Not smiling for ID pictures

[Admin_2]

I thought that not smiling for ID pictures was just a Thai thing, but it looks like New Jersey is following suit.

I always found it strange for a country filled with so many different smiles that they didn't allow smiling in photo ID's. Now there is an IT reason for it!

http://news.yahoo.com/jersey-bans-smiling-drivers-license-photos-200155700--abc-news-topstories.html

Those looking to predict a person's chance of success should start their investigation on the playground, research shows.

A new study by researchers at Concordia University revealed that a kid's friends may be the best judge of what the child will grow up to be like.

Specifically, the study found that a child's peer evaluations of their classmates' personalities can more accurately predict adulthood personality traits – which are associated with a number of important life factors, such as health, mental health and occupational satisfaction – than self-evaluation at that age.

The study, which began in 1976, asked students in grades 1, 4 and 7 to complete peer evaluations of their classmates and rate them in terms of aggression, likeability and social withdrawal. In addition, the students conducted their own self-evaluation.

The children were tracked into adulthood over the next 20 years. A follow-up survey was then conducted that included measurement of their personality traits as an adult, such as levels of neuroticism, extroversion, openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness.

Alexa Martin-Storey, a recent Concordia graduate and one of the study's authors, said they were able to compare peer and self-perceptions of childhood behaviors with their adult personality characteristics.

"We found the evaluations from the group of peers were much more closely associated with eventual adult outcomes than were their own personality perceptions from childhood," Martin-Storey said. "This makes sense, since children are around their peers all day and behaviors like aggressiveness and likeability are extremely relevant in the school environment."

The research shows that children who perceived themselves as socially withdrawn exhibited less conscientiousness as adults, while kids whose peers perceived them as socially withdrawn grew up to exhibit lower levels of extraversion.

Martin-Storey said peer-perceived likeability also predicted a more accurate outcome, associating the personality trait with higher levels of agreeableness and conscientiousness and lower levels of neuroticism than those who thought of themselves as likeable.

"The information from our study could be used to promote better longitudinal outcomes for children by helping kids and parents develop effective mechanisms for addressing aggressive or socially withdrawn behaviors and promoting more pro-social behavior," said Lisa Serbin of the Department of Psychology at Concordia University and one of the study's co-authors.

[kaunitz]

I thought that not smiling for ID pictures was just a Thai thing, but it looks like New Jersey is following suit.

I always found it strange for a country filled with so many different smiles that they didn't allow smiling in photo ID's. Now there is an IT reason for it!

http://news.yahoo.com/jersey-bans-smiling-drivers-license-photos-200155700--abc-news-topstories.html

It's the same now also in Europe. For my actual passport, I had to take off my glasses and was not allowed to smile anymore already in late 2007. Another thing is that the pics are now taken 100% frontal whereas before, we had to put our face in a slight angle - and a light smile even was encouraged. Funny thing is that the (now directly printed) photo in the passport is much worse than the formerly used "old-style" pictures.

Edited September 21, 2012 by kaunitz

[funky_house]

I think that it is all to do with photo recognition software being able to pick someone out.