Document Type
Article
Publication Date
9-19-2017
Department 1
Psychology
Abstract
A healthy appearance is linked to important behavioural outcomes. Here we investigated whether positive facial affect is a cue for perceived health. In study one, two groups of participants rated the perceived health or perceived happiness of a large set of faces with neutral expressions. Perceived happiness predicted perceived health, as did anthropometric measures of expression. In a second experimental study, we collected ratings of perceived health for a wide age range of target faces with either neutral or smiling expressions. Smiling faces were rated as being much healthier looking than neutral faces, confirming that facial expression plays a role in the perception of health. A third study investigating attractiveness as a possible mediator found that expression still had a significant direct effect on perceived health, after accounting for attractiveness. Together, these studies systematically show that facial affect plays a critical role in shaping our perceptions of health in others.
Copyright Note
This is the author's version of the work. This publication appears in Gettysburg College's institutional repository by permission of the copyright owner for personal use, not for redistribution.
DOI
10.1080/13506285.2017.1369202
Version
Post-Print
Recommended Citation
Jones, Alex.L., Carlota Batres, Aurélie Porcheron, Jennider Sweda, Frédérique Morizot, and Richard Russell. "Positive Facial Affect Looks Healthy." Visual Cognition 26 (2017): 1-12.
Required Publisher's Statement
This article is available on the publisher's website: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13506285.2017.1369202