This originally appeared on Forbes on October 17, 2023.
How often do you — either consciously or unconsciously — judge strangers each day? More importantly, how accurate do you think those judgments are? To be even more specific, do you think you could tell how satisfied someone is with their life based on first impressions alone? According to a study just published in Social Psychological and Personality Science, the answer is yes.
Life satisfaction was predicted using eight characteristics, such as physical attractiveness, extensive smiling, maintaining a direct gaze, speaking in a loud or powerful voice, and more. The characteristics that proved most accurate in correctly predicting life satisfaction were physical attractiveness and speaking in a loud voice. That said, it's important to note that this study was done on a Western audience and cultural differences apply.