About Face Laterality of Expression and Facial Orientation in Posing Behavior for Portraits

Amira Colina

Date of Award

2005

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Bauer, Gordon

Keywords

Portraits, Laterality, Emotion, Expression, Faces, Posing

Area of Concentration

Psychology

Abstract

The empirical study of portraits from many centuries in Western art has revealed a bias in poses. The left cheek is turned forward in the majority of portraits, especially in portraits of women (McManus & Humphrey, 1973). However, portrait subjects showing more of the left cheek are found to be less attractive and are consistently judged more negatively than those showing the right cheek (Zaidel & Fitzgerald, 1994, Schirillo, 2000). The most promising theories used to explain these biases involve asymmetrical activity in the brain during perception and expression of emotions. Studies of portrait posing behavior have shown that people have some intuitive knowledge of the way the sides of their faces can most effectively express or conceal emotions (Nicholls et al., 1999). This experiment investigated how emotions related to approach and withdrawal might be expressed in posing behavior, and if people intuitively know which side of their faces are perceived as the more attractive sides. Participants were asked to pose for photographs in response to three different scenarios. In the approach condition, strongly right-handed individuals posed with the right cheek, as hypothesized for the expression of approach. This supported the idea of left hemisphere dominance in approach behavior. All participants smiled in the approach condition, and females were more likely to smile with their teeth showing. No significant results were found for the withdrawal condition. In the attractiveness condition, females tended to turn the right cheek as hypothesized (the right cheek has been judged as more attractive in women), while males tended to turn the left cheek. The majority of posers smiled in the attractiveness condition, though most of them without showing teeth, especially males. A second study was conducted on face side bias in participant preferences and judgments of attractiveness in portraits of themselves. Significant agreement between preference and perceived attractiveness was found.

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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