Abstract
Past research has shown that position in a social hierarchy modulates one's social attention, as in the gaze cueing effect. While studies have manipulated the social status of others with whom the participants interact, we believe that a sense of one's own social power is also a crucial factor affecting gaze following. In two experiments, we primed the social power of participants, using different approaches, to investigate the participants' performance in a subsequent gaze cueing task. The results of Experiment 1 showed a stronger gaze cueing effect among participants who were primed with low social power, compared to those primed with high social power. Our predicted gender difference (i.e., women showing a stronger gaze cueing effect than men) was confirmed and this effect was found to be dominated by the lower social power condition. Experiment 2 manipulated the level of danger in the context and replicated the joint impact of gender and one's perceived social power on gaze cueing effect, especially in the low danger context, in comparison to the high danger context. These findings demonstrate that one's perceived social power has a concerted effect on social attention evoked by gaze, along with other factors such as gender and characteristics of the environment, and suggest the importance of further research on the complex relationship between an individual's position in the social hierarchy and social attention.
Highlights
Social hierarchy is ubiquitous in human society, and is a fundamental aspect of people’s interactions [1, 2]
A stronger gaze cueing effect was found among human participants when they were presented with the image of a more dominant face, compared to a less dominant face [19], which is in keeping with the finding that facial dominance positively predicts one’s social status [20]
The results showed a significant main effect of social power in that the gaze cueing effect was stronger among participants who had been primed with low social power, compared to those who had been primed with high social power (Ms537.23, 24.29 ms, respectively), F(1, 48)55.70, p5.021, g2p 5.106 (Figure 2)
Summary
Social hierarchy is ubiquitous in human society, and is a fundamental aspect of people’s interactions [1, 2]. Our Experiment 2 aims at investigating whether or not a dangerous context moderates the gaze cueing effect, while participants are primed with high or low senses of social power In this regard, the only study we have found so far manipulated the social status of the other with whom participants interact. Experiment 2 primed the participants’ high or low social power as well as their perception for different levels of dangerous context, and explored whether these two factors jointly modulate the gaze cueing effect. Experiment 1 primed one’s perception of social power at different levels and Experiment 2 further manipulated the dangerous contexts to explore the possible modulation of perceived social power and context on gaze-induced joint attention, and how gender plays a role in these effects
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