Feeling Bad and Looking Worse: Negative Affect Is Associated with Reduced Perceptions of Face-Healthiness

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 9; no. 9; p. e107912
• Main Authors: Mirams, Laura, Poliakoff, Ellen, Zandstra, Elizabeth H., Hoeksma, Marco, Thomas, Anna, El-Deredy, Wael
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 26.09.2014; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Affect; Biology and Life Sciences; Emotions; Face; Facial Expression; Female; Gender differences; Health; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Mood; Pattern recognition; Perception; Perceptions; Personality; Psychophysics; Self Concept; Self esteem; Self image; Social psychology; Social Sciences; Students; Surveys and Questionnaires; Validity; Well being; Young Adult; United Kingdom > UK; Netherlands
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0107912

Some people perceive themselves to look more, or less attractive than they are in reality. We investigated the role of emotions in enhancement and derogation effects; specifically, whether the propensity to experience positive and negative emotions affects how healthy we perceive our own face to look and how we judge ourselves against others. A psychophysical method was used to measure healthiness of self-image and social comparisons of healthiness. Participants who self-reported high positive (N = 20) or negative affectivity (N = 20) judged themselves against healthy (red-tinged) and unhealthy looking (green-tinged) versions of their own and stranger's faces. An adaptive staircase procedure was used to measure perceptual thresholds. Participants high in positive affectivity were un-biased in their face health judgement. Participants high in negative affectivity on the other hand, judged themselves as equivalent to less healthy looking versions of their own face and a stranger's face. Affective traits modulated self-image and social comparisons of healthiness. Face health judgement was also related to physical symptom perception and self-esteem; high physical symptom reports were associated a less healthy self-image and high self-reported (but not implicit) self-esteem was associated with more favourable social comparisons of healthiness. Subject to further validation, our novel face health judgement task could have utility as a perceptual measure of well-being. We are currently investigating whether face health judgement is sensitive to laboratory manipulations of mood.