The right man for the job? Dictators’ selection mode and their facial characteristics

Abstract

This note analyses the relationship between the facial characteristics of non-democratic leaders and the way in which they reached office. After collecting pictures of 274 leaders in office between 1975 and 2010, we use a computer-based survey to assess how these faces are spontaneously perceived by ordinary people for five facial characteristics. We find that selected dictators (that is, those who were either elected, appointed, or foreign imposed) look more trustworthy than monarchs, who were not selected by anyone. Attractiveness and competence are uncorrelated with entry mode. These results suggest that authoritarian selectorates, like voters in democracies, use facial characteristics as cues to choose leaders, but value different qualities in their rulers.