Progressive, dynamic, and forward-thinking—these are personal qualities highly sought after in nearly all social circles and cultures. Do you want to be seen in such positive terms whenever people come across your picture? An intriguing line of psychological research suggests how to accomplish just that: When caught on film, you need to pay attention to the direction in which you’re facing. People looking toward the right are perceived as more powerful and agentic than those who look left. In other words, how a person is represented in space shapes perceivers’ automatic impressions, as though we imagined the depicted person moving from left to right along an imaginary path taking them from the present to future accomplishments.
This principle of spatial agency bias also figures in how simple actions are interpreted. For example, a soccer goal is considered more elegant, or an act of aggression more forceful, when the actor moves from left to right, compared to the mirror sequence occurring in the opposite direction. Similarly, in advertising, cars are usually shown facing right, and when they are, participants in research studies judge them to be faster and therefore more desirable.
Spatial position can also be indicative of social status. Historical analyses of hundreds of paintings indicate that when two people appear in the same picture, the more dominant, powerful person is usually facing to the right. For example, relative to men, women are more often displayed showing the left cheek, consistent with gender roles that consider them as less agentic. Traditionally, weak and submissive characters have been assigned to their respective place by where they’re situated in space. From the 15th to the 20th century, however, this gender bias in paintings has become less pronounced, paralleling increasingly modern views of women’s role in society.
Where does the spatial agency bias come from? Is there some innate reason for preferring objects and persons facing the right—perhaps because 90 percent of people are right-handed? Or is there a learning component involved? Cross-cultural studies indicate that there is variability indeed. For example, for Arab and Hebrew speakers the pattern is reversed: People and objects facing left are seen as more dynamic and agentic. This suggests a provocative possibility—namely, that the spatial agency bias develops as a function of writing direction. As we move across the page, we progress from what has happened to what is not yet, from what is established to what could still be. Years of experience with printed matter determine how we expect actions to unfold. Thought therefore follows language, in a rather literal sense.
So, next time you take that selfie, make sure it reflects you from the right perspective!