The aim of the present study was to investigate whether neutral faces of individuals with different propensities for leadership may convey information about their personal qualities, and are there impacts of sex, population and social environment on the facial perception. This study is based on a previous experiment ( Rostovtseva et al., 2022), where emergent leadership in the context of male group cooperation was investigated in Buryats (Mongolian population of Siberia). In the previous study three behavioural types of participants were revealed: non-leaders, prosocial leaders and leaders-cheaters, each having a set of distinguishing personality, communicative, and cooperative features. In the current study, three composite portraits representing different leadership qualities of Buryat men from the prior experiment were created. The composites were then scored on a number of traits by male and female Russian and Buryat independent raters (N = 435). The results revealed that ratings on masculinity, physical strength, dominance, competitiveness, and perceived leadership were positively correlated, while perceived trustworthiness was negatively associated with these traits. However, the composite portraits of actual leaders generally were scored as more trustworthy, masculine, and physically strong, with the prosocial leaders’ portrait being perceived as healthier than others. Surprisingly, the composite of leaders-cheaters was scored as the most trustworthy and generous, and the least competitive than others. No significant effects of raters’ sex, origin, or degree of familiarity with Mongolian appearance were revealed. We conclude that static facial morphology contributes to appearing trustworthy, which may allow exploitation of others.

本研究的目的是调查具有不同领导倾向的个人的中性面孔是否可以传达有关其个人品质的信息，以及性别、人口和社会环境对面部感知是否有影响。本研究基于之前的一项实验（Rostovtseva 等人，2022 年），该实验在布里亚特人（西伯利亚的蒙古人口）调查了男性群体合作背景下的紧急领导力。在之前的研究中揭示了三种行为类型的参与者：非领导者、亲社会领导者和领导者欺骗者，每个人都有一套独特的个性、交流和合作特征。在当前的研究中，创建了三幅代表先前实验中布里亚特人不同领导素质的复合肖像。N  = 435)。结果显示，男性气质、体力、支配力、竞争力和感知领导力的评分呈正相关，而感知的可信度与这些特征呈负相关。然而，实际领导者的综合肖像通常被评为更值得信赖、阳刚、身体强壮，亲社会领导人的肖像被认为比其他人更健康。令人惊讶的是，与其他人相比，领导者和作弊者的组合被评为最值得信赖、最慷慨、最没有竞争力。评估者的性别、出身或对蒙古人外表的熟悉程度没有显着影响。我们得出结论，静态面部形态有助于显得值得信赖，这可能允许剥削他人。