The researchers conducted an experiment in which 55 participants looked at photographs of four women who were smiling on one card and maintaining a neutral expression on another. After examining each, the subjects had to rate how attractive it is. They were asked to guess if she was extroverted, emotionally stable, conscientious and open to new experiences and would be able to make friends with her.

From a month to six months later, the participants in the experiment met with one of these women, not realizing that they had previously evaluated her photograph. They played quizzes and other games for about 10 minutes and were then tasked with getting to know each other as best as they could for the next 10 minutes. After each interaction, the participants in the experiment again rated the attractiveness of the woman and her personality traits. As a result, the researchers found strong agreement between how participants judged a person based on a photograph and live interaction.

If the subjects thought that the person in the photo was nice and pleasant, emotionally stable, open and kind, this impression persisted even after the face-to-face meeting. Participants who felt that the person in the photo was unsympathetic and emotionally unstable maintained this view after they met. Remarkably, the participants interacted with the same person, but even after 20 minutes of face-to-face interaction, they retained their radically different impressions.

Vivian Zayas gives several explanations for the results of the experiment. In her opinion, the formation of enduring sympathy in this case is nothing more than the result of the concept of behavioral confirmation or a self-fulfilling prophecy. Mentions of this concept can be found in the myths of ancient Greece and India, but the term itself was popularized by the American sociologist Robert K. Merton in the 20th century. A self-fulfilling prophecy is a prediction that appears to be true but is not. It can greatly influence the behavior of people in such a way that their subsequent actions themselves lead to the fulfillment of the prophecy.

Those participants in the study who liked the person in the photo, as a rule, interact with him in a more friendly and active way. They smile a little more and lean forward a little more while talking. Their non-verbal cues will be "warmer". When someone is located to a person from the very beginning, shows more active participation, he responds to him in the same way. This reaction is reinforced by the fact that the participant in the experiment likes such a woman more.