How Race and Gender Moderate the Effect of Facial Trait Inferences on Leadership Perception

Within discussions of first impressions on the perception of people, research on leadership perception suggests that facial trait inferences serve to guide perceiver’s impressions of those depicted as a leader, subsequently influencing their perceptions of their leadership ability. This study will explore the extent to which race and gender moderate such inferences on the perception of leadership. A total of 230 participants will rate facial stimuli on 1 of 3 traits: leadership ability, dominance, and warmth, recruited via experiment management system Sona. It is hypothesized that perceived dominance will benefit male White and Asian male targets more than Black male targets, and perceived warmth will benefit Black male targets more than White and Asian male targets. As research on female leadership perception is limited and inconclusive, they will be included as a target group, but a hypothesis will not be specified. Full results are expected by early April.