First Impressions of Faces of Refugees Are More Strongly Influenced by Target Cues and Perceiver Attitudes Than by Sheer Group Affiliation

Joscha Stecker,Jens H Hellmann,Steffen Nestler,Paul C Bürkner,Mitja D Back

doi:10.1525/collabra.22160

Joscha Stecker, Jens H Hellmann + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.1525/collabra.22160

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Abstract

The importance of first impressions for various intrapersonal, social and societal outcomes is well established. First impressions towards refugees as individual members of one of the most heatedly discussed social groups in Western societies should play a key role in facilitating or impeding successful social integration. However, this issue is currently underexplored. To help understand first impressions towards refugee individuals, we conducted two studies, in which German perceivers (total N = 938) evaluated 60 (Study 1) or 48 (Study 2) male target photos of Western individuals (presented as Germans) and Middle Eastern individuals (presented as refugees). In Study 2, we included information about targets’ religious affiliations (Christian, Muslim) and religiousness (weakly religious, devout). Targets’ facial characteristics (physical attractiveness, smiling) were coded, and perceiver attitudes (right-wing authoritarianism, social dominance orientation, right-wing political ideology) were assessed. Results showed (a) no overall devaluation of refugees or Muslims, (b) strong effects of target attractiveness and smiling on evaluations across individuals of different group affiliations, (c) strong effects of perceiver attitudes towards refugees and Muslims, and (d) no interactive effects of perceiver attitudes and target cues on evaluations. It is important to note that these results should not be interpreted as any doubt about the profound experiences of discrimination and prejudices faced by minorities such as refugees. Instead, they underline the utility of an individual differences approach to better understand the circumstances under which devaluations of minoritized individuals suchs as refugees are amplified or reduced.

Highlights

First impressions from faces have been found to be highly consequential across different contexts
On the perceivers’ side, we examined the roles of social dominance orientation (SDO), right-wing authoritarianism (RWA), and right-wing political ideology for evaluation outcomes of minoritized individuals
We explored whether perceiver characteristics moderate the cue utilization process for minoritized group versus majority group individuals? Are the extents to which smiling and attractiveness predict evaluations of majority versus minoritized targets affected by perceivers’ levels of RWA, SDO, or right-wing political ideology? We tested for interactive effects of perceiver attitudes, targets’ refugee status, religion and religiousness, and target cue characteristics

Summary

Introduction

First impressions from faces have been found to be highly consequential across different contexts (see Todorov et al, 2015 for an overview). The integration process for refugees involves finding new social connections and going through housing and job applications (see Esses et al, 2001; Hynie, 2018), which largely rely on first impressions. These impressions can work bottom-up from the facial characteristics to an evaluation outcome, but can be top-down driven (e.g., Bach & Schenke, 2017). We adopt an individual differences approach to explore key predictors of first impressions towards refugees, thereby considering between-person differences on both targets and perceiver sides. As the key outcome variable, we focus on the most basic dimension of first impressions, namely, a more or less positive versus negative perception, that is, evaluation (Osgood et al, 1978; Peabody, 1970; Todorov et al, 2008)

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