Schneider Tobias M, Carbon Claus-Christian
Department of General Psychology and Methodology, University of BambergBamberg, Germany.
Bamberg Graduate School of Affective and Cognitive Sciences, University of BambergBamberg, Germany.
Front Psychol. 2017 Jun 9;8:971. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00971. eCollection 2017.
Taking selfies is now becoming a standard human habit. However, as a social phenomenon, research is still in the fledgling stage and the scientific framework is sparse. Selfies allow us to share social information with others in a compact format. Furthermore, we are able to control important photographic and compositional aspects, such as perspective, which have a strong impact on the assessment of a face (e.g., demonstrated by the height-weight illusion, effects of gaze direction, faceism-index). In Study 1, we focused on the impact of perspective (left/right hemiface, above/below vs. frontal presentation) on higher cognitive variables and let 172 participants rate the perceived attractiveness, helpfulness, sympathy, dominance, distinctiveness, and intelligence, plus important information on health issues (e.g., body weight), on the basis of 14 3D faces. We could show that lateral snapshots yielded higher ratings for attractiveness compared to the classical frontal view. However, this effect was more pronounced for left hemifaces and especially female faces. Compared to the frontal condition, 30° right hemifaces were rated as more helpful, but only for female faces while faces viewed from above were perceived as significant helpful. Direct comparison between vs. hemifaces revealed no effect. Relating to sympathy, we only found a significant effect for 30° right hemifaces, but only in comparison to the frontal condition. Furthermore, female 30° were perceived as more intelligent. Relating to body weight, we replicated the so-called "height-weight illusion." Other variables remained unaffected. In Study 2, we investigated the impact of a typical selfie-style condition by presenting the respective faces from a lateral (left/right) and tilted (lower/higher) vantage point. Most importantly, depending on what persons wish to express with a selfie, a systematic change of perspective can strongly optimize their message; e.g., increasing their attractiveness by shooting from above left, and in contrast, decreasing their expressed helpfulness by shooting from below. We could further extent past findings relating to the height-weight illusion and showed that an rotation of the camera positively affected the perception of body weight (lower body weight). We discuss potential explanations for perspective-related effects, especially gender-related ones.
如今，自拍正逐渐成为一种常见的人类习惯。然而，作为一种社会现象，相关研究仍处于起步阶段，科学框架也较为薄弱。自拍使我们能够以紧凑的形式与他人分享社交信息。此外，我们能够控制重要的拍摄和构图方面，比如视角，而视角对脸部的评价有很大影响（例如，身高体重错觉、目光方向的影响、面部主义指数所表明的）。在研究1中，我们聚焦于视角（左/右半脸、上方/下方与正面呈现）对更高层次认知变量的影响，让172名参与者根据14张3D面部照片对所感知到的吸引力、助人程度、同情心、支配力、独特性、智力以及健康问题的重要信息（如体重）进行评分。我们发现，与经典的正面视角相比，侧面快照的吸引力评分更高。然而，这种效应在左半脸尤其是女性脸上更为明显。与正面情况相比，30°右半脸被评为更具助人感，但仅针对女性面部，而从上方拍摄的面部被认为显著更具助人感。左半脸与右半脸的直接比较未发现影响。关于同情心，我们仅发现30°右半脸有显著影响，但仅与正面情况相比。此外，女性的30°右半脸被认为更具智慧。关于体重，我们重现了所谓的“身高体重错觉”。其他变量未受影响。在研究2中，我们通过从侧面（左/右）和倾斜（下方/上方）的有利位置呈现相应面部来研究典型自拍风格条件的影响。最重要的是，根据人们想用自拍表达的内容，视角的系统性变化可以极大地优化他们传达的信息；例如，从左上方拍摄可增加吸引力，相反，从下方拍摄会降低所传达的助人感。我们可以进一步拓展过去与身高体重错觉相关的研究结果，并表明相机旋转45°对体重感知有积极影响（更低的体重感知）。我们讨论了与视角相关效应的潜在解释，尤其是与性别相关的效应。
