Effect of personality traits on matching dolls and their makers.

Studies have shown that possessions such as cars and dogs resemble their owners, and products such as dolls resemble their makers even when students make them. We conducted three experiments to examine which part of the dolls resembled their makers. The results demonstrated that people match dolls to their makers when their eye regions were masked (Experiment 1), and the matching is possible even with the back views of the dolls (Experiment 2). These results may indicate people match dolls to their makers based on resemblances other than faces. Experiment 3 demonstrated that no effect of resemblance in personality traits was observed when dolls' faces were visible. However, the resemblance of personality traits assumed by the dolls and their makers play an important role in the matching judgment when dolls' faces were invisible (because of back views).