Why You Should Freak Out More, Not Less, Over Your Profile Photos

New York Magazine:

We’ve all spent too much time obsessing over our profile pictures on Facebook, dating websites, and everywhere else. It would be nice to think we’re being neurotic, that it doesn’t actually matter whether you use that photo where you look coy-happy or the one where you’re a bit more mischievous-happy. But a new study in Psychological Science suggests otherwise: Even subtle differences between photos of the same person can greatly alter others’ first impressions of them.

Look at the images above. Researchers were able to get subjects to change their minds about which of each of the two individuals pictured is more extroverted or trustworthy simply by using slightly different photos. The differences are subtle, and yet they still led participants in the experiment to make very different judgments about the subjects of the photos.

Read the whole story: New York Magazine