This file is part of IDEAS, which uses RePEc data


[ Papers | Articles | Software | Books | Chapters | Authors | Institutions | JEL Classification | NEP reports | Search | New papers by email | Author registration | Rankings | Volunteers | FAQ | Blog | Help! ]

Faces of politicians: Babyfacedness predicts inferred competence but not electoral success

Author info | Abstract | Publisher info | Download info | Related research | Statistics
Author Info
Poutvaara, Panu () (Department of Economics, University of Helsinki)
Jordahl, Henrik () (The Research Institute of Industrial Economics)
Berggren, Niclas () (The Ratio Institute)

Additional information is available for the following registered author(s):

Abstract

Recent research has documented that competent-looking political candidates do better in U.S. elections and that babyfaced individuals are generally perceived to be less competent than maturefaced individuals. Taken together, this suggests that babyfaced political candidates are perceived as less competent and therefore fare worse in elections. We test this hypothesis, making use of photograph-based judgments by 2,772 respondents of the facial appearance of 1,785 Finnish political candidates. Our results confirm that babyfacedness is negatively related to inferred competence in politics. Despite this, babyfacedness is either unrelated or positively related to electoral success, depending on the sample of candidates.

Download Info
To download:

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. Information about this may be contained in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.

File URL: http://www.ratio.se/pdf/wp/pp_hj_nb_babyfaced.pdf
File Format: application/pdf
File Function:
Download Restriction: no

Publisher Info
Paper provided by The Ratio Institute in its series Ratio Working Papers with number 139.

Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML (with abstract), plain text (with abstract), BibTeX, RIS (EndNote, RefMan, ProCite), ReDIF
Length: 16 pages
Date of creation: 18 Jun 2009
Date of revision:
Publication status: Published in Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 2009, pages 1132-1135.
Handle: RePEc:hhs:ratioi:0139

Note: Forthcoming in Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
Contact details of provider:
Postal: The Ratio Institute, P.O. Box 5095, SE-102 42 Stockholm, Sweden
Phone: 08-587 054 00
Fax: 08-587 054 05
Email:
Web page: http://www.ratio.se/
More information through EDIRC

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: (Niclas Berggren).

Related research
Keywords: Babyfacedness; Competence; Beauty; Trustworthiness; Elections;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Models of Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
J45 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Public Sector Labor Markets
J70 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - General

This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Lee, David S., 2008. "Randomized experiments from non-random selection in U.S. House elections," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 142(2), pages 675-697, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Hamermesh, Daniel S., 2006. "Changing looks and changing "discrimination": The beauty of economists," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 93(3), pages 405-412, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
Full references

Statistics
Access and download statistics

Did you know? Authors can create their own profile with links to their works on the RePEc Author Service.

This page was last updated on 2009-11-6.

This information is provided to you by IDEAS at the Department of Economics, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Connecticut using RePEc data on a server sponsored by the Society for Economic Dynamics.