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looking only at his or her face (Rule & Ambady, 2010; Rule, Ambady, Adams, & Macrae, 2008;
Rule, Ambady, & Hallett, 2009). [3]
Despite these results, the ability to detect personality from faces is not guaranteed. Olivola and
Todorov (2010) [4] recently studied the ability of thousands of people to guess the personality
characteristics of hundreds of thousands of faces on the website What’s My Image?
(http://www.whatsmyimage.com). In contrast to the predictions of physiognomy, the researchers
found that these people would have made more accurate judgments about the strangers if they
had just guessed, using their expectations about what people in general are like, rather than
trying to use the particular facial features of individuals to help them. It seems then that the
predictions of physiognomy may also, in the end, find little empirical support.
Personality as Traits
Personalities are characterized in terms of traits, which are relatively enduring characteristics
that influence our behavior across many situations. Personality traits such as introversion,
friendliness, conscientiousness, honesty, and helpfulness are important because they help explain
consistencies in behavior.
The most popular way of measuring traits is by administering personality tests on which people
self-report about their own characteristics. Psychologists have investigated hundreds of traits
using the self-report approach, and this research has found many personality traits that have
important implications for behavior. You can see some examples of the personality dimensions
that have been studied by psychologists and their implications for behavior in Table 11.1 "Some
Personality Traits That Predict Behavior", and you can try completing a trait measure at the
website shown in Note 11.5 "Example of a Trait Measure".