Posing personality: Is it possible to enact the Big Five traits in photographs?

0092-6566/$ see front matter 2012 Elsevier Inc. A http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2012.10.012 ⇑ Corresponding author. Address: PO Box 9, Sil University of Helsinki, Finland. E-mail address: [email protected] (S. Leikas Person perception research has focused on the accuracy of observers receiving truthful target information; however, in real life people may often wish to manage the impression that they convey. We investigated whether people can ‘‘pose personality’’ in photographs. Sixty target participants posed each in 10 photographs in which they sought to express the high and low poles of the Big Five traits by means of physical appearances. Observers (N = 401) rated targets’ personality and likability from each photograph. The results showed that targets successfully posed as Extravert and, to lesser extent, as Introvert, Neurotic, Non-Conscientious, and Open, and that targets could not convey impressions of high and low Agreeableness. 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.