PATIENT'S FACIAL APPEARANCE ALTERS LIKELIHOOD OF PROVIDING MEDICAL TREATMENT

Purpose: Current models of medical decisions assume the use of analytic reason, evidence, and experience. None of these take into account potential biases from our perceptions of facial appearance. In this study we sought to determine whether medical decisions made by novices could be influenced by sex-typical facial characteristics (i.e. how masculine or how feminine a face is) that have been shown to alter perceptions of honesty and attractiveness (Perrett et al. 1998).

Method: Non-medical undergraduate students (74 women, 69 men) participated. Scenarios (n=10) reflected situations in which honest accounts of patient history was relevant to treatment (e.g. illicit drug use). Each scenario utilized a different androgynous name; half of the participants saw the scenario ascribed to male patients, and the other half to females. Each scenario was followed by two faces, manipulated to be a feminized or masculinized version of the same face (digital techniques are described in Perrett et al 1998). Participants were asked which patient they would rather provide treatment. Scenarios were constructed to include a dimension of ‘trust’ in assessing patient medical needs, for example, when asked about illicit drug use, a participant is required to make in indirect judgment (i.e. whether to prescribe a particular drug) of the honesty of such a statement. It was predicted that individuals would be more likely to prescribe to the face that they perceived as more trustworthy, in this case, more feminine faces (Perrett et al. 1998).

Result: A 2x2 ANOVA (sex of stimuli x sex of rater) revealed no main effects or interactions between the sex of stimuli and the sex of raters (all F’s <0.8), therefore subsequent analyses were collapsed across raters. Participants were more likely to give treatment to feminine faces than masculine faces (t(143)= 2.001, p<0.05). 

Conclusion: Participants were more likely to prescribe medical treatment to those with more feminine facial characteristics than those with masculine facial characteristics, regardless of the gender of the stimuli. These results are consistent with the idea that facial appearance can alter the likelihood of being trusted (Perrett et al 1998), here reflected in the differential willingness to prescribe in medical novices, and currently being investigated in medical trainees. Perrett, et al. (1998) Effects of sexual dimorphism on facial attractiveness. Nature 394, 884-887.