The Big 5 Personality Inventory and the Perception of Trustworthiness in Computer Generated Faces

Title: The Big Five Personality Trait Inventory and Perception of Criminality and Trustworthiness in Computer-Generated Funk Faces

Student Authors: Jordan Davis, Alexis Diana Strawn, Kyle Walker

Graduate Assistant: Ashley Meacham

Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Heather Offutt

Introduction:

In this study, we sought to examine whether the two of the Big Five personality traits (neuroticism and extraversion) are predictive of participants' ratings of trustworthiness in computer-generated emotionally neutral Black faces. We hypothesized that those high in traits such as neuroticism will be less likely to perceive faces as trustworthy because they are more attune with negative signals among faces, while those high in extraversion will be more likely to perceive faces as trustworthy due to being more attuned to positive stimuli among faces. We believe both these hypotheses to be true based on studies demonstrating a link between personality traits of participants and their perception of faces (Zhao et. al, 2001; Perlman et. al, 2009; Funk et. al, 2016; Knyazev et. al, 2008).

Methods:

Utilizing an online survey software, undergraduate students at Georgia State University involved in introductory Psychology courses completed a battery of tasks that are a part of a much larger survey. For the subset of the data that is of interest here, participants completed the Big-5 Personality inventory, measuring subjective levels of personality traits to include conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, extraversion, and openness. Additionally, participants rated previously validated, computer-generated black and white faces on factors such as positivity, negativity, trustworthiness, and criminality.

Results:

1) Those higher in extraversion rate criminally neutral, Black male faces lower in trustworthiness (B = .08)

2) Those higher in neuroticism rate criminally neutral, Black male faces lower in trustworthiness (B = .02)

Note: B = unstandardized regression coefficient

Discussion:

In this study, we looked to measure the potential interaction between Big-5 personality traits and perceptions of trustworthiness. Our results showed that extraversion and neuroticism were both negatively related to trustworthiness, such that those high in both traits perceived faces as less trustworthy. However, it is important to note that our results were not statistically significant due to our insufficient sample size which underpowered our analyses. Therefore, we cannot make any conclusions based on our data. One thing to note is that our results for extraversion contradicted our second hypothesis, thus given a sufficient sample size we wonder whether this result would hold up. Even though our results were not statistically significant, this research could raise questions about eyewitness identification and whether witnesses high in neuroticism or extraversion are at risk of misidentifying criminals or in jury decision-making where those high in neuroticism and extraversion could be predisposed to making a verdict in virtue of their personality traits. Other directions of this research relate to psychotherapeutic contexts where therapists could assist highly neurotic patients in being aware of possible projections that result from their neuroticism.