节目组: The World Says 世界说
节目名称: Wrong ideas about faces
V: Hello everyone, welcome to the world says from the VOE foreign languages station, this is Vincent.
S: Good evening, I'm Sherlock. In this program, we will explore an interesting topic; we're talking about first impressions and how they're often wrong.
V: So let's start with the term first impression, it's the idea or opinion that you have about someone after meeting them for only a short time.
S: It's very natural to make a quick judgement about someone based on their appearance or facial expression.
V: We're going to be hearing about results of the research that has been researching our impressions. The tests asked people to decide whether they thought faces were dominant, competent, trustworthy or extroverted.
S: Let's just look at those words for a second. Dominant means being strongest or most important. Competent means being able to do things.
V: While if you're trustworthy it means people trust you – you are worth their trust. And being extroverted means you are energetic and enjoy spending time with others.
如果你是trustworthy，就说明人们相信你,你值得他们信任。而extroverted就是说你精力充沛，乐意与他人交往。
S: So what did the research find out? Faces that look happy and feminine, like a woman - were rated as more trustworthy. While faces that were more masculine – like a man – were seen as more dominant.
V:And wider faces with big eyes were seen as more extroverted.脸庞较宽且眼睛比较大的人被认为比较外向。
S: Now the important thing in the research says that these judgements aren't accurate. Someone who looks competent isn't necessarily competent!
V: So, what does this mean in practice?
S: Trustworthiness, dominance and attractiveness are the three big things that we form impressions of people. But interestingly we have done some work predicting the electoral success of politicians, and the judgement that is most predictive of who is going to win the election is perceived competence. And this is not random at all, because if you ask voters what is the most important attribute of a politician, competence is the one on the top.
V: OK, so this is actually quite significant. People say that the most important attribute – or quality – for a politician is competence – the ability to do things.
S: That sounds fair enough. But because we make judgements based on appearance – this can actually affect how people vote.
V: If voters believe or perceive someone to be competent – they're more likely to vote for him or her. This applies especially to people who are less educated about politics – they are more likely to be influenced by appearance.
S: And this applies to around 25% of voters – so the number of people who go with their gut is large enough to influence the outcomes of elections!
V: Well, to go with your gut. That means to make a decision which isn't based on rational thought – it's based on instinct, on a feeling, on your gut.
S: Yes – your gut is your stomach and the organs in your belly. So, can we tell nothing from a person's face?
V: Faces carry useful information about things like a person's mental state, and whether they're tired or sick. But they don't tell you about a person's character.人的脸上有很多有用的信息，比如他的精神状态，是否疲惫或生病。但是不能告诉你他的性格。
S: Indeed. It's not only elections where this counts, we also judge during job interviews and meetings.
V: So what can we do to minimize the chances of being affected – should we just close our eyes when we meet people?
S: Well, it's not such a bad idea! 美国波士顿交响乐团里就有个例子。大约在50年代，这个乐团里全部都是男性音乐家。后来他们进行了一次盲选试镜，也就是说，他们只听试镜者的演奏而不去看他们长什么样子。
V: And what happened. I guess many more women were selected?
S: Exactly – around 50%. Of course, gender and race are also huge factors in how we perceive faces. We tend to react most positively to faces that look like our own.
V: Right, well, I guess we just need to take a deep breath and try not to judge too much.
S: Easier said than done, I'm afraid. Especially when we judge so quickly! But do we do it in under a second, one second or six seconds?
V: I said one second.
S: In fact it takes under one second.
V: I think it’s safe to say it's very fast. So, that's it for our chat about first impressions – for more do visit our WeChat official account, 时代之声radio. See you next time~
S: Bye for now~
节目监制：苗世钰
编辑：杨晏直 余若天
播音：杨晏直 余若天
制作：张燚铭
