It's no secret that people can be quick to judge others, particularly when it comes to how a person looks. There have been tons of studies on how physical facial appearance, like makeup or facial hair, impacts a person's perception of someone else.
However, do people make those same, snap assumptions about our furry friends on four legs, based upon a dog's facial appearance? A new study by researchers at the George Washington University Primate Genomics Lab finds that even dogs' faces provoke instant judgement from people who don't know them.
Participants in the study were given just a few seconds to look at pictures of unknown humans and canines. These included a collection of photos that consisted of a wide variety of facial complexity on both people and dogs but all of whom bore a neutral expression. The participants then quickly judged how expressive they perceived each person or pup to be. Among the study's key findings, researchers found:
