Are the eyes the mirror of trustworthiness?

Sunday, January 27 2013 | 00 h 00 min | News

Brown-eyed individuals are perceived as being more trustworthy than blue-eyed ones, according to a recent study from the Charles University in Prague.

How did the researchers come to this astonishing conclusion? They showed 238 participants 80 photographs of young men and women with neutral expressions such as that seen in a Canadian passport picture. Participants were asked to rate the faces on over 248 factors related to trustworthiness, attractiveness and dominance. To control the impact of facial features, the researchers switched the eye colour in the photos and repeated the test procedure.

The findings showed that faces with brown eyes were perceived as being more trustworthy than those with blue eyes. However, study authors specified that it wasn’t the eye colour per se that caused this perception, “but rather the facial features associated with brown eyes.” People with brown eyes tend to have round faces with large mouths and chins, which are features linked to trustworthiness in men but – surprise again – not women!

Trustworthiness is no simple matter…

Source:

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0053285#s1