Facial First Impressions of Partner Preference Traits: Trustworthiness, Status, and Attractiveness

Abstract

This research used the minimal exposure paradigm to examine facial first impressions of traits of trustworthiness, status, and attractiveness, considered important in verbal models of partner preferences. Heterosexual participants rated opposite-sex faces comprising either naturalistic images or youthful-looking averaged faces on trustworthiness, status, and attractiveness following 33, 100, and 500 ms masked presentation. The pattern masks were phase scrambled to provide the same overall color composition, brightness, and spatial frequency content as the presented faces. Trustworthiness, status, and attractiveness judgments were all reliable at above-chance levels even at 33 ms presentation, and extra time (100 or 500 ms) only led to modest improvement in the correspondence with an independent set of time-unconstrained judgments. The increasing prevalence of online images and internet-based relationships make these findings timely and important.