How resistant are implicit impressions of facial trustworthiness? When new evidence leads to durable updating

Abstract Previous research suggests that the influence of facial trustworthiness is irresistible in the process of making judgments even when relevant behavioral information is available. This leaves the possibility that people's evaluations of others, especially implicit evaluations, might be determined by facial appearances alone, despite the lack of evidence showing the accuracy of inferences made from faces. In this paper, however, we identified properties of behavioral information—extremity and reliability—that are key to rapidly, effectively, and durably changing implicit evaluations based on facial trustworthiness. Across three pre-registered studies, we showed that implicit evaluations based on facial trustworthiness were updated when, and only when, the propositional information was extreme (Study 1). However, extreme information alone was not enough. Extreme information needed to be perceived as reliable (believable) in order to change face-based implicit evaluations (Study 2). Moreover, updating face-based implicit evaluations with one piece of reliable and extreme information showed stability over a three-day interim (Study 3). These results suggest that impressions based on facial trustworthiness are not insurmountable. After a brief, single-session learning session with a specific type of new evidence, initial implicit evaluations were reversed and persisted across three days.