The characteristics of social categorization based on the unidimensional variation of gender versus age.

Abstract

The present study explored the characteristics of social categorization based on the unidimensional variation of gender or age using the Garner's Selective Attention Paradigm. The task of the experiment was to judge whether there was a mole on a person's face, and the results showed that young participants' response times were slower when the age or gender of the face stimuli varied, demonstrating that young people, rather than older people, can activate both an age category and a gender category automatically. Meanwhile, all participants' responses to the old faces were slower than that to the young faces. Females reacted faster than males, demonstrating that females tend to have an advantage for face processing.