Tracks of personality on the schematic image of the face

The concepts of personality of the virtual sitter are studied based on schematic representations of faces induc- ing the expression of joy and sadness (Brunswik, 1956). Observers evaluated schematic faces using the “Personal Differential” scales. It is shown that varying the distance between schematic eyes, nose length, height of the mouth and forehead causes not only impressions of joy or sadness, but also changes the representation of the in- dividual psychological characteristics of a virtual personality. With the expansion of face structure horizontally and narrowing it vertically, pronounced positive ideas about the personality of the virtual sitter dominated. With an alternative configuration — narrowing the face horizontally and expanding it vertically — the ideas about the personality of the model are merged with the ideas generated by the neutral face scheme. The three externally similar facial images correspond to two imaginary models. The doubling effect is reproduced in different ways in the dynamics of the components of the implicit personality structure — the factors “Assessment”, “Strength”, “Activity”. It is proved that the ideas about the individual psychological characteristics of a virtual sitter — the person to whom the schematic faces belong, are mediated by the perception of his states. The hypothesis that the doubling effect is due to differences in the self-assessment of observers has not been confirmed.

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