Faces, Emotions, and Evaluations (07-02-10)

The emotions generated by the physical contexts in which faces are first assessed determine how those faces are evaluated.  Previous studies have shown that objects judged in the context of positive or negative stimuli take on the value of those items; this study is unique in its use of faces and the fact that first impressions are considered.  Place design has a significant influence on emotional experience and “Humans may be biased to see a person more positively or negatively depending on the scene in which the person is first encountered, suggesting for example, if one was to met an individual for the first time in a positive context such as Disney World, evaluation of the individual would be positively biased relative to an initial encounter with that person in a grocery store (neutral context) or at the scene of an accident (negative context).” 

Shahnaz Koji and Myra Fernandez.  2010.  “Does it Matter Where We Meet?  The Role of Emotional Context in Evaluative First Impressions.”  Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, vol. 64, no. 2, pp. 107-116.