How Impression Formation Influences Eye Gaze Fixation? An Eye Tracking Investigation

This research examines the relationship between eyes-movements and impression formation. It is hypothesised that people would look at the face more than body of an actor during impression formation. Further, they will view actors more in action and when prior information of an actor is provided. Two experiments, 40 participants each, were conducted using an eye-tracker. Experiment one was a 4x2 (4 instructional groups- e.g. free look, impression condition x 2 actor pose- action/non-action) mixed experimental design. The experiment contained a single image in greyscale of for four actors and shown for 60 seconds. Experiment two was a repeated measures design where participants were shown, 36 image slides containing 2 actors each, for 5 seconds. The images varied in terms of their accompanying slides i.e. information, familiarity with actors, and gender. Results of both the studies show that participants in the impression condition had significantly higher fixation time on the faces of the actors, compared to their bodies. Participants spent significantly more time on the actors who were in an action pose than non-action pose. And prior information shown in conjunction with images, caused the participants to view image slides more compared to without information.