Physiognomy: Difference between revisions

'''Physiognomy''' is the ancient art and now science of deducing the predominant temper and other characteristic qualities of the mind from the outward appearance, especially from the features of the face, possibly including expression and movement patterns across a brief amount of time.[1] Physiognomy has gotten out of fashion in mainstream scientific study due to its pseudoscientific history, with it commonly being compared to forms of quackery such as phrenology (the belief that one could determine a person's personality and their propensity to engage in criminal activity by evaluating the bumps on their head). With the machine learning hype, the field has regained some recognition, e.g., machine learning was used to detect people's individual's behavioral tendencies via facial analysis, however, it remains unclear whether the software can produce above-chance results based on facial or contextual cues.[2]

More tangible results are described below, but none of them have effect sizes large enough that one could assume them to be consistently accurate in actual lived experience. However, proponents of modern physiognomy argue that making decisions based on even a small correlation is superior to doing so based on no information at all. The chances of making a correct prediction increase as certain traits stack on top of each other.

 

Regardless of the validity of physiognomic judgments in general, people frequently make very severe and swift judgements based on stereotypes and perceived physiognomic characteristics. As there appear to be genuine associations between appearance and actual behavior (however weak these associations are), the natural human tendency to 'judge a book by its cover' likely has adaptive value. That is, this tendency helped ancestral man avoid potentially dangerous situations (or choose particularly suitable sexual partners or allies) in his evolutionary past. These cognitive heuristics based on superficial appearance would likely have lead to higher [[reproductive success]] for long enough that this judgmental tendency was bred into the human gene-pool over time.