How Do We Perceive "Aliens"? About the Implicit Processes Underlying the Perception of People With Alien Paraphernalia.

Nils Brandenstein,Fabian Gebauer,Claus-Christian Carbon

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01551

Nils Brandenstein, Fabian Gebauer + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01551

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Abstract

People often draw trait assessments of unfamiliar persons on the basis of minimal visual information like facial features. Most studies focus on explicit person evaluations, even though automatic processes of perception are the underlying basis. Furthermore, previous experiments on automatic processes only address very general levels of association. We conducted two experiments employing the multidimensional IAT (md-IAT) to examine automatic processes of perception in a more differentiated way, testing essential variables that are often used to characterize aliens. Results show that personality trait associations of people perceived and categorized as aliens (acquired solely through usage of paraphernalia) are not consistently negative in comparison to more familiar-looking people but might point to the core variables of xenophobic stereotypes (e.g., being aggressive, threatening, and untrustworthy). Proceeding in revealing such variables and testing them might help to understand the main cognito-emotive pattern behind xenophobia and help challenging and tackling stereotypes against aliens.

Highlights

IntroductionWe automatically judge foreign people based on very limited visual information
In our everyday life, we automatically judge foreign people based on very limited visual information
Research on automatic processes has only accounted for a unidimensional method of evaluation and typically found PaCA to be automatically associated with more negative attributes

Summary

Introduction

We automatically judge foreign people based on very limited visual information. Do we determine biological and social categories like age, sex, and morphological group at first sight (Bruce and Young, 2013), we make direct assumptions about their personality traits and their characters (Oosterhof and Todorov, 2008). Exposure times of as little as 100 ms seem to be sufficient for people to build up personality assessments of unfamiliar persons which are often quite reliable and consistent across different persons (Willis and Todorov, 2006). Once a specific view of a person is formed it is very hard to ignore or forget it, even if the assessment is not accurate (e.g., Carney et al, 2007). What cues are taken into account for a certain perception and how does it form in particular? Bar et al (2006) argued that the main information gathered at first

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