Understanding the role of faces in person perception: Increased reliance on facial appearance when judging sociability

Faces play a central role in person perception. People spontaneously judge others' personality based on their facial appearance and these impressions guide many consequential decisions. When do people rely appearance? In five studies (N = 1936, four preregistered), we test whether reliance depends the goal of impression formation (i.e., which trait dimension targets are evaluated). Trait are, to large extent, resemblance cues emotional expressions. As expressiveness is component sociability, hypothesized that would more readily perceive sociability faces. We find seen as indicative person's than morality or competence (Study 1, n 338), this was particularly true for traits characterized by expressions (e.g., enthusiasm, playfulness; Study 2, 162). same pattern when examining influence judgment decision-making. confident accuracy judging 3, 527), they value information job candidates looking sociable employee 4, 390), view making hiring decisions appropriate effective 5, 519). Together, our results provide converging evidence especially relevant sociability.