The Attractiveness Bias & Baby-face Bias
In 1960, John Kennedy and Richard Nixon fought it out in the first Presidential debate. Now, if you’ve seen debates, and you see one till the end, you would probably have a correct guess about the winner of the debate. It may not be the candidate you were supporting throughout the competition but then. the way the debate concludes, should be enough for any outsider to understand who the probable winner is.
In this debate though, a very interesting and somewhat surprising thing happened. When it came to the general public to realise who the winner was, there was no clear answer that pointed to the majority.
It turned out, that almost equal number of people believed Nixon to be the winner, as those people who believed it was Kennedy won the debate. This was confusing not just for analysts, but for the masses too — how could the same debate have different results for equal halves of the people?
In this piece, we’ll be understanding two of the most influential design principles that exists out there — the Attractiveness Bias, and the Baby-face Bias.
To understand what the Attractiveness Bias is, let’s return to the example of the debate between John Kennedy and Richard Nixon. Upon further scrutiny of the results that people had formed in their minds, it was revealed, that those people who saw the debate on television were the ones who thought Kennedy had won. On the other hand, those people who had listened to the debate on radio, thought that Nixon had won.
So, clearly, there must have been some visual details that influenced the television-viewers to sway towards Kennedy. And indeed there was!
You see, on the day of the debate, Nixon was ill — he had a fever. His choice of dress was all of light colours, and he wore no makeup. As a result, his already pale complexion seemed much whiter, and deep shadows formed under his eyes and chin. On the other hand, Kennedy was dressed in dark and sharp colours, he wore makeup, and he had practised the delivery of his talk in a studio before the actual debate. And this made him much more attractive than Nixon — but, only when he was actually seen, not just heard.
This very tendency that people have to believe that attractive people are more intelligent and competent and moral, led to the television-viewers assuming that Kennedy was the clear winner of the debate. And this, is called the Attractiveness Bias.
Almost all of you are inherently aware of this bias. That is precisely why, clear skin, symmetrical facial features, ideal-waist-hip-ratios and indications of status, are sought after so much by everyone. Women tend to use red lipstick for example, to enhance their attractiveness. Similarly, men tend to use expensive cars, and expensive hobbies, to influence others.
And on that note, speaking of cars, I have a question for you. Let’s say you have Pikachu and Iron Man on one hand. On the other side, you have a Volkswagen Beetle and a Lamborghini Aventador. Its probably safe to assume that you know who these are, I guess — and so my question is — Who goes into which car?
You might be thinking, “what a dumb question!” Of course, Pikachu takes the Beetle, and Iron Man gets the Aventador. And you’re right! But, that is not the end of the story.
You see, you chose Pikachu for the Beetle, because both of their physical attributes and personalities somewhat match. Similarly, the looks and personality of an Aventador matches that of Tony Stark.
This is called the Baby-face Bias.
If you’ve seen a Volkswagen Beetle, it looks roundish with big round headlights that look like eyes. Overall, it just looks — cute. Say that to the owner of a Lamborghini though, and you’ll be lucky if you don’t get punched. In reality, people have a tendency to see things with baby-faced features, as having the personality characteristics of babies.
This is why the innocent-looking Pikachu is perfect for a bright yellow Volkswagen Beetle. And again, why the highly masculine and mean-looking matte black Aventador suits people like Iron Man.
These biases are often used in design, sometimes even to manipulate us — but we hardly ever notice it. But, now that you know, you can not only spot these principles in action in objects around you — you can also refine your designs to make good use of these inherent tendencies in people.
The Attractiveness Bias, and the Baby-face Bias.
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