The glasses stereotype.

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The results show that faces without glasses were seen more attractive and more likeable than faces with full-rim glasses. Faces with rimless glasses did not differ from faces without glasses in their attractiveness or likability rating. Regarding the ratings of successfulness, and intelligence, the results show that individuals wearing glasses (both rimless and full-rim) were rated as more successful and more intelligent than individuals not wearing glasses. Regarding trustworthiness, individuals with rimless glasses were rated as significantly more trustworthy than faces without glasses. Ratings of cooperativeness did not differ between the face versions.

Twenty undergraduate students viewed 26 faces in all three versions (no glasses, full-rim glasses, rimless glasses), resulting in 78 images. In order to attend to the faces, the participants rated them on attractiveness and distinctiveness, defined as the peculiarity of a face, ranging from “ordinary” faces to faces that would “pop out” in a crowd of people.

Indeed, the eye region was looked at longer than the rest of the face, but this depended on whether the model was wearing glasses. Both types of glasses attracted longer looks to the eye region. For the full rim glasses we expected to find longer looks due to the prominence of the glasses rims. Interestingly, rimless glasses, which are by design by far less peculiar, influenced looking behavior to the same extent as full-rim glasses, probably because even slight changes in the eye region suffice to attract longer looks.

Thus, glasses significantly influence our looking behavior. This leads us to the question of whether glasses influence our ability to discriminate (Experiment 3) and recognize (Experiment 4) faces.

In legal contexts discriminating and recognizing faces is crucial, especially, in the case of eyewitness testimony. Therefore, studying the effects of recognition of people with and without glasses can help both assess and improve the accuracy of eyewitness testimony and identification in line-ups.

When both faces were presented simultaneously, wearing full-rim glasses led to a longer reaction time in matching two different faces. This means that full-rim glasses impeded discrimination of faces when two different faces were shown, rimless glasses, however, did not produce this effect. For comparisons of the same face (i.e. the same individual) with and without glasses, we found that comparisons of faces without glasses in both images were quickest. This, however, is not surprising as the two images were not only of the same individual, but were also exactly identical themselves. To conclude: Faces with full-rim glasses compared to faces without glasses slowed simultaneous matching, but did not influence accuracy of the matching. This suggests that we can reliably match two faces even when an individual is wearing glasses in one image, but it takes some more time to do so

In four experiments we studied how eyeglasses impact perception and impressions of faces. We could show that glasses (a) foster stereotypical evaluations, but (b) they depend on the type of glasses worn. Furthermore, glasses attract attention to the eye region and impede a quick discrimination and recognition of faces. However, it seems they do not impede the accuracy of face identification.

In our first experiment, testing stereotypical evaluations, we found that faces with full-rim glasses are evaluated as less attractive and more intelligent than faces without glasses. This confirms the glasses stereotype. Interestingly, faces with rimless glasses are not evaluated as less attractive, but as more intelligent and also as more trustworthy than faces without glasses. This means that wearing rimless glasses increases the chances of someone being regarded as more intelligent and trustworthy—which may be beneficial in court—without having the downside of getting evaluated as less attractive—which would not be beneficial in court. Being evaluated as more intelligent or trustworthy, of course, does not mean that one is indeed more intelligent or trustworthy. However, drawing on findings from first impressions and the tendency to confirm these, one might have a head start with rimless glasses.

Only faces with full-rim glasses got rated as less attractive compared to faces without glasses. This could be due to perceptual factors influencing facial attractiveness, particularly facial distinctiveness. Facial distinctiveness, the difference between a single face and the mean of the population, is mostly associated with lower attractiveness evaluations (Langlois & Roggman, 1990). Throughout our studies we found that faces with full-rim glasses were generally rated higher in distinctiveness compared to faces with rimless and faces without glasses. This explains why rimless glasses do not lead to lower attractiveness, whereas full-rim glasses, which confer higher distinctiveness, do.

Regarding perception, discrimination and recognition of faces our experiments show that glasses lead to longer looks at the eye region. Furthermore, it takes longer to discriminate (or match) two faces. Nonetheless, the accuracy of discrimination and recognition of faces with full-rim glasses is comparable to faces without glasses. Rimless glasses, on the other hand, seem to render faces more likely to be confused with a different face.

For practical purposes, our findings suggest that wearing full-rim glasses do not help in concealing one’s identity in short-term recognition in general, but they do slow perception. Eyewitnesses at a crime scene often only have a short glimpse at the suspect(s) – glasses in this particular case might then complicate perception and, hence, later recognition. However, whether this really is the case remains to be tested. Especially, rimless glasses show the effect that one’s face becomes more easily confused with someone else’s. In court this could be beneficial or detrimental—depending on whether one is guilty or innocent.

The stereotypical association of glasses with "nerdiness" has pretty much disappeared.