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Alexithymia tendencies and mere exposure alter social approachability judgments
Darren W Campbell1, Nancy A McKeen
1John Buhler Research Centre, Psychiatric Neuroimaging, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg. darrenw.campbell@gmail.com
Journal of Personality
|March 15, 2011
Summary
People with lower emotional awareness, or higher alexithymia, approach familiar faces more and novel faces less. This suggests cognitive factors, not just feelings, drive social decisions.
Area of Science:
- Social Psychology
- Cognitive Neuroscience
Background:
- Humans possess a fundamental drive for social connection.
- Decisions about social approach in ambiguous situations are influenced by subjective feelings.
- Individuals exhibit varying levels of awareness regarding their own emotions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the interplay between visual familiarity, emotional awareness, and social approachability judgments.
- To test opposing hypotheses: an affective versus a cognitive interpretation of the mere exposure effect.
- To determine the role of individual differences in emotional awareness in social decision-making.
Main Methods:
- Evaluated social approachability judgments in 128 student participants.
- Assessed emotional awareness and alexithymia levels.
- Examined the influence of visual familiarity (familiarized vs. novel faces).
Main Results:
- Findings supported a cognitive interpretation of the familiarity effect.
- Lower emotional awareness (higher alexithymia) correlated with increased approachability for familiar faces.
- Lower emotional awareness (higher alexithymia) correlated with decreased approachability for novel faces.
- These associations were independent of the Big Five personality traits.
Conclusions:
- Individual differences in emotional awareness are crucial for understanding social decision-making models.
- Cognitive-perceptual alterations associated with alexithymia may contribute to adverse social outcomes.
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