Attractive adults gain the trust of children

An adult with an attractive face is more likely to gain the trust of children, new research has found. Published in the British Journal of Developmental Psychology, the study revealed both boys and girls are more prone to believing answers given to them by people with an appealing face compared to those with a less pleasant appearance.

Carried out by Igor Bascandziev from Clark University and Harvard University, the investigation involved 32 children aged between four and five years old. The participants were shown 12 pictures of different women, who were selected due to them being ranked either the least or most attractive by a group of 48 undergraduate students.

It was demonstrated that more children - especially among the girls - selected attractive faces when asked to choose a person they thought would know the answer to a task.

Mr Bascandziev said: "Children and especially girls have more trust in attractive faces, even though there are no obvious reasons why people with more attractive faces would be more knowledgeable about object labels."