Gao Xiaolan, Li Hongjie, Han Xiao, Ren Yong, Qi Yue, Chen Wenfeng
Department of Psychology, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100872, China.
Faculty of Health and Wellness, City University of Macau, Macau, China.
Behav Sci (Basel). 2025 Jan 27;15(2):141. doi: 10.3390/bs15020141.
Perceiving facial attractiveness based on partial information is a common experience in social interactions, where we often view only parts of faces. However, our understanding of predictions of the whole face from its parts remains limited. This study investigated this by dividing faces into the top and bottom halves (Study 1) and the forehead, eyes, nose, and mouth (Study 2). We compared how attractiveness was predicted from these parts versus when the whole face was fully observed. In the findings, overestimations occurred when predicting from the eyes (or the top half). Similarly, predictions from the nose resulted in overestimations, though to a lesser extent. In contrast, no difference was found between the predicted and observed attractiveness of the whole face when predicting from the mouth (or the bottom half). Further analysis revealed that the eyes were the most significant predictor of facial attractiveness across all facial features. Interestingly, higher attractiveness of the eyes was associated with a greater extent of overestimations in predictions from the eyes, whereas predictions from other parts exhibited a reduced extent of overestimations. These findings implied that predictions were influenced by the eyes, underscoring the critical role the eyes play in the process of predicting facial attractiveness.
基于部分信息来感知面部吸引力是社交互动中的常见体验，在这种情况下我们常常只能看到脸部的部分区域。然而，我们对于如何根据面部局部来预测整个面部的吸引力的理解仍然有限。本研究通过将面部划分为上半部分和下半部分（研究1）以及额头、眼睛、鼻子和嘴巴（研究2）来对此进行调查。我们比较了根据这些局部来预测面部吸引力与完全观察整个面部时预测吸引力的情况。研究结果显示，根据眼睛（或上半部分）进行预测时会出现高估。同样，根据鼻子进行预测也会导致高估，不过程度较轻。相比之下，根据嘴巴（或下半部分）进行预测时，预测的面部吸引力与实际观察到的面部吸引力之间没有差异。进一步分析表明，在所有面部特征中，眼睛是面部吸引力最重要的预测指标。有趣的是，眼睛的吸引力越高，根据眼睛进行预测时高估的程度就越大，而根据其他部位进行预测时高估的程度则较小。这些发现表明预测受到眼睛的影响，凸显了眼睛在预测面部吸引力过程中所起的关键作用。
