Abstract: The existing literatures have provided empirical research evidence which demonstrated that facial width-to-height ratio (fWHR) was associated with social judgments, such as aggression, racial animus, dehumanization, etc. However, there has been few researches focused on whether fWHR could influence the consequence and process of other’s decision making. Advice-taking mainly explores how judges change the initial opinion to form the final decision after receiving another person’s advice, which involves judges and advisors. This paper proposed a negative effect of advisor’s fWHR on advice taking because the detriment perceptions of high fWHR targets led to negative impacts on their credibility as an advisor. We also examined the moderating role of the gender of the advisor and the degree of emotional difficulty. Three lab experiments were conducted to test our hypotheses. The first experiment examined the effect of advisor’s fWHR on advice taking. Participants were randomly assigned to four groups and were presented with an advisor’s picture of different gender and degrees of fWHR (male high fWHR targets, female high fWHR targets, male low fWHR targets, and female high fWHR targets). They were first instructed to make the initial decisions by themselves, and then watch the advisor’s picture and read their advice. After that, they were asked to report their intentions to change the initial decisions depend on the advice. Experiment 2 was conducted to test the mediating role of credibility of advisor and enhance the robustness of main effect with different scenarios. In experiment 3, we examined the moderation role of the degree of emotional difficulty by using a 2 (high fWHR vs. Low fWHR ) * 2 (low emotional difficult vs. high emotional difficulty) between-subjects design. The degree of emotional difficulty was manipulated by inviting 207 participants to read and imagine a scenario that they are in an investment dilemma which may cause negative emotions at different levels. We also controlled the effects of face attraction, perceived dominance and perceived benevolence in three lab studies.The results of experiment 1 identified the negative effect of advisor’s fWHR on advice taking when advisor was male, but failed to find any significant difference when advisor was female. Experiment 2 indicated that credibility of advisor mediated the relationship between advisor’s fWHR and advice taking. Moreover, the results of experiment 3 revealed a significant moderating role of emotional difficulty. In the low degree of emotional difficulty, the main effect of advisor’s fWHR on advice taking as well as the mediating effect of credibility of advisor were identified, but they were not supported in the high degree of emotional difficulty. This paper contributes to the literature in several different areas. Firstly, We find that facial factors have an important influence on advice taking which can help us understand the process of advice taking. By examining how advisor’s fWHR influences the process of advice taking, the current research enriches evidences that peripheral cues play an important role in the decision-making process. Secondly, we shed light on the literature of fWHR by exploring its decisional consequences. We also find it is important to explore the influence of emotional difficulty on the perception of facial width-to-height ratio. Finally, this research contributes to the advice taking literature by facilitating interaction between judge and advisor.

Key words: facial width-to-height ratio, advice taking, credibility of advisor, emotional difficulty

摘要： 在建议采纳过程中，建议者面孔宽高比作为可靠性线索可能影响决策者的决策与判断。本研究通过3个实验来分析建议者面孔宽高比对决策者建议采纳的影响及其机制，并探讨了建议者性别与决策情境的调节作用。结果显示: (1) 相较于女性与低面孔宽高比建议者，男性高面孔宽高比建议者的建议被更低程度地采纳，建议者可靠性感知中介了这一过程。(2) 建议情境的情绪困难程度调节了上述关系，高情绪困难会削弱面孔宽高比对建议采纳的影响。

关键词: 面孔宽高比, 建议采纳, 建议者可靠性, 情感困难情境