A Bad Portrait Is Better Than None: The Moderating Effect of Visual Cues in Hiding Information
Previous work (John et al., 2016) found that hiding (vs. revealing) personal information leads to more negative judgments, even as compared to revealing extremely negative information. In the current study, we aim to investigate the effect of missing visual information (i.e., one’s profile picture) as well as how profile pictures affect the attributions made of hiding information. In addition to hiding information being perceived more negatively than revealing negative information (replicating John et al., 2016), we hypothesize that hiding (vs. revealing) profile pictures lead to more negative judgments, even as compared to unattractive portraits. Additionally, we hypothesize the negative consequences of hiding (vs. revealing) information will be moderated by the profile’s attractiveness. Therefore, hiding (vs. revealing) information – no matter if it is verbal or visual information – leads to skepticism about character, and facial attractiveness serves as a buffer to these effects.