Title
The creepy, the bad and the ugly: exploring perceptions of moral character and social desirability in uncanny faces
Date Issued
01 January 2021
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Villacampa J.
Corradi G.
Ingram G.P.D.
Universidad CatĂłlica Luis AmigĂł
Publisher(s)
Springer
Abstract
We used implicit and explicit measures to study whether “real” uncanny faces (by faces of Botox users and very ugly people) will be associated with perceptions of bad moral character and social avoidance. Implicit measures showed that uncanny faces were more strongly associated with negative aesthetic evaluations (“ugliness”) than with negative moral evaluation (“moral disgust”). At the explicit level, participants preferred greater social distance from uncanny faces than from neutral faces and inferred that they shared fewer moral values with uncanny faces than with neutral faces. Contrary to our hypotheses, only Ugly faces (but not Botox faces) were perceived as more likely to commit behaviors that indicate bad moral character. However, when this analysis was restricted to “sick” immoral actions, Botox faces were perceived as more likely to be engage in these kind of behaviors than neutral faces. Although exploratory in nature, this investigation suggest that ugliness (more than creepiness) may be the crucial evaluative dimension underlying rapid moral inferences from faces.
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Ciencias sociales PsicologĂ­a
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85101757360
Source
Current Psychology
ISSN of the container
10461310
Sources of information: Directorio de ProducciĂłn CientĂ­fica Scopus