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Facial appearance can influence how people think of a stranger before they have any evidence about that person's character. Researchers have found that people form impressions of attractiveness even when attractiveness is irrelevant to the task they are completing (Ritchie et al. 5). Attractiveness is important during first impressions because it is quicker to evaluate than trustworthiness (Gutierrez-Garcia, et al. 383). This effect extends beyond social situations and dating. Employers, jurors, and patients choosing professionals all make decisions while knowing only a little about a person. A trustworthy appearance can give an advantage even before ruling in qualifications or character. Understanding this bias does not mean pretending facial impressions don’t matter, recognize that it isn’t proof of one's true character. Although facial attractiveness does not guarantee trust, it strongly increases perceived trustworthiness during first impressions because people automatically use attractiveness as a shortcut for positive character evaluation, employment decisions, and legal judgements; but gender, facial typicality, emotional expression, and situational context can strengthen or weaken this bias.
The statistic behind this research shows how easily appearance and trust can become connected. In May 2022, Harper’s Index reported that AI generated faces were perceived as 7.7 percent more trustworthy than human faces (“Harper’s Index”). That statistic came from research by Sophie Nightingale and Hany Farid, who conducted three experiments comparing real faces to AI generated ones. In the third experiment, 223 participants rated trustworthiness on a 7 point scale, the AI faces on average scored 4.82 compared to 4.48 for the real faces (Nightingale and Farid 2). The researchers state, “ Although only 7.7% more trustworthy, this difference is significant” (Nightingale and Farid 2). Since they did not test for perceived attractiveness, there was no way of saying it was the reason the AI faces were more trustworthy. It brings up a larger problem, how a face can look trustworthy when the viewer doesn't know anything about the person. This makes it important to understand what impacts perceived trust and if attractiveness is the strongest.
The influence of attractiveness happens instantly since facial evaluation happens automatically. Nikolaas Oosterhof and Alexander Todorov had participants describe emotionally neutral faces, they reduced more than 1,100 descriptions into a few major dimensions of facial judgement (11087-88). Their models indicated that trustworthiness and dominance are most important in how people evaluate unfamiliar faces, with trustworthiness being closely connected to the broad positive or negative evaluation called valence (Oosterhof and Todorov 11088-89). The researchers conducted further experiments and found further supporting information about attractiveness judgements, they report “ attractiveness judgments were highly correlated with both trustworthiness and the valence component” (Oosterhof and Todorov 11091). An attractive person therefore may be judged on valence and trustworthiness as well as looks. The positive response to a face can make an assumption on if that person is safe, approachable, or honest. This helps us understand that the halo effect is automatic and not voluntary.
Attractiveness judgments happen fast, and they also happen without conscious effort. Kay Ritchie, Romina Palermo, and Gillian Rhodes tested whether attractiveness evaluation was mandatory by instructing participants to learn unfamiliar faces for later recognition without telling them to judge beauty (1-2). Participants learned each identity from either attractive or unattractive photographs and later rated a new, medium attractiveness version of the same face they saw (Ritchie et al. 2-3). The participants were told to rate the new photos independently, but the attractiveness of the old picture had effects on the rating of the new medium-attractiveness pictures. (Ritchie et al. 3-4). The researchers concluded that, “ the formation of the facial first impression of attractiveness is mandatory” and that participants found it difficult to inhibit the already formed impression (Ritchie et al. 5). This finding strengthens the argument that appearance bias cannot be solved by telling people to not be superficial. An employer may intend to focus on experience, a juror may try to focus on evidence, and someone can try to remain neutral when meeting a stranger; yet attractiveness impressions show up before these conscious efforts. Because the process occurs involuntarily, it is hard to not be affected by these biases.
Because attractiveness is processed faster, it may impact judging trustworthiness. Aida Gutierrez-Garcia, David Beltran, and Manuel Calvo compared how 192 participants evaluated attractiveness and trustworthiness across neutral faces versus faces with six emotional expressions at different intensities (379-80). Participants judged attractiveness on average 1,419 milliseconds, while trustworthiness took on average of 1,677 milliseconds (Gutierrez-Garcia et al. 381). Attractiveness and trustworthiness ratings were highly correlated across the neutral faces and the ones displaying emotion. The researchers claim, “Attractiveness processing showed a significant temporal precedence over trustworthiness processing” (Gutierrez-Garcia et al. 383). The researchers explain that temporal precedence does not mean that attractiveness directly causes trustworthiness judgments, but it is consistent with the argument that we use attractiveness as a shortcut when judging trust. (Gutierrez-Garcia et al. 383). This shows how the brain can use accessible information about looks to aid judgement of trust when it does not have information about honesty, reliability, or intent.
This shortcut may have real use, but that does not mean it’s consistently accurate. Oosterhof and Todorov argue that valence judgements overgeneralize facial signals associated if a person should be approached or avoided, while dominance judgements overgeneralize signals of physical strength or weakness (11091). Features that resemble a natural smile can make a neutral face appear trustworthy, while features resembling anger will have the opposite effect (Oosterhof and Todorov 11089-91). Gutierrez-Garcia and her colleagues had similar findings that happy faces were evaluated more attractive and trustworthy, and angry faces evaluated more negatively (381-82). These reactions may act as a greeting or a warning when a person is expressing friendliness, hostility, or fear. However facial evaluation can mistake temporary expression, or a facial structure that resembles expression, for a real personality trait. In an interaction it is reasonable to notice if someone is angry or friendly, but it is dangerous to treat facial attractiveness as proof for good intent.
Attractiveness is not the only facial quality that impacts perceived trust, and its influence differs between observers. Nan Li and Ning Liu had 119 adults rate 281 male faces on trustworthiness, attractiveness, or typicality, meaning how close a face resembles an average or familiar face (3-4). They found that the pattern among these traits are nonlinear rather than a simple pattern like attractiveness increased the same amount as trust. (Li and Liu 9). Trustworthiness judgments relied on attractiveness for already trustworthy faces, but typicality contributed more when the face was deemed untrustworthy or neutral (Li and Liu 9). Gender also played a role, “men relied more on typicality” for untrustworthy or neutral faces, while women relied more on attractiveness when judging trustworthy faces (Li and Liu 10). This explains why attractiveness has an effect without having perfect results. A highly attractive but unusual looking person may receive very differing opinions when judging for trustworthiness because of the observer's gender plays a role when judging trust. The halo effect is still meaningful but factors like the face, the observer, and the judgement being made.
The problem with this halo effect becomes clear when people choose professionals from limited online information. Antonio Olivera-La Rosa and his colleagues recreated the format of an online therapist directory and had 108 participants how likely they would be to pick each therapist (471). The researchers varied the therapists facial attractiveness and professional qualifications, while testing for perceived trustworthiness (Olivera-La Rosa et al. 471). The attractive therapists were chosen more frequently even after controlling for perceived competence and trustworthiness, neither the gender and sexual preferences of the therapist or the participants changed the results (Olivera-La Rosa et al. 471). This complicates the idea that attractiveness matters because it changes perceived trust. In this study attractiveness influenced people's choice beyond trustworthiness and competence. A patient's choices could have represented comfort, familiarity, or something the researchers couldn't break down into one trait. Whichever mechanism, the attractive profiles had an advantage that didn't have to do with qualification or competence. People using online directories should compare qualifications, availability, and experience instead of picking a therapist based on a picture.
Beauty advantages can range from choosing a professional to broad economic advantages. Eva Sierminska and Karan Singhal’s review of labor market research shows that attractive people have better employment opportunities and higher earning potential, especially in occupations dealing with customers (2-5). The authors directly state “Employer discrimination against less attractive workers is present in the labor market” (Sierminska and Singhal 1). The researchers theorize it may be because employers believe attractive workers are more capable, personal preference, customers discriminating, and workers sorting themselves into positions where attractiveness is rewarded (Sierminska and Singhal 3-6). The researchers note that beauty is difficult to measure and can be mistaken for grooming, confidence, and personality (Sierminska and Singhal 9). This shows how attractiveness has a big impact in areas it doesn't seem important. An attractive employee may benefit from the perceived trust and sociability, but the benefits may also come from customer skills. Employers should not assume looks advantages are discriminatory, but also should not outweigh competence or skill.
Legal judgement shows why the outcome of attractiveness bias depends on context. Qun Yang and her colleagues presented 663 participants with male defendants whose faces represent combinations of high or low attractiveness and high or low trustworthiness (1-3). Participants evaluated either a blind date swindle, where appearance could help him trick the victim or a telecommunications swindle, where appearance would be unrelated (Yang et al. 3-7). In the blind date swindle, female participants were more likely to convict the attractive defendant when his face was also untrustworthy, researchers report “the conviction rate was significantly higher for attractive defendants” only under that specific condition (Yang et al. 8). In the telecommunication cases, attractiveness didn’t have an effect, but faces perceived more trustworthy had less punishment (Yang et al. 7-8). When it's possible beauty aids in crime the judgement depending on attractiveness is negative. This shows context can reverse the halo effect when attractiveness appears to have led to a negative outcome. Therefore legal judgements in this context cannot be classified as beauty is good.
Another study provides a limit on how much attractiveness influences guilt. Robin Kramer and his colleagues showed participants five second videos of 60 male defendants paired with robbery, sexual assault, or murder (1978-81). Unlike most other studies showing only one attractive and one unattractive person, their design goes much further (Kramer et al. 1980-81). Prior statistical testing found no effect of attractiveness on crime type guilt, this this study finds that more attractive men were found slightly less guilty of murder, slightly more guilty of sexual assault, and no different in robbery (Kramer et al. 1978). The researchers state “none of these effects had high certainty and all were small in size” (Kramer et al. 1978). They argued that other experiments comparing extreme faces have results that look larger than what usually occurs in a courtroom (Kramer et al. 1984). This doesn’t erase attractiveness bias, but it prevents things being thrown out of proportion. Attractiveness does increase perceived trustworthiness in a first impression, but only has a small effect when given detailed information.
Together the studies show that the extent of attractiveness bias changes depending on the information available. In the first few seconds of meeting someone, a face may be the only information they have, which allows attractiveness, typicality, and expression to have a big impact. Decision making can be impacted in a therapist directory or in an employment interview because of a lack of information. In a real world legal case built on evidence, the context of the situation and appropriate information can weaken or eliminate this bias. This pattern also applies to social life. An attractive stranger at a bar may be perceived as trustworthy and give off a sense of comfort, but this does not prove whether a person is honest. On the other hand, an unattractive or atypical face may create discomfort without the person having malicious intent. People don't have to ignore these feelings, they should instead find more information before judging someone's character.
Since awareness alone may not be strong enough to prevent these biases, big decisions need a structure. In employment, Sierminska and Singhal recommend anonymous applications, removing photographs from resumes, and training decision makers to avoid prejudice (10). Employers can use scoring rubrics, multiple interviews, and written comparisons tied to job qualifications. These practices do not need people to deny the fact that appearance can matter, but require employers to make decisions based on job qualification. Courts face a different problem since faces cannot be anonymous. Judges and attorneys can emphasize evidence as the standard and challenge appearance based claims. Kramer and his colleagues emphasized that it's hard to change facial impression bias even when warned, which means using systematic decision making is a much better option than relying on good intent (1984-85). In social situations the best system would be to find more information before making decisions.
Facial attractiveness has a big impact on perceived trustworthiness because it is processed earlier and automatically. This bias appears with neutral faces and expressive faces, it affects choices involving professionals, employment, and legal judgements. The effect is not always favorable for an attractive person. Gender, typicality, emotional expression, and other evidence can strengthen, weaken, or change the direction of this bias. Rapid facial evaluation may be used as an indicator to decide whether to approach or avoid a person but becomes unreliable when we make decisions based on looks. Adults making big decisions should use structured systems instead of intuition. In everyday life, we should not trust solely because someone is attractive and not withhold trust because someone is unattractive. First impression bias may be unavoidable, but we decide the decisions that come after.
Works Cited
Gutiérrez-García, Aida, et al. “Facial Attractiveness Impressions Precede Trustworthiness Inferences: Lower Detection Thresholds and Faster Decision Latencies.” Cognition and Emotion, vol. 33, no. 2, 2019, pp. 378–385. Taylor & Francis Online, https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2018.1444583.
“Harper's Index.” Harper's Magazine, May 2022, https://harpers.org/harpers-index/?issue_month=05&issue_year=2022. Accessed 28 July 2026.
Kramer, Robin S. S., et al. “The Relationship between Facial Attractiveness and Perceived Guilt across Types of Crime.” Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, vol. 77, no. 10, 2024, pp. 1978–1986. SAGE Journals, https://doi.org/10.1177/17470218231218651.
Li, Nan, and Ning Liu. “The Nonlinear and Gender-Related Relationships of Face Attractiveness and Typicality with Perceived Trustworthiness.” Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 12, 2021, article 656084. PubMed Central, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.656084.
Nightingale, Sophie J., and Hany Farid. “AI-Synthesized Faces Are Indistinguishable from Real Faces and More Trustworthy.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 119, no. 8, 2022, article e2120481119. PubMed Central, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2120481119.
Olivera-La Rosa, Antonio, et al. “Facial Attractiveness Increases the Likelihood of Choosing a Psychotherapist, Irrespective of Sexual Preferences and Perceived Trustworthiness.” Psychotherapy Research, vol. 36, no. 3, 2026, pp. 471–483. Taylor & Francis Online, https://doi.org/10.1080/10503307.2025.2494272.
Oosterhof, Nikolaas N., and Alexander Todorov. “The Functional Basis of Face Evaluation.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 105, no. 32, 2008, pp. 11087–11092. PubMed Central, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0805664105.
Ritchie, Kay L., et al. “Forming Impressions of Facial Attractiveness Is Mandatory.” Scientific Reports, vol. 7, 2017, article 469. Nature, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-00526-9.
Sierminska, Eva, and Karan Singhal. “Does It Pay to Be Beautiful?” IZA World of Labor, no. 161, Mar. 2023, https://doi.org/10.15185/izawol.161.v2.
Yang, Qun, et al. “Effects of Male Defendants' Attractiveness and Trustworthiness on Simulated Judicial Decisions in Two Different Swindles.” Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 10, 2019, article 2160. PubMed Central, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02160.
The statistic behind this research shows how easily appearance and trust can become connected. In May 2022, Harper’s Index reported that AI generated faces were perceived as 7.7 percent more trustworthy than human faces (“Harper’s Index”). That statistic came from research by Sophie Nightingale and Hany Farid, who conducted three experiments comparing real faces to AI generated ones. In the third experiment, 223 participants rated trustworthiness on a 7 point scale, the AI faces on average scored 4.82 compared to 4.48 for the real faces (Nightingale and Farid 2). The researchers state, “ Although only 7.7% more trustworthy, this difference is significant” (Nightingale and Farid 2). Since they did not test for perceived attractiveness, there was no way of saying it was the reason the AI faces were more trustworthy. It brings up a larger problem, how a face can look trustworthy when the viewer doesn't know anything about the person. This makes it important to understand what impacts perceived trust and if attractiveness is the strongest.
The influence of attractiveness happens instantly since facial evaluation happens automatically. Nikolaas Oosterhof and Alexander Todorov had participants describe emotionally neutral faces, they reduced more than 1,100 descriptions into a few major dimensions of facial judgement (11087-88). Their models indicated that trustworthiness and dominance are most important in how people evaluate unfamiliar faces, with trustworthiness being closely connected to the broad positive or negative evaluation called valence (Oosterhof and Todorov 11088-89). The researchers conducted further experiments and found further supporting information about attractiveness judgements, they report “ attractiveness judgments were highly correlated with both trustworthiness and the valence component” (Oosterhof and Todorov 11091). An attractive person therefore may be judged on valence and trustworthiness as well as looks. The positive response to a face can make an assumption on if that person is safe, approachable, or honest. This helps us understand that the halo effect is automatic and not voluntary.
Attractiveness judgments happen fast, and they also happen without conscious effort. Kay Ritchie, Romina Palermo, and Gillian Rhodes tested whether attractiveness evaluation was mandatory by instructing participants to learn unfamiliar faces for later recognition without telling them to judge beauty (1-2). Participants learned each identity from either attractive or unattractive photographs and later rated a new, medium attractiveness version of the same face they saw (Ritchie et al. 2-3). The participants were told to rate the new photos independently, but the attractiveness of the old picture had effects on the rating of the new medium-attractiveness pictures. (Ritchie et al. 3-4). The researchers concluded that, “ the formation of the facial first impression of attractiveness is mandatory” and that participants found it difficult to inhibit the already formed impression (Ritchie et al. 5). This finding strengthens the argument that appearance bias cannot be solved by telling people to not be superficial. An employer may intend to focus on experience, a juror may try to focus on evidence, and someone can try to remain neutral when meeting a stranger; yet attractiveness impressions show up before these conscious efforts. Because the process occurs involuntarily, it is hard to not be affected by these biases.
Because attractiveness is processed faster, it may impact judging trustworthiness. Aida Gutierrez-Garcia, David Beltran, and Manuel Calvo compared how 192 participants evaluated attractiveness and trustworthiness across neutral faces versus faces with six emotional expressions at different intensities (379-80). Participants judged attractiveness on average 1,419 milliseconds, while trustworthiness took on average of 1,677 milliseconds (Gutierrez-Garcia et al. 381). Attractiveness and trustworthiness ratings were highly correlated across the neutral faces and the ones displaying emotion. The researchers claim, “Attractiveness processing showed a significant temporal precedence over trustworthiness processing” (Gutierrez-Garcia et al. 383). The researchers explain that temporal precedence does not mean that attractiveness directly causes trustworthiness judgments, but it is consistent with the argument that we use attractiveness as a shortcut when judging trust. (Gutierrez-Garcia et al. 383). This shows how the brain can use accessible information about looks to aid judgement of trust when it does not have information about honesty, reliability, or intent.
This shortcut may have real use, but that does not mean it’s consistently accurate. Oosterhof and Todorov argue that valence judgements overgeneralize facial signals associated if a person should be approached or avoided, while dominance judgements overgeneralize signals of physical strength or weakness (11091). Features that resemble a natural smile can make a neutral face appear trustworthy, while features resembling anger will have the opposite effect (Oosterhof and Todorov 11089-91). Gutierrez-Garcia and her colleagues had similar findings that happy faces were evaluated more attractive and trustworthy, and angry faces evaluated more negatively (381-82). These reactions may act as a greeting or a warning when a person is expressing friendliness, hostility, or fear. However facial evaluation can mistake temporary expression, or a facial structure that resembles expression, for a real personality trait. In an interaction it is reasonable to notice if someone is angry or friendly, but it is dangerous to treat facial attractiveness as proof for good intent.
Attractiveness is not the only facial quality that impacts perceived trust, and its influence differs between observers. Nan Li and Ning Liu had 119 adults rate 281 male faces on trustworthiness, attractiveness, or typicality, meaning how close a face resembles an average or familiar face (3-4). They found that the pattern among these traits are nonlinear rather than a simple pattern like attractiveness increased the same amount as trust. (Li and Liu 9). Trustworthiness judgments relied on attractiveness for already trustworthy faces, but typicality contributed more when the face was deemed untrustworthy or neutral (Li and Liu 9). Gender also played a role, “men relied more on typicality” for untrustworthy or neutral faces, while women relied more on attractiveness when judging trustworthy faces (Li and Liu 10). This explains why attractiveness has an effect without having perfect results. A highly attractive but unusual looking person may receive very differing opinions when judging for trustworthiness because of the observer's gender plays a role when judging trust. The halo effect is still meaningful but factors like the face, the observer, and the judgement being made.
The problem with this halo effect becomes clear when people choose professionals from limited online information. Antonio Olivera-La Rosa and his colleagues recreated the format of an online therapist directory and had 108 participants how likely they would be to pick each therapist (471). The researchers varied the therapists facial attractiveness and professional qualifications, while testing for perceived trustworthiness (Olivera-La Rosa et al. 471). The attractive therapists were chosen more frequently even after controlling for perceived competence and trustworthiness, neither the gender and sexual preferences of the therapist or the participants changed the results (Olivera-La Rosa et al. 471). This complicates the idea that attractiveness matters because it changes perceived trust. In this study attractiveness influenced people's choice beyond trustworthiness and competence. A patient's choices could have represented comfort, familiarity, or something the researchers couldn't break down into one trait. Whichever mechanism, the attractive profiles had an advantage that didn't have to do with qualification or competence. People using online directories should compare qualifications, availability, and experience instead of picking a therapist based on a picture.
Beauty advantages can range from choosing a professional to broad economic advantages. Eva Sierminska and Karan Singhal’s review of labor market research shows that attractive people have better employment opportunities and higher earning potential, especially in occupations dealing with customers (2-5). The authors directly state “Employer discrimination against less attractive workers is present in the labor market” (Sierminska and Singhal 1). The researchers theorize it may be because employers believe attractive workers are more capable, personal preference, customers discriminating, and workers sorting themselves into positions where attractiveness is rewarded (Sierminska and Singhal 3-6). The researchers note that beauty is difficult to measure and can be mistaken for grooming, confidence, and personality (Sierminska and Singhal 9). This shows how attractiveness has a big impact in areas it doesn't seem important. An attractive employee may benefit from the perceived trust and sociability, but the benefits may also come from customer skills. Employers should not assume looks advantages are discriminatory, but also should not outweigh competence or skill.
Legal judgement shows why the outcome of attractiveness bias depends on context. Qun Yang and her colleagues presented 663 participants with male defendants whose faces represent combinations of high or low attractiveness and high or low trustworthiness (1-3). Participants evaluated either a blind date swindle, where appearance could help him trick the victim or a telecommunications swindle, where appearance would be unrelated (Yang et al. 3-7). In the blind date swindle, female participants were more likely to convict the attractive defendant when his face was also untrustworthy, researchers report “the conviction rate was significantly higher for attractive defendants” only under that specific condition (Yang et al. 8). In the telecommunication cases, attractiveness didn’t have an effect, but faces perceived more trustworthy had less punishment (Yang et al. 7-8). When it's possible beauty aids in crime the judgement depending on attractiveness is negative. This shows context can reverse the halo effect when attractiveness appears to have led to a negative outcome. Therefore legal judgements in this context cannot be classified as beauty is good.
Another study provides a limit on how much attractiveness influences guilt. Robin Kramer and his colleagues showed participants five second videos of 60 male defendants paired with robbery, sexual assault, or murder (1978-81). Unlike most other studies showing only one attractive and one unattractive person, their design goes much further (Kramer et al. 1980-81). Prior statistical testing found no effect of attractiveness on crime type guilt, this this study finds that more attractive men were found slightly less guilty of murder, slightly more guilty of sexual assault, and no different in robbery (Kramer et al. 1978). The researchers state “none of these effects had high certainty and all were small in size” (Kramer et al. 1978). They argued that other experiments comparing extreme faces have results that look larger than what usually occurs in a courtroom (Kramer et al. 1984). This doesn’t erase attractiveness bias, but it prevents things being thrown out of proportion. Attractiveness does increase perceived trustworthiness in a first impression, but only has a small effect when given detailed information.
Together the studies show that the extent of attractiveness bias changes depending on the information available. In the first few seconds of meeting someone, a face may be the only information they have, which allows attractiveness, typicality, and expression to have a big impact. Decision making can be impacted in a therapist directory or in an employment interview because of a lack of information. In a real world legal case built on evidence, the context of the situation and appropriate information can weaken or eliminate this bias. This pattern also applies to social life. An attractive stranger at a bar may be perceived as trustworthy and give off a sense of comfort, but this does not prove whether a person is honest. On the other hand, an unattractive or atypical face may create discomfort without the person having malicious intent. People don't have to ignore these feelings, they should instead find more information before judging someone's character.
Since awareness alone may not be strong enough to prevent these biases, big decisions need a structure. In employment, Sierminska and Singhal recommend anonymous applications, removing photographs from resumes, and training decision makers to avoid prejudice (10). Employers can use scoring rubrics, multiple interviews, and written comparisons tied to job qualifications. These practices do not need people to deny the fact that appearance can matter, but require employers to make decisions based on job qualification. Courts face a different problem since faces cannot be anonymous. Judges and attorneys can emphasize evidence as the standard and challenge appearance based claims. Kramer and his colleagues emphasized that it's hard to change facial impression bias even when warned, which means using systematic decision making is a much better option than relying on good intent (1984-85). In social situations the best system would be to find more information before making decisions.
Facial attractiveness has a big impact on perceived trustworthiness because it is processed earlier and automatically. This bias appears with neutral faces and expressive faces, it affects choices involving professionals, employment, and legal judgements. The effect is not always favorable for an attractive person. Gender, typicality, emotional expression, and other evidence can strengthen, weaken, or change the direction of this bias. Rapid facial evaluation may be used as an indicator to decide whether to approach or avoid a person but becomes unreliable when we make decisions based on looks. Adults making big decisions should use structured systems instead of intuition. In everyday life, we should not trust solely because someone is attractive and not withhold trust because someone is unattractive. First impression bias may be unavoidable, but we decide the decisions that come after.
Works Cited
Gutiérrez-García, Aida, et al. “Facial Attractiveness Impressions Precede Trustworthiness Inferences: Lower Detection Thresholds and Faster Decision Latencies.” Cognition and Emotion, vol. 33, no. 2, 2019, pp. 378–385. Taylor & Francis Online, https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2018.1444583.
“Harper's Index.” Harper's Magazine, May 2022, https://harpers.org/harpers-index/?issue_month=05&issue_year=2022. Accessed 28 July 2026.
Kramer, Robin S. S., et al. “The Relationship between Facial Attractiveness and Perceived Guilt across Types of Crime.” Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, vol. 77, no. 10, 2024, pp. 1978–1986. SAGE Journals, https://doi.org/10.1177/17470218231218651.
Li, Nan, and Ning Liu. “The Nonlinear and Gender-Related Relationships of Face Attractiveness and Typicality with Perceived Trustworthiness.” Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 12, 2021, article 656084. PubMed Central, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.656084.
Nightingale, Sophie J., and Hany Farid. “AI-Synthesized Faces Are Indistinguishable from Real Faces and More Trustworthy.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 119, no. 8, 2022, article e2120481119. PubMed Central, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2120481119.
Olivera-La Rosa, Antonio, et al. “Facial Attractiveness Increases the Likelihood of Choosing a Psychotherapist, Irrespective of Sexual Preferences and Perceived Trustworthiness.” Psychotherapy Research, vol. 36, no. 3, 2026, pp. 471–483. Taylor & Francis Online, https://doi.org/10.1080/10503307.2025.2494272.
Oosterhof, Nikolaas N., and Alexander Todorov. “The Functional Basis of Face Evaluation.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 105, no. 32, 2008, pp. 11087–11092. PubMed Central, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0805664105.
Ritchie, Kay L., et al. “Forming Impressions of Facial Attractiveness Is Mandatory.” Scientific Reports, vol. 7, 2017, article 469. Nature, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-00526-9.
Sierminska, Eva, and Karan Singhal. “Does It Pay to Be Beautiful?” IZA World of Labor, no. 161, Mar. 2023, https://doi.org/10.15185/izawol.161.v2.
Yang, Qun, et al. “Effects of Male Defendants' Attractiveness and Trustworthiness on Simulated Judicial Decisions in Two Different Swindles.” Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 10, 2019, article 2160. PubMed Central, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02160.
