Representation of the Value Orientations of a Stranger Depending on the Method of the Face Imaging

Abstract

The observers’ ideas about the value orientations of visual communicants were experimentally studied. The subjects were sequentially presented in random order with the faces of people depicted in photographs and artistic portraits. It was required, on the basis of a list of terminal and instrumental value orientations (M. Rokeach), first to evaluate one’s own beliefs, then the demonstrated characters. It is shown that the integral profiles of value ideas about personalities depicted in portraits and photos are well matched, have a similar structure and similar scores. The beliefs of characters in portraits are statistically higher than those in photographs. The effect is preserved when the values are differentiated by categories. Significant differences were obtained in relation to the following values: terminal values — Cognition, Mature love, Material wellbeing, Beauty, Happy family life, Pleasures; instrumental — Goodupbringing, Education, Diligence, Tolerance, Sensitivity, Cheerfulness. The observers’ ideas about their own values differ significantly from the value orientations of the depicted people and have little effect on their assessments.