Coman, AlinTodorov, AlexEconomy, Evelyn2013-07-192026-09-302013-07-192026-09-302013-04-152013-07-19http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/dsp01fj2362204https://theses-dissertations.princeton.edu/handle/88435/dsp01fj2362204This paper reports on a study that examines the relationship between participants’ facial-traitbased judgments of competence for politicians and the real election outcomes for the corresponding political races using facial occlusion techniques. It discusses pre-existing literature on face-based trait judgments. It examines whether there are discrepancies in trends between gubernatorial and Senate races and House races. It also examines the extent to which different parts of a candidate headshot motivate competence judgments, including the relationships between masks that reveal some facial information and masks that reveal all possible facial information, and the extent to which non-facial information affects judgments of competence. It concludes with a review of possible sources of error and opportunities for future research.58 pagesen-USPrinceton University Senior ThesesWalk-in Access. This thesis can only be viewed on computer terminals at the <a href=http://mudd.princeton.edu>Mudd Manuscript Library</a>.