Do you have a face that lets you get away with anything?
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Your face influences what others think of you far more than previously thought, researchers have found - and could even help you escape punishment for a crime.
Previous research has found faces with v-shaped eyebrows and frowning mouths are consistently judged as less trustworthy than others with ^-shaped brows and mouths with upturned corners.
Now, researchers say the effect is even more far reaching - and could even affect your chances of getting away with a crime.
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Russian spy Anna Chapman (left) has eyebrows rather close to her eyes, making her appear untrustworthy, while Angelina Jolie (right) has higher eyebrows and cheekbones which gives her a trusting look.
The new study by Brian Holtz of Temple University suggests that a person's looks can even affect if their actions in the workplace are fair and well-intentioned.
Researchers presented data on an imaginary company to 609 people recruited through an online portal, all of whom had experience of being in work.
They were asked to evaluate a decision made by the CEO to cut pay by 15 per cent for all staff (including the CEO himself) in order to avoid cut-backs in tough economic times.
Participants felt more trust towards the CEO and judged the decision as fairer when the CEO's biography included a facial photo previously rated as highly trustworthy, rather than an untrustworthy one.
In the lead-up to this evaluation, participants were asked if there were other solutions to the financial crisis, and if so, if they could have been fairer.
When they thought the CEO had a trustworthy face, they were less likely to believe there were fairer alternatives he could have taken, the researchers said.
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'Evolutionary theory and neuroscientific evidence suggest that humans automatically infer the trustworthiness of others based on facial appearance.
'Building upon this knowledge base, this article presents three empirical studies that investigate the influence of initial impressions of trustworthiness on post-event perceptions of justice.
'The results consistently suggest that pre-event trustworthiness impressions exert significant indirect effects on post-event justice perceptions.
'The finding that initial trustworthiness impressions derived from surface cues (facial appearance) help shape subsequent perceptions of justice has important implications for justice theory and research
Previous research found people decide how trustworthy strangers are within the blink of an eye, psychologists have found, and it is all down to the shape of their face.
Which do you trust? Researchers found people truest the left face more. Faces with v-shaped eyebrows and frowning mouths are consistently judged as less trustworthy than others with ^-shaped brows and mouths with upturned corners
We tend to judge someone with high eyebrows and prominent cheekbones to be more honest, while we are less likely to trust someone with a furrowed brow and sunken cheeks, researchers suggest.
The findings give new weight to the principle that first impressions count.
Psychologists from New York University found that a section of the brain decides a person's trustworthiness even before we have consciously perceived who they are.
The brain takes just 33 milliseconds - three hundredths of a second, or a tenth of a time it takes to blink - to decide whether someone is to be trusted.
The study, published last night in the Journal of Neuroscience, suggests that our brains are set up to be instantly wary of people we decided we should not trust.
Jonathan Freeman, assistant professor at New York University's Department of Psychology, said: 'Our findings suggest that the brain automatically responds to a face's trustworthiness before it is even consciously perceived.
'The results are consistent with an extensive body of research suggesting that we form spontaneous judgments of other people that can be largely outside awareness.'
Applying the findings to public figures, the Mail found that trusted individuals such as newsreader Fiona Bruce and Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby indeed have high cheekbones and eyebrows.
Conversely, public figures who have been roundly condemned for their dishonesty – including lying MPs Jonathan Aitken and Chris Huhne – have sunken cheeks and furrowed brows.
Former US president Richard Nixon (left) former British Prime Minister Tony Blair (right) have sunken cheeks, revealing they may not be trustworthy
The New York research team presented a panel of ten volunteers with 300 computer generated faces, and asked them how trustworthy each was.
Those faces with high cheekbones, high eyebrows and a smile were perceived to be the most honest.
The scientists also presented the panel with real pictures of strangers, and the same facial attributes were found to be deemed as trustworthy.
In a second set of experiments, a new set of 37 volunteers were presented with the 'trustworthy' and 'untrustworthy' images for a split second, while their brain activity was monitored.
The images were then immediately replaced with a neutral picture so the brain could no longer process the previous image.
The scientists found that a region of the brain called the amygdala, which is vital in social and emotional behaviour, activated within 33 milliseconds even when the images were flashed up just momentarily.
Faces with the high eyebrows and prominent cheekbones prompted activity in a different part of the amygdala than faces with furrowed brows and sunken cheeks.
Dr Freeman said: 'The findings suggest that we can assess another person's trustworthiness from their face extremely rapidly and without conscious awareness, and that the amygdala plays an important role in this process.
'One possibility is that faces that appear more untrustworthy and likely to inflict harm, or faces with stronger trustworthiness cues in general, are spontaneously tracked by the amygdala, so the amygdala could then quickly alter other brain processes and coordinate fast, appropriate responses to people --- approach or avoid.
'This tracking would be especially pronounced for untrustworthy faces, who might inflict harm, which is consistent with what we found.'
Dr Bessam Farjo, a British cosmetic surgeon who specialises in hair transplants, including eyebrows, said: 'The study's findings are fascinating and further emphasises that we do make first assumptions which are not necessarily based on our experiences or what information we have been exposed to.'
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