Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 22, 2025

Post-Movie Subliminal Measurement PMSM, for Investigating Implicit Social Bias
Published on: February 29, 2020
Putting your best face forward: Posing biases in psychologists' online portraits
Ven Yi Hew1, Annukka K Lindell1
1Department of Psychology and Counselling, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Australia.
Abstract:
When posing for portraits the position you adopt influences perceptions. As the left hemiface (controlled by the emotion-dominant right hemisphere) expresses emotion more intensely, left cheek portraits communicate stronger emotion than right cheek portraits. This phenomenon influences perceptions of both emotional expressivity and professional specialisation: while left cheek portraits emphasise emotion, right cheek portraits appear more scientific. When professionals upload photographs online to promote their services, the cheek shown consequently influences perceptions. Given the importance of empathy in establishing a therapeutic alliance, theoretically psychologists would benefit from choosing left cheek portraits to enhance their perceived emotionality. The present study thus examined psychologists' posing biases in photographs uploaded to online "Find a Psychologist" resources. Images (N = 1230) of psychologists were drawn from professional "Find a Psychologist" online databases, and coded for gender, portrait type and cheek shown. Results confirmed that psychologists show a left cheek bias, irrespective of gender and across portrait types (upper body, full body). This distinguishes psychologists from doctors and surgeons: past research reports no cheek bias in photos uploaded to "Find a Doctor" websites. The current findings suggest that psychologists may intuitively select left cheek images to enhance the communication of empathy to potential clients.
More Related Videos
07:14Investigating the 'Uncatchable Smile' in Leonardo da Vinci's La Bella Principessa: A Comparison with the Mona Lisa and Pollaiuolo's Portrait of a Girl
Published on: October 4, 2016
09:49Holistic Facial Composite Creation and Subsequent Video Line-up Eyewitness Identification Paradigm
Published on: December 24, 2015
Related Concept Videos
Stereotype Content Model
The Representativeness Heuristic
First Impression
Confirmation Biases
Implicit Personality Theories
Motivational Bias