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1. The Thatcher Effect

This image looks pretty normal when viewed upside down, even though the mouth and eyes are inverted in both versions of the image. Really. Turn your laptop upside down, right now. Behold, the Thatcher Effect.

Researchers from Emory University attribute the phenomenon to our sensitivity to the relationship between facial features in upright faces, a sensitivity that also allows us to differentiate between faces and recognize familiar faces. Read more.

2. The Familiar Stranger

In his 1972 essay, Stanley Milgram describes the phenomenon of the Familiar Stranger: a person you see and observe regularly in your daily activities, but never interact with. Milgram’s definition defines a Familiar Stranger as one who you have (1.) observed (2.) repeatedly for a certain time period (3.) without any interaction. Says Milgrim about the relationship between Familiar Strangers “…it’s a real relationship, in which both parties have agreed to mutually ignore each other, without any implication of hostility.” Tasty Research reported that researchers who interviewed commuters at commute stations found that on average, commuters knew four familiar strangers but had only talked to 1.5 individuals. Perceptual processing takes less effort than social processing. See also Berkeley’s Familiar Stranger Project.

3. The Teddy Bear Effect

Researchers from the Kellogg School of Management studied how the characteristics of “babyfaceness” play a role in the success of black CEOs while harming the earning power of white CEOs.

“Prior research has shown babyface-type traits are a liability for those striving for a leadership role because they undermine perceptions of competence, but these studies focused on white males,” said Livingston, lead author and assistant professor of management and organizations at the Kellogg School of Management. “Because a babyface is disarming, we hypothesized that it would provide an advantage to black leaders who have a history of being stigmatized as too threatening to occupy positions of high power.”

Caveat: not the most convincing sample size, but this is a tough one to measure. Read more.

4. Things That Look Like Faces

And lastly, thanks to pareidoilia, the ubiquity of cameras and accessibility of the internet, a few collections of what I sometimes do when bored in meetings: look for things that look like faces.