Here's Looking at You Kid: Mood Effects on Processing Eye Gaze as a Heuristic Cue

Abstract

The present study investigated how mood state and the eye gaze of the target influence ratings of trustworthiness and friendliness in photographs of faces. In a pilot study, participants rated gaze cues as being more applicable to ratings of trustworthiness than friendliness. The main study found that all participants rated faces with averted, compared to direct, gaze as less trustworthy. However, this was not the case for friendliness; while participants in a positive mood rated faces with averted gaze as less friendly than faces with direct gaze, participants in a negative mood did not. This suggests that people in a negative mood may only use heuristics when they are considered highly applicable, whereas people in a positive mood may use heuristic cues more broadly, even when these cues are not necessarily considered appropriate. These findings have implications for understanding when, how, and why heuristic cues are differentially used based on one's mood state.