The Right Faces for Right-Wing and Left-Wing Politicians

Researchers of the baby-face stereotype maintain that having a more adult-looking face contributes to success in the political arena. However, this hypothesis has not been confirmed in previous research. This study suggests that more mature faces will be beneficial only for left-wing politicians whose public perception suffers from the appearance of a lack of dominance. Furthermore, with regard to only left-wing politicians, we also hypothesized that the maturity of their faces would indirectly lead to greater intentions to vote for them and acceptance of their attitudes. An experiment conducted in the context of municipal elections in Israel confirms these hypotheses.