Facial features as personality cues

Two studies examined the effects of the appearance of specific facial featu res on attributions of personality. In Study 1,photographs of men and women were computer-manipulated to have larger than average or smaller than aver age eye size, and wider than average or narrower than average eye spacing. In Study 2, eye size and mouth fullness were similarly altered. Although it was found that neither eye spacing nor mouth fullness had any effect on pe rceptions of the targets' personality or physical characteristics, eye size had strong effects in both studies. Analyses of covariance revealed that t he personality trait ratings that varied with eye size were mediated primar ily by perceived differences in the targets' masculinity-femininity and bab yfacedness, and to a lesser extent by attractiveness.