Combined effects of severity of cleft impairment and facial attractiveness on social perception: an experimental study.

Children and adolescents provided their impressions of stimulus faces that systematically varied in attractiveness and severity of cleft impairment. The results indicated that facial attractiveness is a consistent characteristic of cleft-impaired faces. However, facial attractiveness did not moderate the negative impact of cleft impairment on social perception. Reduced severity of impairment did moderate the negativity of social perception. The implications of these findings for our understanding of the effects of cleft impairment on social perceptions are discussed.