Font size and valence judgment: Effect of font sizes in competition

The "font size effect" has rarely been studied in the context of valence judgments. In this paper, we aimed to determine whether the font size of neutral words could influence their perceived positivity. We conducted four experiments. In the first two experiments, the words appeared in the participants' peripersonal space (i.e., the area immediately surrounding the body, where one can easily act). The first experiment showed that words in size 36 were judged more positively than words in size 18. The second experiment showed that words in size 18 were judged more positively than words in size 9 and more positively than they were in Experiment 1. In the third and fourth experiments, the words appeared in the participants' extrapersonal space (i.e., space beyond the reach of the body). The results of the third experiment showed that words in size 36 were judged more positively than those in size 18. The fourth experiment revealed that words in size 72 were judged more positively than those in size 36. However, words in size 36 in this experiment were judged less positively than those in size 36 in Experiment 3. Finally, neutral words in sizes 18 and 36 in Experiment 1 (peripersonal space) were judged more positively than in Experiment 3 (extrapersonal space). Taken together, these results support the idea that valence is influenced by the relative contrast between competing sizes rather than by an inherent size-related valence and the space in which they appear.