Leslie Zebrowitz
Degrees
Yale University, Ph.D.Yale University, M.S.
University of Wisconsin, B.A.
Expertise
Social psychology; face perception; facial stereotypes (babyfaceness, attractiveness); age, race, and gender stereotypes, aging and social perception.Profile
Please visit my new faculty profile page.
Research concerns how and why people's physical qualities, such as facial appearance, influence impressions of their traits and social affordances, the accuracy and neural correlates of these impressions, and the influence of aging and dopamine levels on these effects. An additional area of interest concerns factors influencing attitude and behavioral responses to the threat of climate change.
Courses Taught
| PSYC | 316a | Psychology Research Seminar |
Awards and Honors
Fellow, Society of Experimental Social Psychology (2009)
NIH Career Development Award: Face Impressions: Neuroscience & VR Training and Research (2005 - 2009)
Fellow, Society for Personality and Social Psychology (2003)
National Institute of Mental Health Research Grant: Face overgeneralization, prejudice, and stereotypes (through 2007) (2003 - 2007)
Charter Fellow, American Psychological Society (1997 - 1998)
Program Director, Social Psychology Program, National Science Foundation (1994 - 1995)
Dissertation (published in 1972). Identified by Social Citation Index as a 'Citation Classic' - one of the most cited works in the field (1987)
Scholarship
Xie, Y., Ksander, J., Gutchess, A, & Hadjikhani, N. , Ward, N., , Boshyan, J., & Zebrowitz, L.A.. (2021).. "Age differences in Neural Activation to Face Trustworthiness: Voxel Pattern and Activation Level Assessments.." Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience (2021).
Anderson, E., & Zebrowitz, L.A.. "The Role of Perceived Vulnerability to Disease in Political Polarization on Climate Change.." Journal of Applied Social Psychology 50. 9 (2020): 550-559.
Zebrowitz, Leslie A/Franklin, Robert G., Jr.. "Trait impressions from faces demonstrate preserved social intelligence in older adulthood.." “Social intelligence”: The adaptive advantages of nonverbal communication.. Ed. R. Sternberg & A. Kostic. Palgrave-Macmillan, 2020. 397-426.
Franklin, R.G., Jr., Adams, R.B., Jr., Steiner, T.G., & Zebrowitz, Leslie A. "Reading the lines: The contribution of angularity and roundness to the perception of facial anger and joy.." Emotion 19. 2 (2018): 209-218.
Palumbo, R.., Adams, R.B., Hess, U., Kleck, R.E, & Zebrowitz, L.A.. "Age and gender differences in facial attractiveness, but not emotion resemblance, contribute to age and gender stereotypes. Reprinted in." New Boundaries between Aging, Cognition, and Emotions. Frontiers in Psychology e-Book.. Ed. R. Palumbo & Alberto D. Domenico., 2018
Zebrowitz, Leslie A., Boshyan, J., Ward, N., Wolf, J., Hanlin, L., & Hadjikhani, N.. "Dietary dopamine depletion blunts reward network sensitivity to face trustworthiness." Journal of Psychopharmacology 32. 9 (2018): 965-978.
Zebrowitz, Leslie A., Ward, N., Boshyan, HJ. Gutchess, A., & Hadjikhani, N. "Older adults' neural activation in the reward circuit is sensitive to face trustworthiness.." Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Neuroscience. 18. (2018): 21-34.
Franklin, R.G., Jr. & Zebrowitz, L.A.. "Age differences in emotion recognition: Task demands or perceptual dedifferentiation?." Experimental Aging Research 43. 5 (2017).
Kaufmann, M.C., Krings, F., Zebrowitz, L.A., & Sczesny, S.. "Age bias in selection decisions: The role of facial appearance and fitness impressions.." Frontiers in Psychology (2017).
Palumbo, R., Adams, R.B., Jr., Hess, U., Kleck, R.E, & Zebrowitz, Leslie A.. "Age and gender differences in facial attractiveness, but not emotion resemblance, contribute to age and gender stereotypes.." Frontiers in Psychology, section Emotion Science (2017).
Zebrowitz, Leslie A. "First Impressions From Faces." Current Directions in Psychological Science 26. (2017): 237-242.
Zebrowitz, Leslie A., Boshyan, J., Ward, N., Gutchess, A. Hadjikhani, N.. "The Older Adult Positivity Effect in Evaluations of Trustworthiness: Emotion Regulation or Cognitive Capacity?." PLOS One. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0169823. (2017).
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Franklin, R.G. Jr., & Zebrowitz, Leslie A. "The influence of political candidates’ facial appearance on older and younger adults’ voting choices and actual electoral success.." Cogent OA Psychology 3. doi: 10.1080/23311908.2016.1151602 (2016).
Franklin, R.G., Jr. & Zebrowitz, Leslie A. "Aging-related Changes in Decoding Negative Complex Mental States from Faces." Experimental Aging Research 42. (2016): 471-478.
Ng, S./Zebrowitz, L..A/ Franklin, R.G., Jr.. "Age Differences in the Differentiation of Trait Impressions from Faces." Journal of Gerontology: Psychological and Social Sciences 71. 2 (2016): 220-229.
Zebrowitz, Leslie A., ., Ward, N., Boshyan, J., Gutchess, A. & Hadjikhani, N.. "Dedifferentiated face processing in older adults is linked to lower resting state metabolic activity in fusiform face area." Brain Research 1644. (2016): 22-31.
Zebrowitz, Leslie A, Franklin, R.G. Jr., & Boshyan, J.. "Face shape and behavior: Implications of similarities in infants and adults." Personality and Individual Differences 86. (2015): 312-317..
Zebrowitz, Leslie A/ Franklin, R.G. Jr., Palumbo, R.. "Ailing voters advance attractive congressional candidates." Evolutionary Psychology 12. 5 (2015): 1053-1066.
Boshyan, J., Zebrowitz, L.A., Franklin, R.G., McCormick, C.M., & Carré, J.M.. "Age similarities in recognizing threat from faces and diagnostic cues.." Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences 69B. 5 (2014): 710-718.
Zebrowitz, Leslie A and Montepare, J.M.. "Faces and First Impressions." Handbook of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 1: Attitudes and Social Cognition. vol. 1 Ed. John Bargh and Gene Borgida. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association, 2014
Zebrowitz, Leslie A, & Franklin, R.G., Jr.. "The Attractiveness Halo Effect and the Babyface Stereotype in Older and Younger Adults: Similarities, Own-Age Accentuation, and OA Positivity Effects." Journal of Experimental Aging Research 40. (2014): 1–19.
Zebrowitz, Leslie A., Franklin,R.G., Jr., Boshyan,J., Luevano,V., Agrigoroaei,S., Milosavljevic, B., & Lachman, M.E.. "Older and Younger Adults' Accuracy in Discerning Health and Competence in Older and Younger Faces." Psychology and Aging 29. Special Section: Social Perception and Aging (2014): 454-468.
Franklin, R.G. Jr.,Zebrowitz, L.A., Fellous, J-M, & Lee, A.. "Human ability and cultural variation in sex-differentiating macaque faces.." Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 49. 3 (2013): 344-348.
Franklin, R.G., Jr. & Zebrowitz, L.A.,& (2013).. "Older adults’ trait impressions of faces are sensitive to subtle resemblance to emotions.." Journal of Nonverbal Behavior 37. 3 (2013): 139-151.
Zebrowitz, L.A., Montepare,J.M., & Strom, M.A.. "Face and body physiognomy: nonverbal cues for trait impressions." Nonverbal Communication. vol. Vol. 2 Ed. J.A. Hall. & M.L. Knapp. Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter, 2013. 263-294.
Zebrowitz, Leslie A & Franklin, R.G., Jr.. "Attraction and Beauty." Noba textbook series: Psychology.. vol. DOI: www.nobaproject.com Ed. R. Biswas-Diener & E. Diener. Champaign, IL: DEF Publishers, 2013
Zebrowitz, Leslie A, Franklin, R.G.,Hillman, S., & Boc, H.. "Older and Younger Adults’ First Impressions from Faces: Similar in Agreement but Different in Positivity.." Psychology and Aging 28. 1 (2013): 202-212.
Cassidy, B.S., Zebrowitz, L.A. & Gutchess, A.H.. "Appearance-based inferences bias source memory.." Memory & Cognition 40. 8 (2012): 1214-1224.
Strom M.A., Zebrowitz L.A., Zhang, S., Bronstad, M.P., & Lee, H.K.. "Skin and Bones: The Contribution of Skin Tone and Facial Structure to Racial Prototypicality Ratings.." PLoS ONE 7. 7 (2012): e41193.
Undurraga E.A., Zebrowitz L., Eisenberg D.T.A., Reyes-Garcia V., TAPS Bolivia Study Team, & Godoy, R.. "The Perceived Benefits of Height: Strength, Dominance, Social Concern, and Knowledge among Bolivian Native Amazonians." PLoS ONE 7. 5 (2012): e35391.
Zebrowitz, L. A & Zhang, Y.. "Neural evidence for reduced apprehensiveness of familiarized stimuli in a mere exposure paradigm.." Social Neuroscience 7. 4 (2012): 347-358.
Zebrowitz, L. A, Wang, R., Bronstad, P.M., Eisenberg, D., Undurraga, E., Reyes-García, V., & Godoy R.. "First impressions from faces among u.s. and culturally isolated Tsimane’ people in the Bolivian rainforest." Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 43. 1 (2012): 119-134.
Sparko, A., & Zebrowitz, Leslie A. "Moderating Effects of Facial Expression and Movement on the Babyface Stereotype.." Jouirnal of Nonverbal Behavior. 35. (2011): 243-257.
Tickle-Degnan, L., Ma. H., & Zebrowitz, L.A.. "Culture, gender, and health care stigma: Practitioners' response to facial masking experienced by people with Parkinson's disease." Social Science & Medicine 73. (2011): 95-102.
Zebrowitz, Leslie A & Zhang, Yi.. "Origins of Impression Formation in Animal and Infant Face Perception.." The Handbook of Social Neuroscience.. Ed. J. Decety & J. Cacioppo. Oxford: Oxford University Press., 2011. 434-444.
Zebrowitz, Leslie A, Bronstad, M.P., & Montepare, J.M.. "An ecological theory of face perception.." The Science of Social Vision. Ed. N. Ambady, R. Adams, K. Nakayama, & S.Shimojo. Oxford: Oxford University Press., 2011. 3-30.
Zebrowitz, Leslie A. "Ecological and social approaches to face perception." The Handbook of Face Perception. Ed. A. J. Calder, G.Rhodes, J.V. Haxby and Mark H. Johnson. Oxford: Oxford University Press., 2011. 31-50.
Zebrowitz, Leslie A., Wadlinger, H., Luevano, V., White, B., Xing, C., & Zhang, E.. "Animal Analogies in First Impressions of Faces.." Social Cognition 29. (2011): 486-496.
Liang, X., Zebrowitz, Leslie A, & Zhang, Y.. "Neural Activation in the ‘Reward Circuit’ Shows a Nonlinear Response to Facial Attractiveness." Social Neuroscience 5. (2010): 320-334.
Zebrowitz, Leslie A, Kikuchi, M., & Fellous, J.M. "Facial Resemblance to Emotions: Group Differences, Impression Effects, and Race Stereotypes.." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 98. 2 (2010): 175-189..
Hemmesch, A., Tickle-Degnan, L., & Zebrowitz, L.A.. "The Influence of Facial Masking and Sex on Older Adults' Impressions of Individuals with Parkinson's Disease." Psychology and Aging 24. 3 (2009): 542–549.
Liang, X., Zebrowitz, L. A., & Aharon, I.. "Effective connectivity between amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex differentiates the perception of facial expressions." Social Neuroscience 4. (2009): 185-196.
Zebrowitz, L.A, D. Sander & K. Scherer. "Attractiveness." Oxford Companion to the Affective Sciences. 2009.
Zebrowitz, Leslie A., Luevano, V.X., Bronstad, P.M., & Aharon, I.. "Neural Activation to Babyfaced Men Matches Activation to Babies." Social Neuroscience 4. (2009): 1-10.
Zebrowitz, Leslie A., & Montepare, J.M.. "First Impressions from Facial Appearance Cues." First Impressions. Ed. N. Ambady and J. Skowronski. New York: Guilford Publications, Inc., 2008. 171-204.
Zebrowitz, Leslie A., Weineke, K., & White, B. "Mere exposure and racial prejudice: Exposure to other-race faces increases liking for strangers of that race." Social Cognition 26. (2008): 259-275.
Zebrowitz, Leslie A./ Montepare, J.M.. "Social psychological face perception: Why appearance matters." Social and Personality Psychology Compass 2. (2008): 1497-1517.
Luevano, V.X., & Zebrowitz, L.A.. "Do impressions of health, dominance, and warmth explain why masculine faces are preferred more in a short-term mate?." Evolutionary Psychology 5. (2007): 15-27.
Zebrowitz, Leslie A, Bronstad, P.M., & Lee, H.K.. "The contribution of face familiarity to ingroup favoritism and stereotyping." Social Cognition 25. (2007): 306-338.
Zebrowitz, Leslie A., Kikuchi, M., & Fellous, J.M.. "Are Effects of Emotion Expression on Trait Impressions Mediated by Babyfaceness? Evidence from Connectionist Modeling." Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 33. (2007): 648-662.
Zebrowitz, Leslie A. "Finally faces find favor." Social Cognition 24. (2006): 657-701.
Zebrowitz,Leslie A. "The Ecological Approach to Person Perception: Evolutionary Roots and Contemporary Offshoots." Evolution and Social Psychology. Ed. M. Schaller, J.A. Simpson, & D.T. Kenrick. New York: Psychology Press, 2006. pp. 81-113.
Zebrowitz,Leslie A. with J.M Montepare. "Appearance DOES matter." Science 308. (2005): 1565.
Zebrowitz, L. A. & Rhodes, G.. "Sensitivity to 'bad genes' and the anomalous face overgeneralization effect: Accuracy, cue validity, and cue utilization in judging intelligence and health." Journal of Nonverbal Behavior 28. (2004): 167-186.
Zebrowitz,Leslie A with Rhodes, G.. "Senitivity to 'bad genes' and the anomalous face overgeneralization effect: Accuracy, cue valiidity and cue utlilization in judging intelligence and health." Journal of Nonverbal Behavior (2004): 167-186.
Zebrowitz,Leslie A. "The origins of the first impression." Journal of Cultural and Evolutionary Psychology (2004): 93-108.
Rhodes, G., Chan, J., Zebrowitz, L.A., & Simmons, L.W.. "Does sexual dimorphism in human faces signal health?." Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B (Suppl.) 270. (2003): S93-95..
Zebrowitz,Leslie A., Fellous, J.M., Mignault, A., & Andreoletti, C.. "Trait Impressions as Overgeneralized Responses to Adaptively Significant Facial Qualities: Evidence from Connectionist Modeling." Personality and Social Psychology Review 7. (2003): 194-215..
Rhodes, G. and Zebrowitz, L. A., ed. Facial Attractiveness: Evolutionary, Cognitive, and Social Perspectives. Westport, CT:: Ablex, 2002.
Zebrowitz, L. A. and Rhodes, G.. "Nature let a hundred flowers bloom: The multiple ways and wherefores of attractiveness." Facial Attractiveness: Evolutionary, Cognitive, and Social Perspectives. Westport, CT: Ablex, 2002
Zebrowitz, L. A., Hall, J.A., Murphy, N.A., & Rhodes, G.. "Looking smart and looking good: Facial cues to intelligence and their origins." Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 28. (2002): 238-249.
Zebrowitz,Leslie A. withJ.M. Montepare. "A social-developmental view of ageism." Ageism: Stereotyping and Prejudice Against Older Persons. Ed. T. Nelson.. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2002
Andreoletti, C., Zebrowitz, L.A., & Lachman, M.E. (2001).. "Physical appearance and control beliefs in young, middle-aged, and older adults." Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 27. (2001): 969-981.
Rhodes, G., Zebrowitz, L.A., Clark, A., Kalick, S.M., Hightower, A., & McKay, R.. "Do facial averageness and symmetry signal health?." Evolution and Human Behavior 22. (2001): 31-46.
Zebrowitz, L.A., & Montepare, J.M.. "Integrating social psychology and aging research: Toward a social-developmental theory of behavior." Basic and Applied Social Psychology 22. (2000): 257-260.
Kalick, S.M., Zebrowitz, L.A., Langlois, J.H., & Johnson, R.M.. "Does human facial attractiveness honestly advertise health? Longitudinal data on an evolutionary question." Psychological Science 9. (1998): 8-13.
Montepare , J.M. and Zebrowitz,L. A.. "Person perception comes of age: The salience and significance of age in social judgments." Advances in Experimental Social Psychology Vol. 30. (1998): 93-163.
Zebrowitz, L.A., Collins, M.A., & Dutta, R. (1998). "Appearance and personality across the lifespan." Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 24. (1998): 736-749.
Zebrowitz,L. A , Andreoletti, C. ,Collins, M.A. Lee, S.Y. & Blumenthal, J.. "Bright, bad, babyfaced boys: Appearance stereotypes do not always yield self-fulfilling prophecy effects." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 75. (1998): 1300-1320.
Zebrowitz,Leslie A & M.A. Collins. "Accurate social perception at zero acquaintance: The affordances of a Gibsonian approach." Personality and Social Psychology Review 1. (1997): 203-222.
Zebrowitz,Leslie A. Reading Faces: Window to the Soul?. Boulder, CO: Westview Press (translated into Japanese), 1997.
Zebrowitz, L.A., Voinescu, L., & Collins, M.A.. "Wide eyed’ and ‘crooked-faced’: Determinants of perceived and real honesty across the life span." Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 22. (1996): 1258-1269.
Collins, M. & Zebrowitz, L.A.. "The contributions of appearance to occupational outcomes in civilian and military settings." Journal of Applied Social Psychology 25. (1995): 129-163.
Kramer, S., Zebrowitz, L.A., San Giovanni, J.P., & Sherak, B.. "Infants' preferences for attractiveness and babyfaceness." Studies in Perception and Action III. Ed. B.G. Bardy, R.J. Bootsma, & Y. Guiard. Hillsdale, N.J.: Erlbaum, 1995. pp. 389-392.
Zebrowitz, L.A., Montepare, J.M., & Lee, H.K.. "They don't all look alike: Differentiating same versus other race individuals." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 65,. (1993): 85-101..
Zebrowitz, L.A., Olson, K., & Hoffman, K.. "Stability of babyfaceness and attractiveness across the lifespan." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 64. (1993): 453-466.
Friedman, H. and Zebrowitz,L. A.. "The contribution of facial maturity to sex-role stereotypes." Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 18. (1992): 430-438.
Zebrowitz, L.A., Tenenbaum, D.R., & Goldstein, L.H.. "The impact of job applicants' facial maturity, sex, and academic achievement on hiring recommendations." Journal of Applied Social Psychology 21. (1991): 525-548.
Zebrowitz,Leslie A. with S. McDonald. "The impact of litigants' babyfacedness and attractiveness on adjudications in small claims courts." Law and Human Behavior 15. (1991): 603-623.
Zebrowitz,Leslie A. Social Perception. Buckingham, England: Open University Press., 1990.
Zebrowitz,L. A. and Baron, R.M.. "Toward an ecological theory of social perception." Psychological Review 90. (1983): 215-238.