Consistent Facial Cues to Social Class Across Two Different Western Contexts

Abstract

Individuals form impressions of others’ social-class standing from nonverbal information, including facial appearance. Whether the facial cues relating to (perceptions of) social class generalize across different contexts and class measures (e.g., income and subjective status) remains unknown. We tested which facial cues relate to actual and perceived social class using multiple social-class measures in two contexts: Canada (using contemporary lab-based photos) and Iceland (using mid-20th-century yearbook photos). Results show that facial appearance reveals and predicts impressions of social class broadly (vs. only for specific measures). Greater facial Attractiveness (attractiveness/competence/health) and Positivity (affect/warmth) related to higher social-class standing in both contexts, suggesting that social class influences facial appearance similarly in different environments. Attractiveness also primarily explained social-class perceptions. Validity and utilization of other cues, however, differed between contexts, and we observed perception accuracy only for Canadian targets. These findings provide a more complete understanding of accuracy and bias in perceiving social class.