Abstract: Most previous studies on facial impression updating have focused on verbal cues. The patterns based on nonverbal cues, and how these patterns change with target-cue similarity remain inconsistent. Moreover, while physical trait similarity (i.e., target-cue similarity) has been widely examined, the role of psychosocial factors remains underexplored. For example, the effects of social distance (between evaluators/targets and nonverbal cues) on impression updating and the underlying cognitive mechanisms are still unclear.
To address these questions, the present study adopted a classical impression updating paradigm. In this paradigm, participants first rated a target face presented alone, and then rated it again when it was presented alongside a nonverbal cue face. The difference between these two ratings served as the measure of facial impression updating. Crucially, an imagination paradigm was inserted between the two ratings to manipulate social distance. Specifically, in Experiment 1, participants were told that the cue faces had rated their own photo with a preset rating of friendship willingness to manipulate evaluator-cue distance, whereas in Experiment 2, they were informed that the target and cue faces had rated each other's photos with similarly preset ratings to manipulate target-cue distance. Furthermore, across two experiments, eye tracking data were recorded during the rating phases. To facilitate comparison with prior work on verbal cues, we focused the investigation on the trustworthiness dimension.
The results of both experiments converged on three main findings. First, unlike the predominant assimilation effects typically observed with verbal cues, impression updating based on nonverbal cues exhibited a dynamic pattern that shifted between assimilation and contrast. Second, social distance (both evaluator-cue and target-cue) generally led to a cross-dimensional assimilation effect on trustworthiness updating, although a cross-dimensional contrast effect also emerged under specific conditions. Third, social distance moderated the magnitude of impression updating: closer social distance was associated with a greater degree of impression enhancement. Importantly, this moderating effect was mediated in both experiments by shifts in observers' relative attention between the target and the cue.
The specific mediation pathways, however, differed between the two experiments. In Experiment 1, closer evaluator-cue distance reduced relative attention to the target's eyes, thereby attenuating updating. Conversely, in Experiment 2, closer target-cue distance increased relative attention to the target's nose, thus enhancing updating. In both cases, the primary effect was on the degree of trustworthiness enhancement.
Taken together, the current study provides novel evidence for a dynamic pattern of facial impression updating based on nonverbal cues, clarifying how social distance moderates this process and its underlying cognitive mechanisms. To further advance this line of research, future studies within the “evaluator-target-cue” triad framework should employ more precise manipulations of social distance, incorporate dynamic social interaction paradigms, and investigate the underlying neurophysiological mechanisms.

Key words: facial impression updating, nonverbal cues, facial trustworthiness, social distance, eye-tracking