5 Snap Judgments People Quietly Make About You, Based Solely On Your Profile Pic
Sad but true.
Krakenimages.com | Shutterstock It doesn't take long for people to form an impression of you. One glance at a social media profile picture and they will jump to conclusions about who you are, including how flirty you are or if you're someone they could share secrets with.
We often just put a profile picture up without any thought about how it will be interpreted. It's more about what we think looks best, but it might be better to get a second or third opinion, since it might not be received as we think it will. You think that selfie of you in the bathroom makes your eyes sparkle, but to others, it may just scream tacky.
Here are 5 snap judgments people quietly make about you, based solely on your profile pic:
1. A sultry pic reads you're not likable or competent
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You may get a lot of friend requests from random men, but most women will probably ignore you. When a woman is overtly risqué in pictures, other women have a tendency to think that she's helpless and incompetent.
In a study conducted by Oregon State University, researchers found that young women who posted more alluring photos on social media were perceived by their peers as less physically and socially competent at performing tasks.
Lead researcher Elizabeth Daniels created two fake Facebook profiles for a fictitious young woman, Amanda Johnson. The profiles were similar except for the profile pictures: one featured a provocative photo, and the other was very casual-looking.
The participants of the study were two groups of women: one group of teen girls and the other of young adult women. They were asked to rate the fictitious woman's attractiveness, if they thought they could be friends with her, and if they had confidence that she could be counted on to get the job done.
The results showed that casual Amanda scored higher in all three areas, and a huge number of participants felt that sultry Amanda couldn't be depended on to get the job done.
2. A pic that's too serious or too smiley makes others think you are a bad co-worker
You won't get hired anywhere if you look too happy or not happy at all. If you've got a big smile on your face, potential employers will think you're too approachable; if you're not smiling at all, you appear to be too serious and uptight for anyone to want to work with you. The ideal profile photos should look relaxed with a small smile, indicating that you have a positive attitude.
A study from New York University showed participants images of faces and then asked them who they'd want to advise them on financial matters, and who they thought were weightlifting champions. Most participants chose those with slightly happy faces to work with their money and those with very serious faces to be weightlifters. So, unless your dream job includes pumping iron, stick to looking kind of happy.
3. Self-indulgent and showy pics read you're neurotic and self-involved
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Here's where things get murky, because it requires walking a tightrope between what constitutes self-indulgence. By its definition, a selfie is self-centered. And yet the subtle nuances in those selfies indicate a lot about your personality: if you're self-centered, lazy, sloppy, indulgent, obnoxious, and even neurotic.
A study published in the journal Computers in Human Behavior analyzed 123 selfie-taking participants and found that people who scored higher levels of agreeableness were more likely to give off a positive vibe from their selfies, as well as hold the camera lower.
People who were conscientious, meanwhile, were more likely to be discreet about where they were, indicating that they were concerned about privacy. The study also found that people who took duckface selfies a majority of the time were more likely to be associated with neuroticism and emotional instability.
4. A travel photo with you as the focus means you're from America
You may post a picture of yourself in France, but people can still tell that you're not French.
Researchers Chih-Mao Huang and Denise Park, of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the National Taiwan University in Taipei, compared profiles of 200 Taiwanese and American students. To mix things up, some of the students in Taiwan were actually American citizens and vice versa.
The researchers found that it didn't matter where the participant was in the photo, as they tended to reveal the association between cultural background and the style of the picture. Americans were more like to have a close-up picture, with mainly their face showing, while those of a Taiwanese background generally had a zoomed-out photo where the background could be clearly seen.
5. A slightly — only slightly! — happy facial expression, you're more trustworthy and friendly
A study published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin showed how facial expressions can affect how trustworthy, friendly, or warm people find you to be based on your photo. Apparently, coming off as too happy feels inauthentic to those judgy folks scrolling past your pics.
And this is all about walking that tightrope again. Who's to say you weren't truly elated when your profile pic was snapped? Maybe you're just an authentically happy person? It doesn't matter in the world of social media, where context takes a backseat to everything. And maybe that's what's inherently wrong with social media to begin with.
People make assumptions about you and your characteristics based on your profile picture. You don't want your picture to give off false information or too many details about you and your life. Remember to look nice but not too nice, happy but not overly so, and be careful with the overall presentation of your photo, as you never know who will be looking at it and judging you.
Or maybe, just maybe, the real lesson in all this is, when it comes to being judged based solely on one image, there's really no way to win. Post the photo you love. The people who are most important in your life will love it too.
Christine Schoenwald is a writer, performer, and frequent contributor to YourTango. She's had articles featured in The Los Angeles Times, Salon, Bustle, Medium, Huffington Post, Business Insider, and Woman's Day, among many others.
