Scholarly Commons

Pupil dilation in response to the attractiveness of angled and curved objects: An exploration of personality differences

Prior research has shown that people show a preference for objects with curved instead of angled edges, perhaps because angles are more associated with threats in the environment. While previous research has looked at participants’ explicit ratings of attractiveness, the current study adds a physiological measure that is outside of conscious control: pupil dilation. Participants in our study view and rate the attractiveness of several neutral items (such as wristwatches and tables), with each type of item being presented in both a curved and angled version. Throughout this task, participants were also monitored with eye tracking equipment, which recorded eye movements and pupil dilations for each item. We predict that participants will show a conscious preference for the curved objects, consistent with previous findings, and that this pattern will also be reflected in changes in pupil size.