Dear A2Bers Come o: How your face determines whether you'd be rich or poor

Social psychologists has said that we can reliably tell if someone is richer or poorer than average just by looking at their face. According to them, Over time, people's face comes to permanently reflect and reveal their experiences.

They carried out a study that found people can reliably tell if someone is richer or poorer than average just by looking at a “neutral” face, without any expression. People also use those impressions in biased ways, such as judging the rich faces more likely than the poor ones to be hired for a job, according to a paper by Associate Professors Nicholas Rule and Thora Bjornsdottir published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

Faces tell it all… “It indicates that something as subtle as the signals in your face about your social class can actually then perpetuate it.” says Bjornsdottir. “Those first impressions can become a sort of self-fulfilling prophesy. It’s going to influence your interactions, and the opportunities you have.” Just as interestingly, the researchers found the ability to read a person’s social class only applies to their neutral face and not when people are smiling or expressing emotions.

Their conclusion is that emotions mask life-long habits of expression that become etched on a person’s face even by their late teens or early adulthood, such as frequent happiness, which is stereotypically associated with being wealthy and satisfied.

“Over time, your face comes to permanently reflect and reveal your experiences. Even when we think we’re not expressing something, relics of those emotions are still there.”

So put on a happy face, because your success may depend on it, according to psychology researchers at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Arts and Science.