Gullibility impressions are based on cues linked to low levels of perceived threat, like babyfacedness & smiles, making judgments based on perceived harmlessness (i.e., positive intentions & low capabilities)

Jaeger, Bastian, and Erdem O. Meral. 2020. “Who Can Be Fooled? Modeling Perceptions of Gullibility from Facial Appearance.” PsyArXiv. April 14. doi:10.31234/osf.io/vw79y

Abstract: In many situations, ranging from cooperative exchange to fraud, people are faced with the challenge to judge how trusting or naïve (i.e., gullible) others are. In three studies, using both theory-driven and data-driven methods, we examine how people form gullibility judgments based on a person’s facial appearance. People have a shared representation of what a gullible person looks like. Gullibility impressions are positively related to trustworthiness impressions, but negatively related to dominance impressions (Study 1, n = 254). Examining the influence of a wide range of facial characteristics, we find that gullibility impressions are based on cues that have been linked to low levels of perceived threat, such as babyfacedness (Study 2, n = 403) and smiles (Study 3, n = 209). Together, these findings show that people form gullibility judgments based on facial cues that are seen as indicators of relative harmlessness (i.e., positive intentions and low capabilities).