Ling Bin, Xia Yuting, Wang Yihan
School of Business, Hohai University, 8 West Focheng Road, Nanjing 211100, China.
Behav Sci (Basel). 2025 Aug 20;15(8):1130. doi: 10.3390/bs15081130.
Facial attractiveness plays a significant role in job search evaluations, with recruiters often rating candidates with higher levels of attractiveness more favorably. This paper investigates how physical appearance and employability jointly influence applicant evaluations during resume screening. Using event-related potential (ERP) techniques, the study observes dynamic brain changes during the experiment. The findings reveal that: (1) Employability significantly enhances P200 amplitudes (reflecting early attentional allocation), while its effects on N170 and LPP components are contingent upon attractiveness levels; (2) These employability effects are selectively modulated by facial attractiveness: under high-attractiveness conditions, high employability potentiates both P200 and LPP responses (suggesting enhanced motivational engagement and emotional arousal); low employability leads to more negative N170 amplitudes (indicating early conflict detection to stereotype-incongruent cues). Conversely, no such effects emerge under low-attractiveness conditions, demonstrating that facial attractiveness gates the neural prioritization of qualification information. These results provide valuable insights into job search evaluations and highlight the neural mechanisms involved in facial perception and processing during resume screening.
面部吸引力在求职评估中起着重要作用，招聘人员通常对吸引力较高的候选人评价更有利。本文研究了外表和就业能力在简历筛选过程中如何共同影响对求职者的评价。该研究使用事件相关电位（ERP）技术，观察了实验过程中大脑的动态变化。研究结果表明：（1）就业能力显著增强P200波幅（反映早期注意力分配），而其对N170和LPP成分的影响取决于吸引力水平；（2）这些就业能力效应受到面部吸引力的选择性调节：在高吸引力条件下，高就业能力增强P200和LPP反应（表明增强的动机参与和情绪唤醒）；低就业能力导致更负的N170波幅（表明对不符合刻板印象的线索进行早期冲突检测）。相反，在低吸引力条件下没有出现这种效应，表明面部吸引力控制着资格信息的神经优先处理。这些结果为求职评估提供了有价值的见解，并突出了简历筛选过程中面部感知和处理所涉及的神经机制。
