Effect of Face Perception on Attitudes Towards Story Characters

Abstract

While there is a wealth of research demonstrating the rapid formation of reliable attitudes towards a novel face, and plenty of research demonstrating that reading stories can affect real-world attitudes and beliefs, there is little research combining the two. Using mental representation as a theoretical framework, this study attempts to determine whether presenting a face digitally manipulated to look more or less criminal alongside a valenced short story providing either a positive or negative impression of its protagonist can change subjects’ attitudes towards the character in that story, depending on the location of the face relative to the story. While the data is flawed, the results indicate that the face’s positive or negative (non-criminal or criminal) appearance has an effect on attitudes towards the character when presented after the story, but makes no difference when presented before.