title: The Look that Binds: Partner-Directed Altruistic Motivation and Biased Perception in Married Couples.
abstract: A trustworthy appearance is regarded as a marker of a globally positive personality and, thus, evokes a host of benevolent responses from perceivers. Nevertheless, it is yet to be determined whether the reverse is also true, that is, whether social targets who evoke unambiguously benign motivations in perceivers are regarded as possessing a more trustworthy appearance (cf. Oosterhof & Todorov, 2008). To this end, elderly long-term married couples completed measures of partner-directed altruistic motivation, accommodative behaviors, marital satisfaction, and trust in the partner. They also completed a face-processing task involving spousal and stranger faces one year later. Higher motivation to prioritize a spouse's well-being (but none of the other relationship functioning variables assessed) predicted perceiving one's spouse's emotionally neutral face as being more trustworthy-looking. Results are discussed in the context of the reciprocal relationship between higher-order motivational processes and basic perceptual mechanisms in shaping relational climates.
authors.affiliation: Rotman Research Institute, 3560 Bathurst Street, Toronto, Ontario, M6A 2E1.
authors.forename: Raluca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Petrican
authors.affiliation: PSH 323 Peretsman-Scully Hall, Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08540.
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Todorov
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, St. Jerome's University, 290 Westmount Road North, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G3.
authors.forename: Christopher T
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Burris
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, York University and Rotman Research Institute, 3560 Bathurst Street, Toronto, Ontario, M6A 2E1.
authors.forename: R Shayna
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Rosenbaum
authors.affiliation: Rotman Research Institute and Department of Psychology and Psychiatry, University of Toronto, 3560 Bathurst Street, Toronto, Ontario, M6A 2E1.
authors.forename: Cheryl
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Grady
keywords: altruistic motivation; face processing; facial trustworthiness; married couples