29-05-2025
Can YOU spot the psychopath based on these headshots? New study reveals subtle clues in people's faces
Would you be able to detect narcissism or psychopathy simply by looking at someone's face?
Science suggests it's possible.
A new study has demonstrated that people with so-called 'dark triad personality traits' share similar facial features and expressions.
They tend to have stronger brow ridges, unreadable expressions, symmetrical faces, narrower eyes, and a direct gaze — and they smile less.
Researchers in Turkey conducted three studies on people from Turkey and America who looked at photos of digitally created faces.
The faces has been carefully crafted based on features associated with high or low levels of Dark Triad traits based on photos constructed by averaging the facial features of real individuals who scored either high or low on Dark Triad trait tests.
The study showed that people could identify all of these traits at least 50 to 75 percent of the time from headshots alone.
Scientists suggest that people's ability to identify these traits may be an evolutionary adaptation that our human ancestors developed to avoid dangerous people.
'Estimating the personality traits of others has adaptive advantages such as being aware of the opportunities and costs that the other party can offer... and it can guide us about behaving and making decisions in our social interactions,' the researchers wrote in the paper published in Personality and Individual Differences.
People with the three main Dark Triad traits —narcissism (grandiose self-obsession), Machiavellianism (cold, tactical manipulation), and psychopathy (impulsive ruthlessness)— are often manipulative and emotional brick walls, typically willing to do or say anything to get their way.
They also have a grandiose sense of self, are typically impulsive, and may engage in dangerous or exploitative behavior, such as love-bombing and emotional blackmail.
People with these traits can be especially adept at hiding them, especially at first.
Narcissists often come off as exceedingly charming and engaging upon meeting them.
Machiavellians, meanwhile, excel at adjusting their moral values based on what will benefit them most and tend to be callous and cold.
Researchers conducted three studies encompassing 880 total people.
They viewed composite images from photos of people who scored very high or very low on personality tests, and were asked to guess which face displayed more of a given trait.
The first study involved 160 Americans who looked at composite face images depicting high and low levels of the Dark Triad and Big Five traits -- openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism (anxious versus stable).
People had to guess which of two faces scored higher on a given trait.
Participants guessed correctly over 50 percent of the time for Dark Triad traits, while the Big Five were identified less often.
There were, however, a few exceptions, including agreeableness – which involves being kind and trustworthy, was the easiest for study subjects to spot, particularly in male faces – 58 to 78 percent of the time; conscientiousness, about 55 percent of the time, and extraversion, roughly 75 percent of the time.
But people consistently struggled to identify openness and neuroticism, which covers emotional instability, anxiety, self-consciousness, and sadness, often guessing the associated faces incorrectly.
They identified extraversion – being outgoing, sociable, and energized by social interactions – only in women's faces, not men's.
In study two, researchers included 322 American adults who participated in the same study as the first but also included demographic questions such as age, ideology, and sex, which helps ensure that effects aren't driven by particular hidden biases, like if one group skews younger or more liberal.
Dark Triad traits were again correctly identified, while identification of the Big Five traits was more mixed.
Again, the only two that were not identifiable were neuroticism and openness. The subjects were not influenced by age, sex, or political ideology.
Study two proved that the results of study one were not a fluke, researchers concluded.
Study three involved 402 Turkish college students who repeated study two, but in a classroom setting.
The results were the same. And they were better than American adults at identifying narcissism, though less able to judge male extraversion and openness.
Researchers did not identify any of the faces belonging to people with psychopathy.
Still, those people with those disorders tend to also possess those personality traits, including callousness, thrill-seeking behavior, ease of manipulating people, and superficial charisma.
Throughout human evolution, being able to 'read' people has proven a key survival mechanism. Spotting personality traits by how someone looks gives people an advantage, telling us to steer clear of a person who seems manipulative or exploitative.
These traits inform the way people act.
People who score high in extraversion are typically easy to spot because they are talkative, energetic, and quick to smile. They exhibit outward cues, including a relaxed posture and a warm expression, that are typically easily recognized.
On the other side of the spectrum, people with the Dark Triad traits are more likely to lie, manipulate, and act aggressively, which makes them more likely to cause trouble in workplaces and in their relationships.
