Babyface Nelson was one of the most notorious gangsters of the 20th Century.
The number of people he actually killed is innumerable – but when Al Capone kicks you out of his gang for being too violent, it’s easy to see that this guy was a full blown psychopath, according to the BBC.
But George Nelson had an ally – his face, which came in handy more than a few times.
One such time was back in 1934, when special police were tipped off that Babyface was staying at a nearby hotel.
The agents raided the hotel and ran into three men, all of whom looked like typical gangsters, and shot the three of them dead. Turns out, those three men were undercover FBI agents who had infiltrated the gang.
Interestingly, the police didn’t gun down Babyface, and probably due to his face – how could someone with such a round face, massive eyes, and a stubby nose, be capable of such violence they probably thought.
And it’s true, science explains that for thousands of years people have been judging one another based on their appearance, and when we see someone with a babyface, the first thing that springs to mind is qualities such as nativity, kindness, honesty, and warmth.
Incredibly – we judge a person based on their appearance in 50 milliseconds, explains Caroline Keating, an expert in non-verbal communication at Colgate University, New York.
However the real crazy thing is that people with babyface’s are actually more, not less, likely to commit crimes – and once they’ve done it for the first time, they’re even more likely to do it again.
As well as getting away from the scene of a crime a recent study found that across the world, babyfaced women were described as the most beautiful.
Caroline added:
The big eyes, the long lashes, the arched brows, the plump lips, the small chins, the round face, the cute little nose – if I wasn’t describing a baby, I’d be describing a supermodel.
Apparently this comes from our evolutionary past – when making a split-second opinion on someone or something could be the difference between life and death.
When we see a babyface our brains immediately think ‘baby’ and scream out ‘help me, protect me, I’m no threat to you’, says Caroline. However when we see someone with a rougher, more rugged face, our brain screams something far different.
Hell, even babyfaces are used to sell cosmetic products, or films such as Bambi, Betty Boop, and Mickey Mouse, and according to a recent survey – politicians with babyfaces are deemed as warmer, more trustworthy, honest, and attractive.
God I wish I had a babyface…
