It felt fluent but I did not like it – Fluency effects in faces versus patterns

Author(s)
Gernot Gerger, Michael Forster, Helmut Leder
Abstract

Whether you like a person or not is often appraised in a glance. However, under such short presentation durations stimuli are harder to perceive and, according to hedonic fluency theory-which holds that higher fluency is linked to higher liking-thus, are liked less. Given that liking considerably influences person perception, we tested how shorter and longer presentation durations affect liking for faces and compared this with abstract patterns. To capture facets of fluency of processing we assessed felt fluency, liking, and certainty ratings. Following predictions of fluency theory, longer presentation durations led to higher felt fluency, certainty, and positively affected liking judgments in the abstract patterns. In faces, felt fluency and certainty also increased with longer durations. However, with longer durations, faces were liked less, and liking was not related to felt fluency. In other words, in contrast to hedonic fluency theory, faces are more attractive when only seen for a short amount of time. Thus, fluency does not inevitably lead to more positive evaluations-it rather depends on the stimulus category. We discuss these findings in terms of the special status that faces have with regard to human perception and evaluation.

Organisation(s)
Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology
Journal
Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology
Volume
70
Pages
637-648
No. of pages
12
ISSN
1747-0218
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1080/17470218.2016.1145705
Publication date
03-2016
Peer reviewed
Yes
Austrian Fields of Science 2012
501021 Social psychology, 501001 General psychology, 501011 Cognitive psychology, 501006 Experimental psychology
Keywords
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Experimental and Cognitive Psychology, Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology, Psychology(all), Physiology (medical), Physiology
Portal url
https://ucris.univie.ac.at/portal/en/publications/it-felt-fluent-but-i-did-not-like-it--fluency-effects-in-faces-versus-patterns(db0f3d42-0beb-4073-805a-995d6cbb4cb2).html