Credit: Image courtesy of Jonathan Freeman and Eric Hehman.
We can alter our facial features in ways that make us look more trustworthy, but don’t have the same ability to appear more competent, a team of NYU psychology researchers has found. A face resembling a happy expression, with upturned eyebrows and upward curving mouth, is likely to be seen as trustworthy while one resembling an angry expression, with downturned eyebrows, likely to be seen as untrustworthy. However, competence judgments are based on facial structure, a trait that cannot be altered, with wider faces seen as more competent.