Face Value : The Irresistible Influence of First Impressions / Alexander Todorov.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Todorov, Alexander, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Social psychology.

Body image.

Social perception.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (337 pages) : color illustrations

Place of Publication:

Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press, [2017]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

The scientific story of first impressions-and why the snap character judgments we make from faces are irresistible but usually incorrectWe make up our minds about others after seeing their faces for a fraction of a second-and these snap judgments predict all kinds of important decisions. For example, politicians who simply look more competent are more likely to win elections. Yet the character judgments we make from faces are as inaccurate as they are irresistible; in most situations, we would guess more accurately if we ignored faces. So why do we put so much stock in these widely shared impressions? What is their purpose if they are completely unreliable? In this book, Alexander Todorov, one of the world's leading researchers on the subject, answers these questions as he tells the story of the modern science of first impressions.Drawing on psychology, cognitive science, neuroscience, computer science, and other fields, this accessible and richly illustrated book describes cutting-edge research and puts it in the context of the history of efforts to read personality from faces. Todorov describes how we have evolved the ability to read basic social signals and momentary emotional states from faces, using a network of brain regions dedicated to the processing of faces. Yet contrary to the nineteenth-century pseudoscience of physiognomy and even some of today's psychologists, faces don't provide us a map to the personalities of others. Rather, the impressions we draw from faces reveal a map of our own biases and stereotypes.A fascinating scientific account of first impressions, Face Value explains why we pay so much attention to faces, why they lead us astray, and what our judgments actually tell us.

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

Prologue

PART 1. THE APPEAL OF PHYSIOGNOMY

CHAPTER 1. The Physiognomists' Promise

CHAPTER 2. Single- Glance Impressions

CHAPTER 3. Consequential Impressions

PART 2. UNDERSTANDING FIRST IMPRESSIONS

CHAPTER 4. The Psychologist's Trade

CHAPTER 5. Making the Invisible Visible

CHAPTER 6: The Functions of Impressions

CHAPTER 7: The Eye of the Beholder

PART 3: THE (MIS)ACCURACY OF FIRST IMPRESSIONS

CHAPTER 8: Misleading Images

CHAPTER 9: Suboptimal Decisions

CHAPTER 10: Evolutionary Stories

CHAPTER 11: Life Leaves Traces on Our Faces

PART 4: THE SPECIAL STATUS OF FACES

CHAPTER 12: Born to Attend to Faces

CHAPTER 13: Face Modules in the Brain

CHAPTER 14: Illusory Face Signals

EPILOGUE: More Evolutionary Stories

Acknowledgments

Notes and References

Image Credits

Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 23. Mai 2019)

ISBN:

9781400885725

1400885728

OCLC:

1132667296