In 2003, the Princeton psychologist Alexander Todorov began to suspect that, except for those people who have hard-core political beliefs, the reasons we vote for particular candidates could have less to do with politics and more to do with basic cognitive processes—in particular, perception. When people are asked about their ideal leader, one of the single most important characteristics that they say they look for is competence—how qualified and capable a candidate is. Todorov wondered whether that judgment was made on the basis of intuitive responses to basic facial features rather than on any deep, rational calculus. It would make sense: in the past, extensive research has shown just how quickly we form impressions of people’s character traits, even before we’ve had a conversation with them. That impression then colors whatever else we learn about them, from their hobbies to, presumably, their political abilities. In other words, when we think that we are making rational political judgments, we could be, in fact, judging someone at least partly based on a fleeting impression of his or her face.
Group items matching
in title, tags, annotations or url
1More
Grand Theft Auto V's Torture Scene: How Evil Should a Video Game Allow You to Be? ... - 0 views
1More
100 Diagrams that changed the world - 0 views
1More
Letter from Nairobi: The Death of Kofi Awoonor : The New Yorker - 0 views
3,000 Years of Human History, Described in One Set of Mathematical Equations | Surprisi... - 1 views
1More
How Social Media Is Changing Organ Donation : The New Yorker - 0 views
1More
How Music Makes Us Feel Better : The New Yorker - 0 views
1More
Steven Pinker's Queer Take On Scientism | Psychology Today - 0 views
1More
The Dangers of Pseudoscience - NYTimes.com - 0 views
Unusable Words : The New Yorker - 0 views
1More
The Trouble with Snooze Buttons (and with Modern Sleep) : The New Yorker - 1 views
« First
‹ Previous
61 - 80 of 194
Next ›
Last »
Showing 20▼ items per page