First impressions of facial appearance influences how we perceive others.

We quickly perceive warmth or potential threat simply by looking at a face.

Facial appearance prompts assessment of disposition from trustworthiness to meanness.

As a career prosecutor, I have previously written about whether “looks could kill” and the tendency within the criminal justice system to jump to conclusions about the guilt of a criminal defendant simply by looking.[i] In daily life, we make assessments as well about each new person we meet. Simply by looking at the face, we decide whether a person is positive and warm, or negative and potentially threatening; very important information. And we are apparently better at making these assessments than we think.

First Impressions: Decoding the Face

Alex L. Jones and colleagues (2026) explored the extent to which people judge others on first impression through examining their face.[ii] They list a variety of examples demonstrating the power of first impressions of facial appearance, including predicting election outcomes, judicial rulings, choosing a partner, and deciding who to hire. They also acknowledge that first impressions........

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