Seeing Is Believing: Facial Appearance, Credibility, and Attitude Change

One-hundred twenty-eight subjects (64 female, 64 male) viewed either a babyfaced or maturefaced female speaker delivering a persuasive communication, and also received information designed to make the speaker seem either untrustworthy or inexpert. Subjects indicated how much they agreed with the speaker's position and completed other measures concerning her appearance and their perceptions of her speech. Babyfaced speakers induced more agreement with their position than did maturefaced speakers when trustworthiness was in question, presumably because babyfaced speakers still appeared honest due to their babyish facial features. Conversely, maturefaced speakers produced more attitude agreement as compared to babyfaced speakers when expertise was questioned, perhaps because knowledgeability was still communicated via their mature countenance. Attitude change was not related to perceived likability, age, attractiveness, or communication skills of the speakers, or subjects' interest in the topic. Over 80 million people watched at least one of the 1960 KennedyNixon television debates. Those who listened to them on the radio tended to think Richard Nixon had outdone the youthful, inexperienced JFK. The Republican's words carried more weight. Those who watched on television, however, proclaimed Kennedy the winner. His words were less important than his warmth [and] his sincerity. . . . All of these qualities came across on television. —Krauss, in Davis & Baran (1981, pp. 103-104) Although the advent of television did not mark the beginning of formal study of the manner jn which qualities of persuasive sources influence us, it did serve as a catalyst to elucidate the nature of the relationship between physical appearance and persuasion. Indeed, score of studies conducted since the early 1960s have examined the effects of readily discernible qualities of sources, particularly physical attractiveness, on their ability to modSheila Brownlow is affliated with Catawba College, Salisbury, North Carolina. Requests for reprints should be addressed to Sheila Brownlow, Catawba College, Salis-