Emotions and Stereotypes About People with Visible Facial Difference
A special issue of Behavioral Sciences (ISSN 2076-328X). This special issue belongs to the section "Cognition".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 May 2026 | Viewed by 619
Special Issue Editors
Interests: perceptions and evaluations of people with visible facial difference: behavioral and emotional reactions; evaluation of personality traits and competences; eye-tracking; employment discrimination; intervention studies
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Visibly different faces frequently invoke prejudicial evaluations and negative emotional responses, which can be reliably replicated through a variety of research designs. Although studies soliciting explicit attitudes may be subject to social desirability bias, prejudice can still be detected using more subtle measures. The magnitude of prejudicial attitudes may be greater for visibly different faces than for other factors associated with prejudice including sex, race, age, and disability. Negative stereotypes of people with visible facial difference are still perpetuated in popular culture, and physical appearance is still used to judge and objectify people. There is some evidence that it is considered acceptable to discriminate on the grounds of physical appearance when other forms of discrimination would be challenged.
All these factors together highlight the importance of understanding the root causes of emotions invoked by, and stereotypes applied to, people with visible facial difference. Of equal, if not greater, importance is understanding both how people in general can be asked to challenge and to reconsider their views and what strategies individuals with visible facial difference can use to combat the disadvantages that they so often face in employment and social settings.
This Special Issue will focus on research that aims to further our understanding of the root causes of prejudicial reactions to people with visible facial difference and on measures to enable people with visibly different faces to combat the disadvantages that they may face. We welcome perspectives on the “view from the outside”, that is, how people with typical faces perceive people with visible facial difference. The “view from the inside” is of course equally valid and valuable but outside of the scope of this Special Issue.
Dr. Anna Stone
Dr. Angela Gosling
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Behavioral Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- visible facial difference
- employment discrimination
- emotional response
- stereotyping
- implicit evaluation
- familiarization
- intervention
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
- Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
- Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
- Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
- Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.
