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Interpersonal relationships moderate the effect of faces on person judgments
Author(s) -
Tuk Mirjam A.,
Verlegh Peeter W. J.,
Smidts Ale,
Wigboldus Daniel H. J.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
european journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.609
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1099-0992
pISSN - 0046-2772
DOI - 10.1002/ejsp.576
Subject(s) - psychology , trustworthiness , social psychology , salient , impression formation , interpersonal communication , context (archaeology) , interpersonal relationship , face (sociological concept) , interpersonal interaction , interpersonal attraction , interpersonal perception , social relation , social perception , face perception , cognitive psychology , perception , linguistics , paleontology , philosophy , artificial intelligence , neuroscience , computer science , biology , attraction
Previous research suggests that people form impressions of others based on their facial appearance in a very fast and automatic manner, and this especially holds for trustworthiness. However, as yet, this process has been investigated mostly in a social vacuum without taking interpersonal factors into account. In the current research, we demonstrate that both the relationship context that is salient at the moment of an interaction and the performed behavior are important moderators of the impact of facial cues on impression formation. It is shown that, when the behavior of a person we encounter is ambiguous in terms of trustworthiness, the relationship most salient at that moment is of crucial impact on whether and how we incorporate facial cues communicating (un)trustworthiness in our final evaluations. Ironically, this can result in less positive evaluations of interaction partners with a trustworthy face compared to interaction partners with an untrustworthy face. Implications for research on facial characteristics, trust, and relationship theories are discussed. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.