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Science 10 June 2005:
Vol. 308. no. 5728, pp. 1623 - 1626
DOI: 10.1126/science.1110589
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Reports

Inferences of Competence from Faces Predict Election Outcomes

Alexander Todorov,1,2* Anesu N. Mandisodza,1{dagger} Amir Goren,1 Crystal C. Hall1

We show that inferences of competence based solely on facial appearance predicted the outcomes of U.S. congressional elections better than chance (e.g., 68.8% of the Senate races in 2004) and also were linearly related to the margin of victory. These inferences were specific to competence and occurred within a 1-second exposure to the faces of the candidates. The findings suggest that rapid, unreflective trait inferences can contribute to voting choices, which are widely assumed to be based primarily on rational and deliberative considerations.

1 Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA.
2 Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA.

{dagger} Present address: Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY 10003, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: atodorov{at}princeton.edu

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