The presence of familiar people helps us feel more comfortable. American psychologist Heather Claypool asked students at the University of California to carefully examine the faces of people in photographs.
The presence of familiar people helps us feel more comfortable. American psychologist Heather Claypool asked students at the University of California to carefully examine the faces of people in photographs. And after a while, re-evaluate the photo portraits. Some of the faces were new to the students, others were old acquaintances from the previous set of shots. The results confirmed that we do indeed tend to rate familiar faces more favorably than unfamiliar ones, presumably requiring less emotional stress from us.