TechBeasts

First impressions of people — such as whether they are trustworthy, dominant or attractive — can develop from a glimpse as brief as 100 milliseconds or less. Brain scans suggests that such judgments are made automatically, probably outside of people's conscious control.

But now, a computer system that mimics the human brain has identified which facial features most influence how others first perceive a person, scientists say. These findings could lead to computer programs that automatically see which photographs would help people give the best first impressions they can, the researchers added.

Because first impressions can affect people's future behavior and can be difficult to overturn, "it's useful to know how we're being judged on our appearance, especially since these judgments might not be accurate — think of effects on court cases or democratic elections, for example," said study co-author Tom Hartley, a cognitive neuroscientist and psychologist at the University of York in England. "Should we really trust a smiling face?"

Although some previous research has suggested that there may be a kernel of truth in some first impressions, Hartley noted that people typically go too far with the judgments they develop from first impressions. "For instance, someone with a young-looking face is judged to have other immature characteristics," Hartley said. "Evidence is clear that often judging a book by its cover is just plain wrong, but we all do it."

Given the increasing presence of faces on social media sites, first impressions could be more important than ever, Hartley suggested.

"Whereas, in the past, we got to know people through meeting them in the flesh, increasingly, our first contact is online, and our first impressions are based on the images we provide on social media profiles," Hartley told Live Science.

Previous research has shown that "the many different judgments characterizing first impressions tend to fall along three underlying dimensions," Hartley said. "One is approachability — do they want to help me or to harm me? The next is dominance — can they help or harm me? The last is youthful-attractiveness — perhaps representing whether they would be a good romantic partner or rival."

 This article originally published at LiveScience here