At Face Value

The scientific story of first impressions—and why the snap character judgments we make from faces are irresistible but usually incorrect We make up our minds about others after seeing their faces for a fraction of a second—and these snap judgments predict all kinds of important decisions. For example, politicians who simply look more competent are more likely to win elections. Yet the character judgments we make from faces are as inaccurate as they are irresistible; in most situations, we would guess more accurately if we ignored faces. So why do we put so much stock in these widely shared impressions? What is their purpose if they are completely unreliable? In this book, Alexander Todorov, one of the world's leading researchers on the subject, answers these questions as he tells the story of the modern science of first impressions. Drawing on psychology, cognitive science, neuroscience, computer science, and other fields, this accessible and richly illustrated book describes cutting-edge research and puts it in the context of the history of efforts to read personality from faces. Todorov describes how we have evolved the ability to read basic social signals and momentary emotional states from faces, using a network of brain regions dedicated to the processing of faces. Yet contrary to the nineteenth-century pseudoscience of physiognomy and even some of today's psychologists, faces don't provide us a map to the personalities of others. Rather, the impressions we draw from faces reveal a map of our own biases and stereotypes. A fascinating scientific account of first impressions, Face Value explains why we pay so much attention to faces, why they lead us astray, and what our judgments actually tell us.

"Whitefield-Madrano ... examines the relationship between appearance and science, social media, sex, friendship, language, and advertising to show how beauty actually affects us day to day. Through ... research and interviews with dozens of women across all walks of life, she reveals surprising findings, like that wearing makeup can actually relax you, that you can convince people you're better looking just by tweaking your personality, and the ways beauty can be a powerful tool of connection among women"--Amazon.com.

The cultural historian and author of Keep Watching analyses American ideas about race, money, identity, and their surprising connections through history. From colonial history to the present, Americans have passionately, even violently, debated the nature and of money. Is it a symbol of the value of human work and creativity, or a symbol of some natural, intrinsic value? In Face Value, Michael O’Malley provides a penetrating historical analysis of American thinking about money and the ways that this ambivalence intertwines with race. Like race, money is bound up in questions of identity and worth, each a kind of shorthand for the different values of two similar things. O’Malley illuminates how these two socially constructed hierarchies are deeply rooted in American anxieties about authenticity and difference. In this compelling work of cultural history, O’Malley interprets a wide array of historical sources to evaluate competing ideas about monetary value and social distinctions. More than just a history, Face Value offers a new way of thinking about the present culture of coded racism, gold fetishism, and economic uncertainty. “This is a ‘big idea’ book that no one but Michael O’Malley could even have thought of—much less pulled off with such nuance and clarity.”—Scott A. Sandage, author of Born Losers

How to account for the peculiar attraction of certain photos? How to deal with the specific use of images in particular contexts? Monika Schwärzler presents a variety of photographic case studies exploring visual phenomena from the point of view of media analysis as well as from sociological, aesthetic, and psychoanalytic perspectives. The topics range from a new reading of Thomas Struth's street photographs to CERN photos with their charged rhetoric, from the assault of photographic close-ups to speculations on an anonymous slide collection featuring a woman with an ever-present white handbag. The book is intended for an audience receptive to the analytical appeal of images, prepared to go beyond what can be taken at face value.

Terry Healey was a junior at the University of California at Berkeley. At the age of twenty, his life had been smooth sailing, seldom interrupted with adversity or difficulty. Terry was confident and not concerned much with his appearance. But out of nowhere, a lump formed behind his right nostril. Cancer. He fought it and survived. But after multiple surgeries and radiation treatment, Terry would discover that he hadn't even begun to deal with what would become his greatest struggle for years to come -- the disfigurement that resulted from it.

Tom Harlan brings his Oath of Empire series to a shattering conclusion in The Dark Lord. In what would be the 7th Century AD in our history, the Roman Empire still stands, supported by the twin pillars of the Legions and Thaumaturges of Rome. The Emperor of the West, the Augustus Galen Atreus, came to the aid of the Emperor of the East, the Avtokrator Heraclius, in his war with the Sassanad Emperor of Persia. But despite early victories, that war has not gone well, and now Rome is hard-pressed. Constantinople has fallen before the dark sorceries of the Lord Dahak and his legions of the living and dead. Now the new Emperor of Persia marches on Egypt, and if he takes that ancient nation, Rome will be starved and defeated. But there is a faint glimmer of hope. The Emperor Galen's brother Maxian is a great sorcerer, perhaps the equal of Dahak, lord of the seven serpents. He is now firmly allied with his Imperial brother and Rome. And though they are caught tight in the Dark Lord's net of sorcery, Queen Zoe of Palmyra and Lord Mohammed have not relinquished their souls to evil. Powerful, complex, engrossing --Thomas Harlan's Oath of Empire series has taken fantasy readers by storm. The first three volumes, The Shadow of Ararat, The Gate of Fire, and The Storm of Heaven have been universally praised. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

First published in 1984, Face Value confronts the pervasive power of beauty through art and literature, as well as interviews with men and women with varying perspectives on the subject. The topics covered range widely: the history of beauty from the Greeks to the present; the pathology of beauty: how women have been willing to harm themselves, mentally and physically, to achieve ‘beauty’; the language we use to speak of beauty, and its implications; our attitudes towards beauty, as examined by psychologists; beauty and ethnic identity; men and beauty. The authors present in fact a redefinition of beauty, enabling both women and men to enjoy it in themselves and in others, while discarding the sex-role stereotypes that have governed the definition of beauty in the past. With a new preface that explores the gaps created by time in the book’s discourse, this book will be of interest to students of linguistics, gender studies, women’s studies, cultural studies, sociology and anthropology.

You can never see yourself as the world does. No matter how many mirrors you look into, you won't see what everyone else does. Beyond Face Value is not just a lesson Rajée had to learn, but it is an ethos she now lives her life by. Have you ever believed you were destined for a path that was totally different from where you started, or felt that life was directing you against the normal, the expected and the accepted, and that every challenge you faced was due to a higher power guiding you to a greater place? Rajée's story is both inspiring and devastating in equal measure. An outcast literally from birth, Rajée has had to fight racism, prejudice and ignorance her entire life. Through a series of events that would have broken even the strongest man, Rajée emerged as a butterfly does from a cocoon into a beautiful spirit, yet the cruelty of life has deprived her of the traditional facial value. Her story to the global stage after word of her horrendous and painful botched silicone injections came to light in Florida. Quickly, the damage inflicted on her by Oneal Morris (a.k.a. "Duchess") had attracted the media, both nationally and internationally, within a matter of weeks. At the age of 44 she finally had a platform to speak out about injustice and cruelty. She appeared with CNN's Anderson Cooper and Dr. Phil, as well as on German, Japanese, Spanish, and British television. This attention and the positive reaction to her plight, gave her the extra strength to tell the whole story that led her to, essentially, a back alley for facial injections of "fix-a-flat." Rajée's story is about one transgendered woman's incredible journey to truly understanding beauty, but it has touched millions, not just through understanding the plight of a transgendered woman, but because everyone has experienced, at some point in their lives, the disapproval of their parents, bullying at the hands of ignorance, discrimination, and events that change lives for the good, even though the idea they could, or that a future is even possible, in incredulous. Inner beauty is a lovely cliché, but after a life of tragedy, through spiritual enlightenment and prayer, Rajée has beaten the odds and reached a point in her life where she knows happiness and acceptance is truly Beyond Face Value.