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The perception and attribution of facial asymmetry in normal adults

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Abstract

This study examined the effect of a target person’s facial asymmetry on observers’ attributions of emotion and personality, as well as appearance judgment. The first experiment investigated attributions to resting asymmetrical faces of 20 normal healthy young adults versus their symmetrical hemifacial composites. The second experiment used the same procedure with 24 expressive faces. The findings of no significant differences between the attributions to asymmetrical faces and their symmetrical hemifacial composites in both studies are explained by the very limited degree of asymmetry seen on young adults’ faces. Moreover, it is suggested that observers are not tuned to notice mild facial symmetry, and thus it does not affect attributions. As a whole, the study indicates that nonpathological facial asymmetry does not play an important role in human interaction.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Psychology, The Hebrew University, 91905, Jerusalem, Israel

    Rotem Kowner

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  1. Rotem Kowner
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Additional information

This research is based in part on a PhD thesis by Rotem Kowner and was supported by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science. Preliminary findings of this research were presented at the annual meeting of the Japanese Psychological Association, Tokorozawa, August 1993. I thank Toshiki Ogawa, Randy Thornhill, and several anonymous referees for their comments on earlier drafts, as well as Haruhiko Shobo, Shigeru Yoshida, Takashi Sugihara, and Eikyun Kim for their contribution to the empirical part of this research.

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Kowner, R. The perception and attribution of facial asymmetry in normal adults. Psychol Rec 47, 371–384 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03395232

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