Resumen de Judging a Book by Its Cover: Children's Facial Trustworthiness as Judged by Strangers Predicts Their Real-World Trustworthiness and Peer Relationships.

Qinggong Li, Gail D. Heyman, Jing Mei, Kang Lee

• This longitudinal research examined whether children's facial trustworthiness as judged by strangers can predict their real-world trustworthiness and peer acceptance. Adults (Study 1) and children (Study 2) judged the facial trustworthiness of 8- to 12-year-old children (N = 100) solely based on their photographs. The children's classmates were asked to report their real-world trustworthiness and peer acceptance. Children's facial trustworthiness reliably predicted these outcomes both initially when the photographs were taken, as well as 1 year later, and this effect was mediated by the initial ratings of real-world trustworthiness and peer acceptance. These results provide evidence for a long-lasting linkage between children's facial and real-world trustworthiness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]