Can you tell a person's personality from their face?

[puqdew]

Is it possible?

 

[funkymatt]

sometimes. angry people are angry.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: funkymatt
sometimes. angry people are angry.

agreed

 

[Yukmouth]

Damn add bots.

 

[Locut0s]

I don't know random guess but I don't think this guy is a people person.

 

[lxskllr]

Absolutely. I can almost always tell what a person's about, both by their face, as well as their outward personality. Sometimes what people display for others isn't what they're really about. The smiling face is waiting for you to turn before they stick the knife.

 

[Locut0s]

Originally posted by: lxskllr
Absolutely. I can almost always tell what a person's about, both by their face, as well as their outward personality. Sometimes what people display for others isn't what they're really about. The smiling face is waiting for you to turn before they stick the knife.

You must be fun at parties!

 

[JammingJay]

Especially older people

 

[Jeff7181]

Just by their face? I'd say no. But I can pretty accurately predict someones mood by their facial expression.

 

[ConstipatedVigilante]

Not at all. Some people that you see in everyday life are completely different out in the open compared to when they're with their friends. I'm usually pretty reserved when I'm in class and in places where I don't know anyone, but my friends have told me that I never shut up around them. I like to comment on the little things in every day life when I'm with friends/family...and there are a lot of little things.

 

[WildHorse]

``

 

[polarmystery]

I can usually tell within 5 seconds what type of person they are if I am having a discussion with them. One thing that is common though is that all of the AT members I've met irl are awesome individuals.

 

[SonnyDaze]

I can't.

 

[PricklyPete]

not just there face...but their expressions, their stance, the clothes that they are wearing are all signals that generally relate to their personality. It's far from 100% accurate...but usually does relate very closely.

 

[Miramonti]

By their face, no. But by their use of swear words, illegal narcotics, and frequent references to child pornography, yes.

 

[PlasmaBomb]

Sure...

 

[bobross419]

I don't know that I can do this, but I do form prejudgments based on the way someone looks. Such as "Man, she looks like a bitch".

Apparently, according to my wife, some of her friends, a few girls at Starbucks, and a few other random people I asked, I look like an asshole

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: bobross419
I don't know that I can do this, but I do form prejudgments based on the way someone looks. Such as "Man, she looks like a bitch".

Apparently, according to my wife, some of her friends, a few girls at Starbucks, and a few other random people I asked, I look like an asshole

People seem to avoid sitting next to me on the bus, so I probably look like one too

 

[PottedMeat]

Originally posted by: Locut0s
I don't know random guess but I don't think this guy is a people person.

I think that says 'please kick my ass'

 

[bobross419]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: bobross419
I don't know that I can do this, but I do form prejudgments based on the way someone looks. Such as "Man, she looks like a bitch".

Apparently, according to my wife, some of her friends, a few girls at Starbucks, and a few other random people I asked, I look like an asshole

People seem to avoid sitting next to me on the bus, so I probably look like one too

LOL - I can only picture you as looking like your avatar, and if you look like that people probably avoid you thinking its some kind of Sasha Baron Cohen stunt gone horribly wrong =p

 

[Miramonti]

Originally posted by: PottedMeat

Originally posted by: Locut0s
I don't know random guess but I don't think this guy is a people person.

I think that says 'please kick my ass'

Looks like someone else read it that way too.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: bobross419

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: bobross419
I don't know that I can do this, but I do form prejudgments based on the way someone looks. Such as "Man, she looks like a bitch".

Apparently, according to my wife, some of her friends, a few girls at Starbucks, and a few other random people I asked, I look like an asshole

People seem to avoid sitting next to me on the bus, so I probably look like one too

LOL - I can only picture you as looking like your avatar, and if you look like that people probably avoid you thinking its some kind of Sasha Baron Cohen stunt gone horribly wrong =p

Oh, I think I've improved over time
http://forums.anandtech.com/me...id=38&threadid=2320638

Of course I'm also the sexiest guy on ATOT this year apparently :laugh:
http://forums.anandtech.com/me...id=38&threadid=2282930

After wondering about that for a few days, I just started bringing headphones for the bus rides and don't think about it.

I have gotten a few takers on seat partners since then, but it seems like an disproportionately high rate of... well... "crazy people". Maybe they figure that a guy wearing unusually large headphones wont mind that they're mildly crazy... or maybe they think I'm crazy and have given up on social norms like wearing earbuds rather than Sennheiser hd-580s.

 

[SlitheryDee]

Quite often yes. I find that I make a set of assumptions about the attitude and disposition of people based solely on their facial features, walking gait, how they enter a room and look around, etc. It'll be very general things like "This guy's a petulant asshole". "That guy thinks he's tough shit". "This guy's pleasant and agreeable". "That guy's a pushover". I think I'm right more than half the time when I make these assessments, though. The thing is, It's never safe to give this kind of profiling much credit because sometimes it's dead wrong.

 

[BoomerD]

Absolutely. I'm able to make instantaneous snap decisions about a person's personality and character with only a mild cursory glance at their face.
I'm NEVER wrong.

Once in a while, the person may turn out to be a bigger asshole than I had expected, so I can adjust my opinion of them downward, but should the person actually turn out to be nicer/better than I had predicted...I totally ignore such frivolous evidence and continue with my initial reaction. I'm NEVER wrong...

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: bobross419

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: bobross419
I don't know that I can do this, but I do form prejudgments based on the way someone looks. Such as "Man, she looks like a bitch".

Apparently, according to my wife, some of her friends, a few girls at Starbucks, and a few other random people I asked, I look like an asshole

People seem to avoid sitting next to me on the bus, so I probably look like one too

LOL - I can only picture you as looking like your avatar, and if you look like that people probably avoid you thinking its some kind of Sasha Baron Cohen stunt gone horribly wrong =p

Oh, I think I've improved over time
http://forums.anandtech.com/me...id=38&threadid=2320638

Of course I'm also the sexiest guy on ATOT this year apparently :laugh:
http://forums.anandtech.com/me...id=38&threadid=2282930

After wondering about that for a few days, I just started bringing headphones for the bus rides and don't think about it.

I have gotten a few takers on seat partners since then, but it seems like an disproportionately high rate of... well... "crazy people". Maybe they figure that a guy wearing unusually large headphones wont mind that they're mildly crazy... or maybe they think I'm crazy and have given up on social norms like wearing earbuds rather than Sennheiser hd-580s.

Update:
Ok, in the hour since I wrote this, my attractiveness as a bus seat partner must have increased dramatically.

As of yesterday, my best outcome was attracting the man I would refer to as "Safety Alton". Before I get into "Safety Alton", I'd just like to acknowledge that "best outcome" refers to people feeling like sitting next to me is an acceptable choice. I don't get off on people sitting next to me on the bus or anything. I suspect that most people would rather have an empty seat next to them than some stranger on the bus.

Ok, so yesterday, "Safety Alton" sat next to me on the first bus I take in the morning. He's one of the regulars who I see on my way to and back from work on a regular basis. Picture Alton Brown wearing a safety vest, carrying a plastic cooler and wearing a black glasses retainer. I suspect on a 1-10 scale of crazy with 1 being a "normal american", and 2 being an average ATOT member, "Safety Alton" is probably in the 4-5 range.

"Safety Alton" didn't sit next to me today, but he did manage to fascinate a young boy at the front of the bus today. The ~4 year old child was mesmerized by "Safety Alton's" head movements and general darting movements as he sat in his seat. At one point I think the child thought that "Safety Alton" was playing peek-a-boo with him.

Yesterday, "Safety Alton" decided that the seat next to mine looked particularly appealing. Nothing of incident happened as long as you assume the head movements and twitching as the norm. I didn't mind sitting next to him. I'm glad that he felt I was a safe person to sit next to on our daily trip of about 10 minutes. At this point I'd just like to express some concern for "Safety Alton's" mass transit strategy. I assume that the brightly colored neon vest is a safety measure. Perhaps there was a decision made at some point that he would be less likely to get hit by a car if he wore the vest every day. Hey, maybe I'm even totally off base and he's actually a road construction worker or something... what do I know?

As for the strategy though... I've seen a few times when bus drivers have almost driven right past him rather than picking him up. I think the neon reflective vest has an opposite effect on bus drivers. A person driving a car is looking out for any pedestrian that may get in their path (well, hopefully), while bus drivers are constantly looking for people at the side of the road and making quick judgments about whether or not that person is waiting for a bus. Most of the time, a neon vest implies the person is a department of transportation worker or a construction worker or a crossing guard... or any number of different professions that tend to be associated with proximity to roads. "Safety Alton's" use of this vest to protect himself from traffic is thus on some level communicating to bus drivers that he doesn't want to get picked up.

The second part of ?Safety Alton?s? strategy also seems counterproductive. He seems to get on and off the bus at a seemingly random set of stops. Some days he gets on the bus very close to where I do, some days he catches the bus several minutes into my trip. Today for example, he got on the bus about 3-4 stops after I did, but then exited the bus about 3-4 stops before the transfer point that I went to. After he exited, the bus continued to the transfer point where I boarded the next bus I need to take to get into work. As that bus left the transfer point to get back onto the main street, I saw ?Safety Alton? walking on the sidewalk. Rather than taking the previous bus to this spot, he decided to get off and walk for about 8 minutes to get to where he was then. Where was he going? Did he just feel like walking? I just don?t understand his strategy.

So anyway as I continue this rambling and pointless story in this thread about whether or not you can tell someone's personality by looking at them, I will continue with today's story. The thought does occur that this whole story does relate to the topic at hand. I've never spoken to "Safety Alton" before... maybe he's perfectly "normal" and I'm judging him on his appearance and getting the totally wrong picture of what he's really like.

Today the writing of my above response was fresh in my mind. Would anyone sit next to me on the bus today? ?Safety Alton? got on the bus but there were a lot of empty seats so he didn?t sit next to anyone. Was this going to be another ride to the transfer point without a seat partner? Perhaps I was trying to play up the ?crazy person? angle, but I selected my YOyoYOhowsDAjello T-shirt to increase my level of social awkwardness by at least 34%. Combined with my ridiculous headphones, I felt I was solidly in the social misfit category and might score some points that way.

About half way to the transfer point, I struck gold as 4 people were boarding the bus at once. This was my chance. I made sure there was plenty of room next to me and ?Normal looking 30 something Asian man? (Nl3sAm) took the bait. Another one of the regulars, this guy appears to be all business. If I had to describe his bus going habits, I might describe it as ?serious ride?. He?s a bit on the short side, has a hairstyle that probably takes a while to get just right, and is always one of the best dressed people on the bus. Nl3sAm decided that my seat looked appealing and for the next few minutes he got to hear the faint sound of ?Tears for Fears? leaking from my HD-580 open headphones. If he was annoyed or delighted by the faint tune I couldn?t tell, as his ?serious ride? continued without any expression.

Knowing that I had connected with Nl3sAm on some level, I would have been happy with my bus trip this fine Friday morning, but I was about to have one of the most profound bus seat partners I?ve ever had.

I?d like to take this opportunity to take a break from this story and do a flashback.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~fade to sometime in the 1970s~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two people sit on a bus in Milwaukee, Wisconsin near the UWM campus. The man has a bag of groceries and the woman sits down in a nearby seat thinking that he looks pretty cute. The woman wants to strike up a conversation with this young man, but she doesn?t know how to start it off. She thinks about her possibilities? now she has it! She?ll pretend she?s lost and ask the man for directions. She asks about what stops are coming up next and who knows what else. The conversation evolves and the trade contact information.
Their relationship evolves and after the man from the bus gets back from a tour of duty in Vietnam, they get married.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~fade to 1982~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hey, I forgot to take my pill?
Whatever?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~fade to 1983~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Congratulations, it?s a boy! Enjoy the hospital-grade Jello dessert, Mrs. McLaughlin.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~fade back to present~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yes ATOT, my parents met on a bus. I have strange social interactions on busses in my blood!

Ok, back to today. After exiting the bus feeling fulfilled that Nl3sAm had chosen the seat next to mine, I headed over to my next bus that would then take me to the very block that I work on. As I sat down in a seat in about the middle of the bus, I noted that something seemed wrong right away. Despite several open seat pairs, several people were sitting next to other people when they could very well have sat in an entirely open seat pair. Naturally, I was alone in my seat pair, but 2-3 pairs of people that did not appear to be friends at all were sitting next to each other when they didn?t have to.

At the first stop, ?Foreign bike riding guy? (Fbrg) got on the bus after loading up his bike and sat next to the woman that he usually does, ?Foreign bike riding guy?s female companion? (Fbrgfc). That pair made sense, but the others still seemed unnatural, although the pairings now seemed more normal after several newcomers had boarded the bus and filled in a single seat of some of those desirable empty seat pairs.

Maybe I should take this opportunity to go off on another tangent and describe my impressions of Fbrg. I think the bus going habits of Fbrg are right up there with the confusion I have about ?Safety Alton?s? patterns of bus usage (or rather lack thereof). Fbrg does have a pattern, but it?s quite an odd one. Back about a month ago when I started taking the bus to work from my new place, Fbrg behaved a little erratically the first time I saw him.

In the incident that seems to stand out the most to me, he was asking the bus driver a lot of questions and seemed very unsure about where he wanted to exit the bus. He almost exited on probably 3 separate occasions throughout the trip. I think he was very lost. In the subsequent few trips on the next days, he seemed to fine tune where he wanted to leave and became a lot more confident about it. I would imagine that Fbrg was also new to the bus system, but it seemed to take quite a while for him to really figure out what he wanted to do. Based on his appearance, I would say that he looks very determined.

As he has become more confident with the bus system, Fbrg?s procedure has gotten to something that seems quite complex. He gets on the first bus that I do in the morning (about half way through my trip) and rides about 90% of the way to the transfer point and then exits. (By the way, I?m attempting to avoid the phrase ?gets off?, which is why I keep typing ?exits?). He then proceeds to walk to some mystery location where he obtains a bike. He then bikes to the transfer point and hopefully gets there in time to board the new bus (the same one I take) before it leaves. I think he?s missed it a few times and I know he?s been very close to missing it on several occasions.

When he gets on the new bus, Fbrg sits next to Fbrgfc and they have long conversations about who knows what in a language I can?t identify. I would assume that Fbrgfc is Fbrg?s wife, but I?m not sure. Fbrgfc seems like a very serious person as well, but not to the level of Nl3sAm.

So if I had to guess, Fbrg comes from some other location at about 9:00 am and rides the bus to a spot near the transfer point where he lives. Then he gets his bike and rides as fast as he can to the transfer point to get the next bus. Then he rides with his wife on the next bus where he leaves alone and then rides somewhere else. His wife either takes another bus to the transfer point (and gets on the second bus) or she walks there, possibly from the same location where Fbrg gets his bike.

In case it wasn?t blatantly obvious, I there?s not much to do on the bus, so I end up thinking about random stuff about peoples? lives.

So? Fbrg has never sat next to me, but I mentioned him for some reason. Oh yeah, it was odd that people were sitting next to each other on the second bus today, but not Fbrg and Fbrgfc, since that was to be expected.

Perhaps this tendency of people to sit next to each other was a sign of what was to come.

About half way through my trip from the transfer point to the UW-Madison Campus, someone I had never seen before boarded the bus with a group of people. He was a ?20 something friendly looking Asian male? (2sflAm). Maybe I?m imagining the friendly part after the fact, but he didn?t look creepy or anything. So, he made his way onto the bus and selected the seat next to me. I thought to myself what would ATOT say now that I?ve ?attracted? two Asian males in one day once I typed out this long and pointless story?

Before I was able to zone out to this new topic of thought on the bus, it seemed like 2sflAm was trying to get my attention. What was this? Someone wanted to talk to me on the bus? It might be for directions or something, or to ask if I would mind if he talked on the phone, or some other non-personal question relating to basic manners. In the back of my mind, I knew that ?asking for directions? could have been a cleverly disguised attempt to start up a conversation (quickly fade to flashback from the 1970s).

But no, the first words that came out of 2sflAm?s mouth (once I took off my headphones) were ?Do you go to headfi?

Was this actually happening? Was a total stranger going to talk to me about audio equipment? We spent the next 5 minutes talking about headphones and a few other topics. I admitted that I was much more of a speaker guy and I wasn?t familiar with the numerous pieces of equipment that 2sflAm described in his former collection. He had moved to Madison from Canada and was forced to sell most of his equipment including his own pair of HD-580s. We talked about what we were currently working on and I told him about the $1000+ I am about to spend on getting some room treatments in my new place to attempt to get rid of the horrible acoustic problems. We agreed that there are a lot of people out there that would think that spending as much as we have on audio equipment is totally nuts, but that there are definitely a lot of people out there that understand.

2sflAm exited the bus one stop before me to go to an Artificial Intelligence class that he?s taking as part of his class work toward the graduate CS program he?s taking. I stayed on the bus for another minute and then arrived at my destination knowing that I had actually interacted with another human being on a bus.

Thank you for taking the time to read this pointless story that I felt like writing. No, there?s no point. Yes, I do actually think about this stuff when I?m on the bus while I?m on the bus while I?m listening to music.