Who looks competent for what? Context-sensitivity in the predictors of competence judgments of faces

Competence ratings of faces predict important social outcomes, including hiring decisions. Here we investigated the role of the perceptual dimensions Valence and Dominance in competence ratings, along with the possibility that these relationships differ according to the type of role (i.e., employment context) for which competence is assessed. Analyses of ratings from >2500 participants showed that (1) Valence positively predicted competence ratings across a wide range of employment contexts, (2) Dominance positively predicted ratings of competence to run a large company, but negatively predicted ratings of competence for jobs requiring effective interaction with the public, and (3) neither Valence nor Dominance significantly predicted competence ratings for jobs requiring no social interaction with either colleagues or the public. These results suggest that mappings between competence ratings and Valence and Dominance can differ according to the type of interaction required for different employment contexts. Collectively, our results highlight previously unrecognised nuance in how people map facial dimensions to first impressions of competence and suggest that considering these context-sensitive mappings may improve the effectiveness of interventions aimed at reducing appearance-based biases in hiring decisions. This research was supported by ESRC grant ES/X000249/1 awarded to BCJ. For the purpose of Open Access, the authors have applied a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) to any Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) version arising from this submission.