Face attractiveness in building trust: Evidence from measurement of implicit and explicit responses

• Na Zhao

  Chinese Academy of Sciences

• Mingjie Zhou

  Chinese Academy of Sciences

• Yuanyuan Shi

  Chinese Academy of Sciences

• Jianxin Zhang

  Chinese Academy of Sciences

We explored individuals’ behavior in relation to level of trust when they encounter attractive or unattractive faces. Individuals’ implicit responses were examined in Experiment 1 and their explicit responses in Experiment 2. Results of Experiment 1 indicated that the latency of the unattractive faces with words indicating trust or attractive faces with words indicating distrust (incompatible group) was twice as long as that of the attractive faces with trust words or unattractive faces with distrust words (compatible group). In Experiment 2, we used an investment game to measure individuals’ explicit trusting behavior and found that participants gave significantly more money to attractive partners than they did to unattractive partners. These findings extend understanding of the relationship between perceptions of attractiveness and trust building.

1. Na Zhao, Chinese Academy of Sciences
   Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology
2. Mingjie Zhou, Chinese Academy of Sciences
   Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology
3. Yuanyuan Shi, Chinese Academy of Sciences
   Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology
4. Jianxin Zhang, Chinese Academy of Sciences
   Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology

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