Temple Professor reveals new findings in studies based on trust by facial features

Temple University professor, Brian Holtz, reveals how CEOs can be judged differently in same situations based on their facial features

When most people think of people they trust, usually those people are someone they have known a long time and have developed a longing, trustful relationship with. Many argue that this trust is built overtime through experiences and events each partner has been through together, however more recently research generated from Temple University has shown quite a different result.

Brian Holtz, an assistant professor at the Fox School of Business’ human resource management department, recently concluded through three different studies that “CEOs with certain facial features were immediately assessed as more trustworthy, and were less likely to get the blame when a company’s financial situation took a dive.”

In the first study, hosted by qualtrics.com, pooled in 609 adults, around 80% of whom were employed. The participants were asked to read a short bio of an employer they were to imagine themselves working for, alongside a photo of the employer purposely chosen to look “trustworthy” or “untrustworthy” by the research team. Those reading the bios rated the employers on trustworthiness based on what they had just read and saw about the employer.

After the first segment, the participants then read an upcoming “pay cut” plan the fake employer was going to implement for the employees due to the company’s financial situation, and again rated the employer on their fairness and how they handled the situation.

For those who saw the picture of the “trustworthy” face were more forgiving towards their employer, and showed sympathy towards the situation, while those who were shown the “untrustworthy” face were more likely to rate the employer poorly and see his pay cut resolution as unfair.

Well what makes a trustworthy face, one might ask? “The most talked about and common sign of an untrustworthy face is a ‘furrowed brow” Professor Holtz said “Downward sloped lips or grimace is often viewed as less trustworthy as well.” The most common viewed “facial cue” as trustworthy is usually a person who is considered to have a “baby face” or someone who looks very young and innocent.

When asked about his time at Temple University, Holtz emphasized the diverse, interesting subjects being studied at the Fox School of Business and shared how the research programs at Temple were a leading factor for his move from Rutgers University-Camden. An Honors teacher and applied psychologist, Professor Holtz added how he enjoys the faculty and how healthy the research environment is here at Temple University.

His main studies revolve around three core topics: trust, perception of fairness, and employee behavior (time wasting, insubordination, sabotage, etc.), the latter he is working on currently. These very important subjects he has been studying for about a decade, first started when he was stuck on the idea that certain “cues” are subjective. “Neurosciences also uncovered how rapidly we shape our perceptions of others, within milliseconds we already form a perception of a person entirely by their face” Holtz said.

From the three studies, Brian Holtz concluded that “fairness is in the eye of the beholder.” Holts challenged the preconceived notion that trust was a consequence of a long-time knowing of one another, and instead tested that trust is established within the first couple seconds of meeting someone and that it can be linked directly to the way that person looks.

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