Running head: Effect of Pupil Size

The Effects of Pupil Size and The Halo Effect on Friendliness Ratings
Jada Toledo
William Paterson University

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Abstract
The eyes convey an array of information to the people around us, from our mood, to our energy
level. Prior research on the eyes suggests that through the size and ratio of the pupils, we are able
to identify certain feelings. In this study, I took it a step further to test whether or not we can
assume character traits of others through the simple dilation of the pupils by way of the halo
effect. My hypothesis is that due to the halo effect, subjects will assume a higher level of
friendliness in targets with larger, more dilated pupils than in those with smaller more constricted
pupils. After conducting this study, collecting, and analyzing the data, no significant effect was
found for the size of the pupils on the level of friendliness assumed by the participants.

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The Effects of Pupil Size and The Halo Effect on Friendliness Ratings

The Halo effect is a positive prejudice in favor of attractive, well spoken individuals, or
others of the like. The Halo Effect assumes that the person as a whole is pure or good based
solely off of one attribute alone. The halo effect is an error in cognition that leads one to make
split, irrational, or unreasonable decisions. By definition, the halo effect is a generalization
from the perception of one outstanding personality trait to an overly favorable evaluation of the
whole personality (Merriam-Webster) The halo effect has been studied by many psychologists.
In 1920, Psychologist, Edward Thorndike, conducted a study and wrote a paper called A
Constant Error in Psychological Ratings. The paper went in depth about how specific qualities
of individuals can influence how others feel about the individual as a whole. Thorndike evaluated
military officers and their own evaluation of their fellow officers with whom theyve served and
their subordinates, with two official scales. The two scales are both official scales, which are
used for salary and promotion purposes in the military. The results of the subordinates who had a
difficult job (Aviation) had a general halo cast upon them due to the difficulty of the job, and
lack of knowledge on the raters part about the job. (Thorndike, E.L)
In relation to the halo effect, other aspects of the person can contribute also, namely the
face. Aspects of your face, such as facial symmetry, skin tone, and skin texture can all contribute
to overall perception of beauty and attractiveness. In addition, the mentioned attributes can
contribute to perceived age. Age is a prime factor in terms of attractiveness, as youth is
correlated to beauty.

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The eyes are a main focal point of the face, and they play a very vital role in perception,
understanding, and basic needs, as they receive visual information presented to you from the
world around you. They also send visual information to those around you, making them very
important to the processing of information to and from self, such as emotions, or character traits.
For example, when you cry, those around you can see the tears and immediately know youre
upset. This is an example of how the eyes portray feelings to the world around you.
The eyes send special visual cues to those around you. The color of the sclera (white part
of the eye) for example. The whiter it is, the healthier one looks in general(Provine, Robert R.,
Cabrera, Marcello O.. Brocato, Nicole W & Krosnowski Kurt A). Health is a favorable trait
when dealing with attractiveness (Swami, Viren, Furnahm, Adrian and Joshi, Kiran). Another
example is the Iris-to-eye ratio, which implies youth of the subject (Sammaknejad, Negar,
Peshek, Darren, Hoffman, Donald, Foley, Pete). Youth, as well as health, from an evolutionary
standpoint is favorable, so we, as humans, are naturally more attracted to healthy, youthful faces.
(Swami et al.) This is because as a mechanism, attractiveness is simply to aid in ones choosing of
a mate. Youthful women are more fertile, which could explain the attraction to youthful faces.
(Sammaknejad et. al) Youth easily equals fertility, and again, from an evolutionary standpoint,
that is what we find attractive (Swami et. al).
The expressions on a human face can tell a lot about how someone is feeling. These
expressions create a visual picture of what emotions one may be experiencing, such as happiness
or sadness. Involuntary facial attributes can also contribute to the perception of ones emotions or
personal characteristics as well, such as the size of the pupil of the eye, or blushing of the cheeks.
In this case, were examining the size of the pupil.

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The size of the pupil is noted to affect the attractiveness of the target, as well as other
perceived attributes, such as emotions, and character traits (Hess). In Hesss study, Men were
asked to look at two identical pictures of two women, with the only difference being the size of
the pupil. The Men seemed to prefer the women with the larger pupils (Hess). I believe this had
to do with the attractiveness and perceived attributes contributing to the attractiveness.
Attractiveness is a prime factor in the halo effect, and consequentially, I believe pupil size
will be too. In this paper, we will explore the possibility of the pupil size having a effect on the
perception of friendliness. The rationale of this is that the dilation of pupils is known to increase
positive attributes(Hess) , which will logically increase the halo effect. My hypothesis is that due
to the nature of the halo effect, larger pupils will increase the halo of the target individuals and in
turn, raise the friendliness rating of the target individuals.

Methods
Participants
Thirty-three participants (13 Male; 18 Female) were recruited from William Paterson
University subject pool and Facebook.com. The mean age was 18.83. (SD=3.72) 3 Participants
were excluded; there were no outliers; negative or positive. The participants who were recruited
from the William Paterson University subject pool were given course credit, and the participants
recruited from Facebook received no credit.
Experimental materials

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Photos were used as the stimuli. The photos were obtained from University of Texas at
Dallas Face Database in a zip file that contained neutral faced targets, female and male. Females
and Males were in two separate files within the zip file. Each file was viewed separately, and five
(5) photos were chosen of females, and five (5) photos of males were chosen. Each photo was
chosen based on over all attractiveness, and an attempt to make the targets racially diverse to cut
down on racial biases. The photos were then uploaded and manipulated using Gimp photo
editing software. Each photo was duplicated twice into identical layers for a total of 3 layers.
Layer one and two were cropped to contain only the right (Layer one) and left (Layer two) eye,
while layer three was the original picture. Layers 1 and 2 were then doubled in size by
dimension, and replaced over the original eye area in layer 3. The remaining skin, eyelid, sclera,
and iris was then erased, and the double sized pupil was then blended into layer 3 to look natural.
The photos were then uploaded to Qualtrics.
The study itself was created using Qualtrics. All 20 photos were uploaded to Qualtrics
separately. Each photo was given a number and a 1-10 scale below it, so that the subject could
actively look at each photo while ranking.
The study was also designed to be mobile compatible.
Procedure
The photos were put into two conditions, dilated (altered), and constricted (unaltered),
and the participants were randomly selected by Qualtrics upon beginning the survey to
participate in one condition or the other. The photos from their chosen condition were viewed
and participants were asked to rate each one on a scale from 1-10, 1 being not so friendly, 10

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being very friendly. The participants were then asked demographic questions, such as age and
sex.

Results
Upon reviewing the raw data collected on Qualtrics, I excluded 3 participants who had
not completed the study. The raw data was downloaded from Qualtrics on an Excel spreadsheet.
I conducted an independent samples t-test with pupil size as my central independent
variable, with dilated operationally defined as the pupil being doubled in size (x2). Perceived
friendliness is my central dependent variable, and it was rated on a 1-10 scale by participants. No
significant effect was found for perceived friendliness, t(29)=25.607, p=.385. Dilated pupils
(M=6.10, SD=1.20) Constricted Pupils (M=5.77, SD=.826)

Discussion
My hypothesis was that due to the halo effect, the dilating of the pupils would enhance
attractiveness and enhance perceived friendliness. Unfortunately, my hypothesis was not
supported statistically. There was a slight difference, but the difference was not significant.
Dilated (Edited) pupils (M=6.10, SD=1.20) Constricted (Unedited) Pupils (M=5.77, SD=.826).
Limitations of This Study

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The limitations were that what I was studying was limited to friendliness, which is a trait.
I believe that had I looked at different emotions, the study could have yielded a different picture
of data and, consequentially, would have been more informative.
I believe a confound was introduced when I enlarged the pupils, as the pupil had
highlights on it due to the flash of the camera. Highlights are a favorable attribute when it comes
to attractiveness in the human face, as a healthy eye reflects light easier due to its moisture and
lubrication. The highlights, naturally, got enlarged along with the pupil, and introduced a
confound and interrupting the internal validity of the study. To preserve internal validity, the
pupil should have been enlarged while preserving all other parts of the eye.
Future Directions
In the future, I would run the study differently in hopes to receive more significant
results. I would use a within subjects design so that the rating isnt a result of whether or not
someone looks friendly, but more of a comparison. In that case, the rating would be a direct
result of which one of the two looks more friendly. In addition, I would also add deception with
the side-by-side comparison. I would ask the participants to rate two twins on a scale of 1-10
based on attractiveness.
I would also ask the participants to name, list, or describe the emotion they believe the
target is experiencing. This is because in some of the prior research on this topic, larger pupils
were associated with sadness (Harrison et al), and not attractiveness. In addition, I would ask
participants to note what they believe the targets age to be. I would also make it more openended by giving multiple choice check boxes so that more than one emotion can be chosen. I

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would also have timed each photo to see whether or not my participants were just skimming
through and giving just average ratings.
I also believe that had I used targets with different facial expressions, or even have
combined different facial features of the same target to manipulate a visual message, I also could
have gotten a different view of the study and found more informative results. My rationale for
this is, since the zip file came with the same subject showing different facial expressions, maybe
combining the eyes of the happy target with the frown of the sad target (same person,
different facial expressions) would have shown another picture of data, furthering the idea of the
eyes sending out emotional information more than the rest of the face.

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References
Harrison, Neil A., Wilson, C. Ellie, Critchley, Hugo D., Processing of observed pupil size
modulates perception of sadness and predicts empathy, (2007) Retrieved from:
http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?sid=90a6af2e-1f07-4aa1-9363-210cd1b0a52c
%40sessionmgr112&vid=0&hid=124&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d
%3d#db=pdh&AN=2007-17748-005

Halo Effect [Def. 1]. (1928). In Merriam Webster Online, Retrieved May 4, 2015 , from
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/halo%20effect.

Hess, Eckard, The role of pupil size in communication (1975) Retrieved from
https://kba2.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/the-role-of-pupil-sizehess.pdf

Provine, Robert R., Cabrera, Marcello O.. Brocato, Nicole W & Krosnowski Kurt A. When the
Whites of the Eyes are Red: A Uniquely Human Cue (2011) Retrieved from:
http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=4192e871-e9c5-4aba-863bfa48cf1562dd%40sessionmgr4004&vid=1&hid=4207

Sammaknejad, Negar, Peshek, Darren, Hoffman Donald, Foley, Pete. Facial Attractiveness: The
Role of Iris Ratio (2012) Retrieved from: http://search.proquest.com/docview/1268190205?pqorigsite=summon#

Swami, Viren, Frnaham, Adrian and Joshi, Kiran The influence of skin tone, hair length, and
hair colour on ratings of womens physical attractiveness, health and fertility (2008) Retrieved
from: http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=9dd7409d-15c3-450f-8bf4b2af0af77603%40sessionmgr4004&vid=1&hid=4207

Thorndike, E.L. (1920). "A constant error in psychological ratings". Journal of applied
psychology (0021-9010), 4(1), p. 25.

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Figures

Dilated

Constricted

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Appendix

Dilated/Altered

Constricted/Unaltered