Media analysts have argued that a major factor in Barack Obama’s
political success is his nonthreatening demeanor, to counteract the
stereotype of the threatening black man. Researchers wondered if there
might be a similar counter-stereotypical pattern for black CEOs, even
on a purely visual level. They asked people to rate pictures of CEOs
for baby-facedness, warmth, and competence. Relative to white CEOs,
black CEOs were rated as more baby-faced – and, consistent with prior
research on baby-faced stereotypes, seen as warmer and less competent.
For blacks, being baby-faced meant earning more money, the study found,
whereas white CEOs earned less money if they were baby-faced. According
to the authors, this confirms that blacks need “disarming mechanisms”
to be successful in corporate America.
Here is the link, which reports some other interesting (and separate) results. The core source is Livingston, R. & Pearce, N., “The Teddy-Bear Effect: Does
Having a Baby Face Benefit Black Chief Executive Officers?”
Psychological Science (October 2009). Here are some photos and charts.
Could it be that a dominant white-only culture amongst executive level and boards of directors with little contact with black individuals in person, and only seeing them portrayed in a negative light in the media has meant that to be seen as acceptable, the perception of threat has to be dulled?
If we accept my explanation above, and If we assume that more blacks (men and women) start to move into middle management and upper management roles, the established power structures will become more comfortable with black individuals in general, and at some point, they will not be required to be seen to be disarming in some way to continue climbing, because the skin color will not be seen as an additional threat.
At this stage, should we expect that baby-facedness to become a liability?
Alternately, there is something about darker colored skin that needs to be softened as part of human nature (I don’t particularly like this explanation).
Other thoughts?
And, don’t forget Obama is tall, and the studies on leadership and height.
I am a bit doubtful about all of this. Afterall, Michael Steele, the head of the RNC, is baby faced and tall.
Now, Tom DeLay was short, and maybe that explains everything. But, he is a good dancer.
I call baloney. By the time you are a senior VP at a major corporation, “baby-facedness” doesn’t cut the mustard as a cause of anything. I would buy that appearance-related intangibles such as attractiveness, a friendly but commanding demeanor, and “fitting the part,” might be relevant to becoming a CEO. But almost everyone who is has reached the level of a senior executive can check off those boxes, and I don’t think anyone is “threatened” to encounter a senior vice president of any race (dressed as such) in a dark hallway, unless it’s because they fear getting laid off. I’m of the opinion that asking white and Asian college students about facial features is NOT a means to insight into the promotion policies of corporations.
I’ll echo those who attack the story, but on two different grounds.
First, it seems like you’d need a control rating of non-CEO AA men, just to make sure they don’t seem more baby-faced as a race.
Second, assuming there actually is correlation, where does anyone get off providing quotes that assume causation and then speculate on reasons? Maybe there’s a rare gene that creates both BF looks and extreme genius in AA men. (I’m not suggesting any such thing, merely that there are infinite possibilities and the only way to draw a conclusion is science.)
Now I know why he won the Nobel Peace Prize.
Seriously, though, I don’t think he has a baby face. Do they have a template of face sizes?
He looks more like Lincoln. And, he even has big ears. Did they do a study on narrow faced big ear candidates?
Apparently, the entire concept of journalism — as well as that of socially observant economists — is now very brazenly in the tank for “Here’s a vapid study that proves something I have always believed.”
Someone claims that people are reluctant to give power to people who appear angry and/or psychopathic?
Clearly, that is proof that no white person will trust a black man without a “baby face.”
You non-stop racialists — you have the crazy.
what happened…
I do not find a lot of “cerebreality” in voting patterns these days. But as for “celebrity”, yes, that is plentiful.
Firstly, people seem surprised by the banality that applies to most studies.
Second, why do we even care about CEOs? To become a CEO for a major company, maybe you need everything to go just right and maybe that is due to pure luck. Why not just plan to be highly talented and be an entrepreneur instead.
Lastly, I don’t like Obama, which means the rest of you are all racists.
Giuliani may have a reputation as a tought prosecutor and a politican who will get down and dirty, but isn’t he’s short and talks with a lisp — not exactly the image of virility and alpha-maleness, is it?
I totally agree with the poster above me. The fact that B.H. Obama has a higher melanin content would cause “baby-facedness.” The melanin is akin to walking around with an extra layer of SPF 4 for your whole life*. My hypothesis on the subject is that his face is a picture of health for who he is; a black male in a temperate region. If he were white, we would (consciously or sub) have an expectation of wrinkles at his age, which would have correlation with good health.
*1 life = 50 years * 5 months / year * 28 days/month * 4 hours / day = 28,000 extra hours of sunscreen use at SPF 4
I wonder if testosterone levels (which tend to sharpen a man’s facial features) play a role that leads to a culturally-specific reduction in achievement in school.
I’d like to see a similar study looking at AA versus caucasian faces of male business school grads, or baby-face versus SAT scores.
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