Who likes extraverts? Re-examining motivational tradeoff effects in social perception

Although many facial features elicit similar personality impressions across different perceivers, there are also substantial individual differences. Brown and Sacco conducted several studies to explore which perceiver characteristics explain these differences. Applying the idea of motivational tradeoffs, they showed that extraverted-looking targets are perceived more positively by perceivers whose social needs are more likely to be met by extraverted individuals. Here, we conduct two preregistered replications of their studies, testing if participants with (a) stronger affiliative needs, (b) weaker pathogen concern, and (c) a more unrestricted sociosexual orientation form more positive impressions of extraverted-looking individuals. Using the original stimuli and study design (Study 1, n = 273) and two additional stimulus sets and an improved study design (Study 2, n = 367), we do not find consistent evidence for any of the proposed relationships. Our findings highlight the need for additional research to understand individual differences in social perception.