Don't judge a book by its cover, although it's hard. No wonder a solid handshake and confident grin are excellent first impressions.
According to Brandeis University psychologist Leslie Zebrowitz, PhD, your eyes and nose don't matter. Instead, four uncommon face traits will likely be judged.
In Current Direction in Psychological Science, Dr. Zebrowitz explored how we create initial impressions of others.
She identified the four most attractive facial qualities by researching brain responses to faces:
Familiarity
fitness
emotional
resemblance
Babyfaceness refers to persons with "baby faces," or huge eyes, short chins, round features, and broad foreheads.
The more familiar and "fit" (healthy) your face seems, the more others will see you as "likable, intelligent, and capable."
"The first is trustworthiness, and seems to reflect our perceptions of how likely we think someone would be to inflict harm on us," he explains.
"The second is dominance, and seems to reflect our impressions of how capable a person would be to inflict harm on us."
Dr. Jones, who was not involved in the research, says a person's attitude, especially tiny smiles and frowns, helps establish trustworthiness.
Babyfacedness, strength, and age determine supremacy. Dr. Jones is studying cultural differences in face initial impressions.