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

Author

Listed:
  • Poutvaara, Panu
  • Jordahl, Henrik
  • Berggren, Niclas

Abstract

Recent research has documented that competent-looking political candidates do better in US 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 2772 respondents of the facial appearance of 1785 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.

Suggested Citation

  • Poutvaara, Panu & Jordahl, Henrik & Berggren, Niclas, 2009. "Faces of politicians: Babyfacedness predicts inferred competence but not electoral success," Munich Reprints in Economics 19800, University of Munich, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:lmu:muenar:19800
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    Cited by:

    1. Geiler, Philipp & Renneboog, Luc & Zhao, Yang, 2018. "Beauty and appearance in corporate director elections," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 1-12.
    2. Berggren, Niclas & Jordahl, Henrik & Poutvaara, Panu, 2017. "The right look: Conservative politicians look better and voters reward it," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 79-86.
    3. Chen, Jiuqi & Wu, Peixuan & Feng, Wenjin & Jiang, Yushi & Fan, Youqing, 2025. "None of my business: The impact of anthropomorphism on helping behavior in access-based consumption," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 201(C).
    4. Lv, Xingyang & Liu, Yue & Luo, Jingjing & Liu, Yuqing & Li, Chunxiao, 2021. "Does a cute artificial intelligence assistant soften the blow? The impact of cuteness on customer tolerance of assistant service failure," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    5. repec:plo:pone00:0180837 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Niclas Berggren & Henrik Jordahl & Panu Poutvaara, 2010. "The Right Look: Conservative Politicians Look Better and their Voters Reward it," CESifo Working Paper Series 3310, CESifo.
    7. Harry Garretsen & Janka I. Stoker & Rob Alessie & Joris Lammers, 2014. "Simply a Matter of Luck & Looks? Predicting Elections when Both the World Economy and the Psychology of Faces Count," CESifo Working Paper Series 4857, CESifo.
    8. Preclik Christopher-David, 2024. "From Gerontocratic Rule to Political Adultism: The Experiential Bias in Germany’s Aging Electoral Democracy and the Limitations of a Vote 16 Policy," Statistics, Politics and Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 15(2), pages 137-167.
    9. Panu Poutvaara, 2017. "Beauty in Politics," CESifo Forum, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 18(01), pages 37-43, April.
    10. Liu, Biqiang & Li, Yaoqi, 2022. "Teddy-bear effect in service recovery," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    11. Daniel E Re & David W Hunter & Vinet Coetzee & Bernard P Tiddeman & Dengke Xiao & Lisa M DeBruine & Benedict C Jones & David I Perrett, 2013. "Looking Like a Leader–Facial Shape Predicts Perceived Height and Leadership Ability," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(12), pages 1-10, December.
    12. Chen, Yuzhou & Sealy, Chezham L. & Swanquist, Quinn T. & Whited, Robert L., 2024. "Audit partner facial traits, gender, and career outcomes," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    13. Abel François & Sophie Panel & Laurent Weill, 2023. "Dictators’ facial characteristics and foreign direct investment," Post-Print hal-03969697, HAL.
    14. Zhang, Yun & Li, Xia & Liu, Rongqin & Shuai, Qinghong & Huang, Caiyan, 2025. "How facial cues of streamers drive purchase intention in live streaming commerce: Based on a lens model," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    15. Agnihotri, Arpita & Bhattacharya, Saurabh & Vrontis, Demetris, 2024. "Can salespersons help firms overcome brand image crisis? Role of facial appearance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, 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

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