International Faces: An Analysis of Self-Inflicted Face-ism in Online Profile Pictures

The head-body ratios of more than 1400 profile pictures of seven different nations were analyzed to test differences in facial prominence in the profile photos posted on social networking sites. The social psychology theory of face-ism was used to measure the head-body ratio of men and women. Results show that men were significantly higher in facial prominence than women, suggesting social gender stereotypes are internalized cross-culturally by individuals and influence their choice of photographs. Nationality was found to play a role in the face-ism indexes, with some nations displaying more of a gap in indexes between genders than others. The study shows that gender stereotypes still exist across cultures despite the self-selection ability of users.