have no experience in diplomatic negotiations, cabinet meetings, and so on. That doesn't mean they don't apply it. Kennedy capitalized on it. Reagan capitalized on it. Clinton capitalized on it. Bush capitalized on it. Carter even capitalized on it - at least during his first campaign. Obviously, the results of picking a President that way have varied.

A campaign of Romney's hair vs Edward's hair perhaps? Maybe not that superficial, but reasons for voting for a candidate aren't particularly deep.

 

[kach22i]

Looks count more than anything else, however it still takes more than "just" looks.

Groups of between 64 and 120 students at Princeton, in New Jersey, were used in the studies.

Small study using a narrow age group, but I bet if the scope of a similar study were expanded to include more the results would be the same.

 

[ZapperZ]

People seem to think they know what might affect how people vote. There is another study that says that "word of mouth" through people that we know tend to be more influential than actual candidates policies.

http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/31462;jsessionid=DC855907538108AEFF20839F44E6C0D3

So take your pick.

Zz.