Abstract
In this study, we investigated whether the first impression of a crowd of faces—crowd perception—is influenced by social background and cognitive processing. Specifically, we explored whether males and females, two groups that are distinct biologically and socially, differ in their ability to extract ensemble characteristics from crowds of faces that were comprised of different identities. Participants were presented with crowds of similar faces and were instructed to scroll through a morphed continuum of faces until they found a face that was representative of the average identity of each crowd. Consistent with previous research, females were more precise in single face perception. Furthermore, the results showed that females were generally more accurate in estimating the average identity of a crowd. However, the correlation between single face discrimination and crowd averaging differed between males and females. Specifically, male subjects' ensemble integration slightly compensated for their poor single face perception; their performance on the crowd perception task was not as poor as would be expected from their single face discrimination ability. Overall, the results suggest that group perception is not an isolated or uniform cognitive mechanism, but rather one that interacts with biological and social processes.
Highlights
Humans constantly interact with groups, and many of the known perceptual and social processes reflect this important fact of human life
We examined the proportion of subjects that had a smaller Average Estimation Error (AEE) in the crowd perception condition compared to their performance in the single face discrimination condition
We found that 37% of male subjects had a smaller estimation error in the crowd perception condition compared to their performance in the single face discrimination condition, whereas only 25% of females had a smaller estimation error in the crowd perception condition compared to their performance in the single face discrimination condition
Summary
Humans constantly interact with groups, and many of the known perceptual and social processes reflect this important fact of human life. Our perceptions and impressions of groups of people mediate our social interactions on a daily basis—what we think and perceive about groups shapes our long-term impressions and beliefs about them and guides our moment-to-moment behavior toward them (e.g., Darwin, 1872; Park and Hastie, 1987; Jans et al, 2011). Little research has investigated if both social background and cognitive abilities shape differences in people’s group perception habits. We aim to explore whether males and females, two groups that differ cognitively and socially, differ in the perceptual processes that underline the very first seconds of group impression formation
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