How likeable are you? One way to find out is to measure the shape of your face and the ‘shape’ of your name.
First, is your face angular (3 points), rounded (1 point) or somewhere in between (2 points)?
Now measure your first name by scoring the vowels according to the following system: a = 2, e = 3, i = 3, o = 1, u = 1.
Then take the average, as in the following example, Benjamin: e = 3, a = 2, i = 3 (3 + 2 + 3) ÷ 3 = 8 ÷ 3 = 2.67.
Calculate the difference between your face-score and your name-score by subtracting whichever is smaller from whichever is larger. For example, my face is very round (score = 1) and my name score is 2.67. So, 2.67 - 1 = 1.67.
The smaller this number the more likeable you are (the minimum is 0, the maximum is 2). It turns out I’m pretty unlikeable. But somebody called Bob (score = 1) with a very round face (score = 1) would score a perfect zero, as would somebody called Jim (score = 3) with a very angular face (score = 3).
But why? It has long been known that people perceive some words as sounding “round” and others as sounding “angular” (the famous bouba/kiki effect). A new study conducted at the University of Otago in New Zealand demonstrated not only that this effect extends to people’s names, but that people whose name “roundness” matches their face roundness are perceived as more likeable; presumably because we are drawn to people who confirm, rather than challenge, our stereotypes.
A fully referenced version of this article is at benambridge.com. Order Are You Smarter Than a Chimpanzee? by Ben Ambridge for £11.04 at bookshop.theguardian.com
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