Charts from the last 500 years show changes in social dominance and trust

The face can be the mirror of the social soul. A study has used machines and a visual algorithm to study facial features in thousands of portraits from recent centuries. Its authors have verified that the rictus has changed over time. They observed, in fact, an increase in faces that conveyed trustworthiness and a withdrawal of those that showed dominance. The phenomenon has been parallel to economic development and the advancement of values such as religious tolerance or freedom.

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