VOA常速英语:First Impressions Can Sway Elections, Experts Say

Which of these politicians would you vote for?They’re the same right?Not exactly, in an experiment Danish Researchers modified the real face to make it look more dominant or more feminine.Those subtle changes made a difference says Princeton University psychology professor Alexander Todorov.
您会投票给哪位政治家？他们是一样的吗？不完全是，在一项实验中，丹麦研究人员修改了真实的面孔，使其看起来更具主导性或更具女人味。普林斯顿大学心理学教授亚历山大托多罗夫说，这些微妙的变化有所不同。

“Right-wing voters were more receptive to the message of this politician, when the message was paired with this more dominant looking face.And liberal voters were more persuaded, when the same message was accompanied by this other image of a more feminine-looking leader.”
右翼选民更倾向于接受这位政治家的信息，他们的主旨与这张看起来更具主导性的面孔相配。当同样的信息伴随着一个更具女性魅力的领导者的另一个形象时，对自由派选民更有说服力。

That’s one example from Todorov new book, Face Value.He describes the unconscious judgments we make based solely on looks and how those judgments have consequences like deciding elections.For example, Todorov has found he could predict most races with a single test.He showed subjects actual campaign photos of opposing candidates and asked which one is more competent.The candidate, judged more competent based solely on a picture, was the one that won the election 70 percent of the time.
这是托多罗夫新书《长相的价值》中的一个例子。他描述了我们仅仅基于外表做出的无意识判断，以及这些判断是如何产生像决定选举这样的结果的。例如，托多罗夫发现他可以通过一个测试预测大多数选举结果。他向实验对象展示了对手候选人的实际竞选照片，并询问哪一个更有能力。仅凭一张照片就能判断出他更有能力的候选人，有70%的几率赢得了选举。

“I was certainly surprised, because this is a really important races.There’s tons of money going into it and there are lots of other variables.And yet we were able to predict a large percentage of the elections.”
我当然很惊讶，因为这是一个非常重要的比赛，有大量资金投入其中，还有很多其他变数，但我们能够预测出一大半的选举结果。

Todorov says the effect is strongest on voters who know the least about political issues.That’s not completely irrational he says.
托多罗夫说，在对政治问题知之甚少的选民身上，这种影响最为强烈。他说，这并不完全是非理性的。

“You can say that people looking for the right information competence in the wrong place appearance.Because it’s easy and that’s the kind of the story of a lot of the psychology of decision making,to a large extent we make lots of judgments to rank and short cuts.”
你可以说人们在错误的地方寻找合适的信息能力，因为它很容易，这就是很多决策心理的故事，在很大程度上我们对排名和捷径做出了很多判断。

For example studies have found people who look more trustworthy get loans at lower interest rates.Criminals get harsher sentences based on their appearance.
例如，研究发现，看起来更值得信赖的人可以以更低的利率获得贷款。罪犯根据他们的外表得到更严厉的惩罚。

“Those who got the death sentence appeared more untrustworthy as measured by life observers.So this is sort of like the extreme examples, where that could play a incredibly important role.Now it’s becoming more incompetent up here.”
根据生活观察者的判断，那些被判死刑的人似乎更加不值得信任，所以这有点像极端的例子，长相可以发挥非常重要的作用。现在它变得越来越无所谓了。

Though first impressions are often wrong, Todorov says they are fast and automatic.
虽然第一印象往往是错误的，但托多罗夫表示他们是快速且自动的。

“It’s very hard to retrain people not to use them.I mean the best you can do I guess is make them aware and use different kinds of information, but again it’s easier said than done.”
很难再训练人们不使用它们。我的意思是，我猜你能做的最好的事情就是让他们意识到并使用不同种类的信息，但再说一遍，说起来容易做起来难。

It takes more effort for voters to learn about the candidates, but Todoreov says informed voters are not fooled by first impressions.
选民们需要付出更多的努力来了解候选人，但是托罗多夫说，见多识广的选民不会被第一印象所欺骗。

Steve Baragona VOA News Princeton, New Jersey.
VOA记者史提夫·巴拉贡新泽西州普林斯顿报道。