How Strongly Individuals Focus On Faces May Be Linked With Personality And Psychopathology Levels, New Study Finds
According to a new study conducted by researchers from the University of Bern, Switzerland, how strongly an individual prefers to focus on human faces in pictures may be linked to their personality and psychopathology levels.
It is common for people to be allured by other human faces, even in quite chaotic or busy photos.
But, previous research has suggested that specific diagnoses or personality factors play a potential role in how robustly certain individuals prefer to focus on human faces.
So, in this new study, the researchers analyzed how various psychological traits might impact a person’s proclivity to focus on faces.
They first recruited 190 participants– who were primarily students– and instructed the group to view 20 different photographs. Each image showed people in busy environments.
Then, while the participants looked at each photo, the researchers assessed their attention using a cursor-based tool. This essentially blurred every photograph and allowed the image to become clear only within a 20-pixel radius surrounding the cursor.
The participants were able to move this cursor around the photograph, allowing the researchers to see what aspects they focused on.
After this exercise, the participants also completed a questionnaire to assess “the big five” personality traits– including agreeableness, extraversion, openness, neuroticism, and conscientiousness.
Additionally, they were asked about other various facets of psychopathology, such as depression, social anxiety, empathy, alexithymia– or the inability to identify and express emotions– and specific social values.
Andrey_Arkusha – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual person
The researchers found that personality traits such as openness, agreeableness, and extraversion were positively linked with a heightened focus on faces. Similarly, individuals were more likely to focus on faces if they reported higher levels of empathy.
Conversely, the participants who scored higher on certain facets of psychopathology– such as depression, social anxiety, and alexithymia– were less likely to focus on faces.
Overall, the group of participants spent approximately 17% of their viewing time focusing on faces within the photos.
The researchers did note that the cursor positioning was slower than direct gazing, which makes it an imperfect way to track focus. Additionally, paying attention to faces in images is at least partly different from attention patterns in real-life settings.
Nonetheless, the results indicated that facial preferences might be associated with both personality and psychopathology levels.
“Pictures of human faces attract most people’s attention, but the phenomenon is weaker in people with higher levels of social anxiety, depression, and other forms of psychopathology,” the authors concluded.
To read the study’s complete findings, which have since been published in PLOS One, visit the link here.
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