Scientists, you know, those guys that define our society in the shadows, have recently
performed a study that’s come to the conclusion that the human brain judges the trustworthiness
of person based on their facial features.
Dope.
Hey Guys, I’m Will from Sourcefed, guest hosting for DNews.
Researchers here in the US, the place that loves faces more than anywhere else, we invented
instagram, have found that brain activity changes in response to how trustworthy a person
looks, based on just a fleeting look at their face.
Coincidentally, they found out more information leading to why humans make certain preconceived
judgments.
The research found that portions of our brain are doing more subconscious work than previously
thought.
I just thought hot girls were hot, it turns out my brain is smarter than me.
Jonathan Freeman from New York University, resident smart-man stated “we form spontaneous
judgments of other people that can be largely outside awareness.”
Which is how smart people say, “sometimes our brains are mean and sometimes not.”
The study published in the Journal of Neuroscience focused largely on the actions of the amygdala,
the small almond shaped part deep inside your brain.
I google imaged it and it’s kind of gross as is everything inside of your body but fun
to learn about!
The amygdala plays a role in processing strong emotions, so every time that Starbucks barista
gave you a chai tea latte with soy instead of skim milk, that’s what’s been making
you feel that way.
Before the study, Freeman asked a group of individuals to rate whether they trusted certain
individuals based on their faces.
Which I like to call High School orientation.
People surprisingly tended to agree on which faces were trustworthy or not.
Apparently faces with several key features like furrowed eyebrows and shallower cheekbones
are consistently rated as less trustworthy.
So basically, nobody trusts Benedict Cumberbatch.
Another group was instructed to lay in an MRI scanner while they saw faces flash on
a screen.
Each face only flashed for milliseconds.
Which is more than enough time for me personally to judge someone.
Just tell me a dudes name and I’m already mad.
But even though their eyes had small glimpses of the images, they still were unaware they’d
seen the faces.
Even because of this, the amygdala still responded differently to trustworthy and untrustworthy
faces.
That means our brains are quicker at judging than our eyes are.
Freeman also proposed that the biggest question of the study is whether or not the brain activity
somehow altered how people behave.
He stated, “even though people might not have conscious awareness, they might move
back very subtly when perceiving an untrustworthy face, but that is still unknown.”
Apparently Freeman was never a freshman in High School.
What do you guys think?
Have you ever looked at someone and loved them just because?
Let me know in the comments down below!
And if you trust my face, you can see more of it over at Sourcefed.
Thanks for watching.