EXPRESSIVE FACES PREDICT WHO’S LIBERAL OR CONSERVATIVE

Liberals express more feelings with their faces compared to conservatives do, new research shows.

"We did 4 studies for this paper, and they all triangulate on the same point," says Kevin Smith, teacher and chair of government at the College of Nebraska-Lincoln. "Individuals can, with greater-than-chance precision, determine whether you are liberal or conservative simply by looking at your face, and psychological expressivity appeared to be driving it in our evaluation."

The research, released in National politics and the Life Sciences, recommends that face psychological expressivity is yet another organic distinction in conservatives and liberals, says Smith, whose previous research has found organic predispositions in political ideas. These searchings for unlock to more research questions, he says, such as whether liberals prefer more mentally meaningful leaders and whether more study of face muscle sensitivity might enhance the searchings for.

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The first study consisted of a study where individuals were asked to rate themselves on psychological expressivity.

"Liberals reported being much less able to quit from revealing feelings, while conservatives were a bit more buttoned-down," Smith says.

This led to the second study, where scientists tape-taped participants' face responses with electromyography to measure the corrugator supercilii muscle while viewing favorable and unfavorable pictures. This muscle is located over the eye and associated with many face expressions, consisting of the frown.

The research revealed more activation of the muscle in the faces of liberals compared with the responses of conservatives.

To determine if psychological expressivity is identifiable and perceived as more liberal, Smith and his associates conducted 2 additional experiments.

In the 3rd experiment, individuals watched video clip of legislative representatives talking at a lectern without sound or recognition. Each five-second video clip was modified to omit obvious body language and face expressions. After viewing each video clip, individuals were asked to rate psychological expressivity and political belief, to name a few characteristics. The outcomes revealed that psychological expressivity associates with both perceived and real political orientation.