中国科学院行为科学重点实验室知识库

Trustworthiness judgments of faces play an important role in social interactions. Although previous studies indicate facial judgments can be modulated by some additional information (such as behavioral history), few studies have paid attention to the effect of interpersonal distance on trustworthiness judgments of faces. Interpersonal distance is a critical proxy of interpersonal relationship and motivation. The current study aimed to examine whether imagined interpersonal distance with or without a physical distance cue (image size) could modulate facial trustworthiness judgments. In a series of four experiments, the current study shows that faces are judged as more trustworthy as the imagined interpersonal distance increases. More importantly, it is the first to show that imagined interpersonal distance has a larger effect on facial evaluations than does image size.