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Facial appearance, gender, and credibility in television commercials

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Abstract

The facial appearance of television spokespersons and the trustworthiness and expertise of the appeals delivered by them were independently rated. Babyfaced persons and females delivered communications which were less expert, but more trustworthy, than those communications delivered by maturefaced persons and males. These effects were independent of the spokespersons' perceived age, attractiveness, and amount of smiling. The findings are consistent with past research which has demonstrated that babyfaced people are perceived as less knowledgeable, but more honest, than those who are maturefaced.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Brandeis University, 02254, Waltham, MA

    Sheila Brownlow & Leslie A. Zebrowitz

Authors
  1. Sheila Brownlow
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  2. Leslie A. Zebrowitz
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Additional information

The authors are grateful to Mike Berbaum, Diane Berry, and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on an earlier draft. Portions of this research were presented at the 59th Annual Meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association in April, 1988, in Buffalo, N.Y.

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Brownlow, S., Zebrowitz, L.A. Facial appearance, gender, and credibility in television commercials. J Nonverbal Behav 14, 51–60 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01006579

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01006579

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