DIMENSIONS OF SIMILARITY OF FACES - A CRO SS-VALIDATION STUDY

Using a series of three experiments, a cross-validation study on the d imensions of similarity of faces was carried out. In experiment 1, 100 subjects sorted two sets of facial photographs (61 men, 62 women; age range 20-60) into groups of faces similar in appearance. In experimen t 2, a group of 864 subjects rated a subset of 36 male and 36 female f aces on a personality differential consisting of 90 scales and a physi ognomic differential consisting of 29 scales. Each judge rated a singl e photograph on all scales. In experiment 3, the complementary subsets of 25 male and 26 female faces were rated by a third group of 48 subj ects. Each judge rated one set of photographs on eight different scale s from the personality sphere. Nonmetric multidimensional scaling (ALS CAL) was carried out on the similarity judgments obtained in experimen t 1. Using multiple regression procedures, the ratings from experiment 2 were regressed on the coordinates of the similarity spaces. About t wo-thirds of the personality scales and nearly half of the physiognomi c scales could be fitted into the three-dimensional similarity space. By using factor values in place of scale values, the Big Five personal ity factors as well as physical attractiveness and age could be fitted into the three-dimensional space. The regression coefficients obtaine d in experiment 2 were used to predict the scale values of the complem entary subsets of stimulus persons in experiment 3. With the exception of one scale (''unlogical-logical''), the cross-validation was extrao rdinarily successful.