Facial resemblance has been observed to enhance

trustworthiness Trust is the willingness of one party (the trustor) to become vulnerable to another party (the trustee) on the presumption that the trustee will act in ways that benefit the trustor. In addition, the trustor does not have control over the acti ...

. As reported by a recent experiment, "resemblance to the subject's own face raised the incidence of trusting a partner". When similarities in appearance are distinguished,

trust Trust often refers to: * Trust (social science), confidence in or dependence on a person or quality It may also refer to: Business and law * Trust law, a body of law under which one person holds property for the benefit of another * Trust (bus ...

tends to be established.

Experiment

The facial resemblance experiment utilized digital

morphing Morphing is a special effect in motion pictures and animations that changes (or morphs) one image or shape into another through a seamless transition. Traditionally such a depiction would be achieved through dissolving techniques on film. Sinc ...

technology to manipulate and combine the faces of persons unknown to the subject with either the subject's own face or another stranger's face. These faces were used in a " trust game" during which the subject would initially determine how much he or she trusts another individual by the face displayed on a screen, and then give some of the money allotted to him or her by the experimenters to the person on the screen. The subjects were told that the money given to the partner would be tripled, and then the receiving partner would decide how much money to return (though in reality no second partner existed). Subjects were shown the computer generated faces, which were described as "playing partners from different universities", and they were asked to give some of their money to the faces shown to them. How much money a subject offers determines his or her trust in the face presented: more money given means more trust in the partner, while less money given means less trust in the partner. The subjects were asked to act as the receiver of money for several rounds to ensure realism.

Prosocial behavior

Facial resemblance does not only enhance trustworthiness, but also increases the chance of

prosocial behavior Prosocial behavior, or intent to benefit others, is a social behavior that "benefit other people or society as a whole", "such as helping, sharing, donating, co-operating, and volunteering". Obeying the rules and conforming to socially accepted beh ...

. One theory is that this prosocial behavior occurs because facial resemblance is a potential cue of kinship. If someone identifies similarities of him/herself in another individual, the tendency to trust is higher. {{cite journal , last=DeBruine, first=L. M. , title=Trustworthy but Not Lust-worthy: Context-specific Effects of Facial Resemblance , journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences , volume=272, number=1566, year=2005, pages=919–922 , doi=10.1098/rspb.2004.3003 , pmid=16024346 , pmc=1564091

Attractiveness

Because of the correlation between facial recognition and trustworthiness, further experiments have been conducted to determine if facial resemblance also applies to other social interactions outside of fidelity. One experiment measured the relationship between facial resemblance and attractiveness. The results conclude, "Though an individual may be viewed as more trustworthy, the effects of resemblance on attractiveness are lower." Facial resemblance had no effect on the attractiveness for a long-term relationship with a person. It did however, affect attractiveness for a short-term relationship.

References

Facial features Psychology experiments