Facial cues or racial hues? The role of fWHR and racial bias in perception of leadership

Leadership categorization theory proposes that stereotypes associated with social categories can predict leader evaluation. Thus, people belonging to certain minority groups whose stereotypes do not match the leader prototype (dominant) are negatively evaluated for leadership positions. Notably, although one descriptive stereotype associated with Black people (dominant) matches that of the leader prototype, they are rarely represented in leadership roles. In this research, we propose social dominance orientation (SDO) as a possible explanation for this disparity. Results from three studies including archival data demonstrate that a person's facial width-to-height ratio (fWHR) is associated with judgments of leadership ability for White but not for Black faces. Results further show that although perception of dominance is positively associated with fWHR of White faces for both high and low SDO perceivers, this association (between fWHR and perceived dominance) holds only for Black faces for perceivers with low SDO. Interestingly, the perception of dominance remains high for low fWHR Black faces for high SDO perceivers. Finally, low- but not high-SDO perceivers associate perceived dominance with leadership for high-fWHR Black faces, and high- but not low-SDO perceivers associate perceived dominance with leadership for high-fWHR White faces. This research sheds light on the role of a perceiver characteristic (SDO) when weighing conflicting stereotypes and points to its differential association with leadership judgments.