What will people think: we read the character from the photo in social networks

Is the photo sexy or serious? Alone or with friends? Details communicate to others what we may not have intended to broadcast. Five conclusions that can be drawn from photos in the social network.

1. Sexy photo – a blow to female friendliness

Women do not approve of those who openly demonstrate sexuality: whether it is behavior or something as simple as a red dress. This is nothing new, and in 2014, scientists from the University of Oregon found that social media was the same.

The researchers created two pages of the woman with different photographs. On one she was dressed defiantly – from under the dress one could see garters of stockings. On the other, she was in jeans, a T-shirt and a scarf.

Then, girls aged 13-25 were asked to rate the pages on how attractive and professional they think the woman in the photo is and how much the survey participants would like to be friends with her. The page with the sexy photo was less popular, but the biggest difference was in the assessment of professionalism: a frivolous photo did not inspire confidence among the participants.

2. Be happy, but not too happy.

Happy people who smile widely and often give the impression of being more friendly and open to communication. But this is not always a plus for the employer.

Scientists from New York University in 2015 decided to find out what the perfect photo should look like in professional social networks. Researching photos on LinkedIn, they found that potential employers like people who look “slightly happy” in the photo.

How to depict it? Obviously, you should not smile from the bottom of your mouth – a raised corner of the lips and a relaxed, benevolent facial expression are enough. People with such photos are considered more reliable than serious ones – “slightly” happy people are more trusted.

3. Selfie is a mirror of the soul

Researchers from the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore tried to figure out what information a selfie conveys. More sympathy is caused by those who look positive in the photo and hold the camera not too high. Duckface lovers are most often seen as nervous and emotionally unstable.

Selfies from which it is difficult to determine the location of the shooting are attributed to the most conscious individuals – perhaps they are assumed to be worried about the secrecy of personal information. People don’t always judge the personality of a person in a photo correctly, but they usually hit the mark when it comes to the degree of openness and extroversion.

4. Where are you from?

Your profile photo can tell you where you are from. Researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the National Taiwan University compared the social media accounts of Taiwanese and American students.

Some of the students in Taiwan were US citizens and vice versa, but a person’s national origin influenced which profile photos they preferred. The natives of Taiwan chose long shots, and the Americans chose portraits.

Later, the same study was conducted with students from three American and three Asian universities, and the results were the same. Americans were less likely to show something other than their face in the photo and smile or show other emotions more actively than students from Asia.

5. Trust or not trust

We want to look our best, but too provocative photos provoke a negative assessment. But the good news is that different genders perceive sexuality differently. In 2015, scientists at the University of Connecticut conducted a study in which participants were asked to rate a profile photo on two dimensions: attractiveness and trustworthiness.

Men and women were shown two photographs of a person of the opposite sex: normal and “improved”. The men admitted that women look sexier in “enhanced” photos, but are less credible. Women considered men in beautiful photos not only more attractive, but also reliable.