Stimulus Person Research Articles

Autonomic and facial electromyographic responses to watching eyes.

We measured participants' psychophysiological responses and gaze behavior while viewing a stimulus person's direct and averted gaze in three different conditions manipulating the participants' experience of being watched. The results showed that skin conductance responses and heart rate deceleration responses were greater to direct than averted gaze only in the condition in which the participants had the experience of being watched by the other individual. In contrast, gaze direction had no effects on these responses when the participants were manipulated to believe that the other individual could not watch them or when the stimulus person was presented in a pre-recorded video. Importantly, the eye tracking measures showed no differences in participants' looking behavior between these stimulus presentation conditions. The results of facial electromyography responses suggested that direct gaze elicited greater zygomatic and periocular responses than averted gaze did, independent of the presentation condition. It was concluded that the affective arousal and attention-orienting indexing autonomic responses to eye contact are driven by the experience of being watched. In contrast, the facial responses seem to reflect automatized affiliative responses which can be elicited even in conditions in which seeing another's direct gaze does not signal that the self is being watched.

Fertility as a cue for attractiveness in homo- and heterosexual men

According to the sexual strategy theory (SST), men pursue short-term mating strategies to enhance their reproductive fitness. To do so, heterosexual men search for women who signal high reproductive value through multiple fertility cues. We hypothesize that, due to an interplay of mating strategies derived from a person's biological sex and the sexual orientation of a person (which develops independently of biological sex), not only heterosexual but also homosexual men should find high fertility more attractive in others. Accordingly, in Study 1 (N = 124), we found that hetero- as well as homosexual men rated the physical attractiveness of a female stimulus person to be greater when she was portrayed to be of high (versus low) fertility. Interestingly, in Study 2 (N = 224), we found that only homosexual-, but not heterosexual men perceived a male stimulus to be less attractive when information was provided that pointed at his low (versus high) fertility and when no information was given. We discuss these findings against the background of evolved adaptive mating motives in humans. Overall, the present results indicate that fertility appears to be an important cue for perceived physical attractiveness for both hetero- and homosexual men.

Unattractive people are unaware of their (un)attractiveness.

Past research has shown that how people rate their physical attractiveness is only moderately correlated with how they are rated by others, suggesting that at least some people have little insight into their true level of attractiveness. The present research tests the hypothesis that unattractive people are not aware of their unattractiveness. In fact, six studies (overall N = 1,180) showed that unattractive participants considerably overestimated their attractiveness compared to ratings by strangers. In contrast, attractive participants were more accurate. If anything, they underestimated their attractiveness. It was also examined why unattractive people overestimate their attractiveness. As expected, unattractive participants differentiated less between attractive and unattractive stimulus persons than did attractive participants. They were also more likely than attractive participants to select unattractive stimulus persons to compare themselves to. However, these tendencies did not account for why unattractive participants overestimated their attractiveness, nor did affirming participant’s self‐worth. Limitations and avenues for future research are discussed.

Implicit learning in attractiveness evaluation: The role of conformity and analytical processing.

We address the question how people's opinion and features of information interact in the process of indirect social influence. Implicit learning was considered as a mechanism for conformity in social perception. We carried out 2 experiments using a hidden covariation detection paradigm. In a learning phase, participants memorized a set of female photographs presented together with their attractiveness ratings. The ratings correlated with the hairstyle of the photographed women. The participants who did not consciously detect this correlation demonstrated a systematic bias toward the correlation when evaluating the new stimulus persons. Information about the source of the ratings in the learning phase (other people's opinions or nonsocial sources) did not modulate learning. Learning was not observed when participants critically evaluated the ratings during the memorization phase. The study shows that (a) conformity may be based not only on reinforcement learning mechanism (as was previously suggested) but also on unsupervised implicit learning; (b) implicit learning occurs automatically irrespective of the context (social or not); and (c) a critical attitude toward learned material may prevent implicit learning from being manifested in a test phase. We conclude that indirect social influence may be affected by people's opinion toward the provided information. The study contributes to both implicit learning and social perception research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Impression Formation of Male and Female Millennial Students Wearing Eye Glasses or Hearing Aids

The purpose of this study was to examine impressions of persons wearing hearing aids (HA) and glasses. A survey consisting of impression formation measures was administered to 569 participants. Factor analysis and a series of T-tests were used to examine the effect of wearing glasses and hearing aids on first impressions. T-tests indicated significant differences between the control and glasses style for both the male and female model. Male and female control models (without glasses) were rated more positively. Another series of t-tests between hearing aid styles and the control indicated significant differences for the heavier, more visible hearing aid with the control model being rated higher on every factor except “reliable”. There were almost no significant differences between the control and the light, less visible hearing aid for either the male or the female. Correlations among traits differ as a function of both stimulus person and relevance of trait. Data indicates that different types of hearing aids stimulate varying impressions. The findings have implications for advising potential HA users who are disinclined to wear a device for cosmetic reasons. Findings support other literature on impression formation and the hearing aid effect. However, the findings are encouraging, as hearing aid use has historically been associated with an impression of lower cognitive function, yet participants did not indicate a significant perceptual difference between the hearing aid user and the control, possibly indicating stronger social acceptance.

Age-related differences in the activation of the mentalizing- and reward-related brain regions during the learning of others' true trustworthiness.

Behavioral studies suggest that older adults may be less adept than younger adults at remembering information contradicting their first impressions about others' trustworthiness. To identify the neural bases associated with such age-related differences, we measured the brain activity of older and younger participants using functional magnetic resonance imaging while they processed feedback on whether their initial trustworthiness impressions of stimulus persons, whose true trustworthiness had been predetermined, were right or wrong. Of special interest was the activation in mentalizing- (e.g., medial prefrontal cortex) and reward-related brain regions (e.g., striatum), which are known to be involved in impression formation and feedback learning, respectively. The reduction in the striatal responses to impression-contradicting versus impression-confirming feedback was greater in older than in younger participants. The activation of some mentalizing-related regions (medial prefrontal cortex and precuneus) was lower in older than younger participants; however, it was not modulated by impression-feedback congruency. The results suggest that age-related differences in the striatum engagement may underlie older adults' inefficiency in learning impression-incongruent information about others' trustworthiness.

Organic Food Appeals to Intuition and Triggers Stereotypes

Evidence suggests that the benefits of organic food are overstated. In study 1, factors predicting positive attitudes toward organic food (OF), food processing and additives were investigated. Intuitive thinking style was the strongest predictor, followed by categorical thinking, belief in simplicity of knowledge and susceptibility to health myths. In Study 2, the effect of OF consumer status on perceived warmth and competence was examined. OF-positive participants rated the OF consumer similarly as the conventional consumer. However, OF-negative participants regarded the OF consumer as warmer but less competent than the conventional consumer. In Study 3, perceptions of a couple were examined similarly. OF consumer couple's relationship was more idealized by the OF-positive participants whereas other participants regarded the OF consumer couple's relationship as less satisfactory. In addition, intuitive thinking style increased positive judgments about the stimulus persons in Studies 2 and 3. Eating organic food may thus evoke positive and negative stereotypes, and intuitive thinkers may be especially receptive to OF marketing and influenced by a preference for natural.

Mentalizing eye contact with a face on a video: Gaze direction does not influence autonomic arousal.

Recent research has revealed enhanced autonomic and subjective responses to eye contact only when perceiving another live person. However, these enhanced responses to eye contact are abolished if the viewer believes that the other person is not able to look back at the viewer. We purported to investigate whether this "genuine" eye contact effect can be reproduced with pre-recorded videos of stimulus persons. Autonomic responses, gaze behavior, and subjective self-assessments were measured while participants viewed pre-recorded video persons with direct or averted gaze, imagined that the video person was real, and mentalized that the person could see them or not. Pre-recorded videos did not evoke similar physiological or subjective eye contact effect as previously observed with live persons, not even when the participants were mentalizing being seen by the person. Gaze tracking results showed, however, increased attention allocation to faces with direct gaze compared to averted gaze directions. The results suggest that elicitation of the physiological arousal in response to genuine eye contact seems to require spontaneous experience of seeing and of being seen by another individual.

Both Gender and Cohort Affect Perceptions of Forenames, but Are 25-Year-Old Standards Still Valid?

Forenames signify considerable information, not only about a person’s gender, but also about that person’s age, social class, and ethnicity, as well as characteristics such as attractiveness and intellectual competence. Kasof (1993) found that research (almost all done in the U.S.) often used gender-typed forenames to identify individuals’ sex or gender in studies of potential gender bias. However, because these forenames signified other traits unrelated to gender, results were confounded in ways often favoring male stimulus persons. To remedy this situation, Kasof identified pairs of female and male forenames that were matched on key variables such as perceived age, attractiveness, and intellectual competence. We found that since 1995, approximately one-third of researchers who manipulated the sex or gender of hypothetical women and men used Kasof’s matched female and male forenames to control for extraneous variables. However, our research with college students revealed that Kasof’s matched forename pairs are now outdated. College students rated Kasof’s forenames (which are characteristic of popular forenames of their parents’ cohort) as less attractive than their own cohort’s popular forenames. Consistent with Kasof’s results, however, popular male forenames continued to be rated as connoting greater intellectual competence than popular female forenames. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Mirror reflection or real image: Does past mirror experience influence a dog's use of a mirror?

Abstract Dogs can use a mirror appropriately to solve a task, but their response seems to depend on their habituation to the mirror beforehand. It seems that there is a relationship between behavior in looking at a mirror and the ability to use the mirror, but the interaction between the presence of a person and the time dogs spend looking in the mirror when confronted with a task has not been reported. Our aim was to investigate 2 factors: the dog's response to a person's reflection in a mirror or to the real person positioned in the same apparent position as the reflection as well as the time spent by the dog looking in the mirror before and after the person was present. Nine pet dogs participated and were categorized into 2 groups: a mirror-experienced group (EG) and a no-experience group (NEG). The EG had participated in a mirror test before the study. Two types of mirror—a whole mirror and a half mirror—were used. A familiar woman was positioned on the far side of an opaque barrier when the whole mirror was presented or behind a clear panel when the half mirror was presented. Both the time taken for the dog to reach the person and the dog's behaviors in reaching the person were recorded. The test was performed 20 times for each type of mirror for each dog. Dogs succeeding more in than 17 of 20 trials were considered to have the ability to use the mirror. Only 5 of 9 dogs reached this criterion in the half mirror session, although all dogs achieved the criterion in the whole mirror session. The time taken to reach the stimulus person differed between dogs in the 2 mirror-type sessions. However, the time spent looking in the mirror differed only within the EG. These results suggested that past experience with a mirror affected the dogs' ability to solve mirror tasks.

Are you looking my way? Ostracism widens the cone of gaze.

Ostracized individuals demonstrate an increased need for belonging. To satisfy this need, they search for signals of inclusion, one of which may be another person's gaze directed at oneself. We tested if ostracized, compared to included, individuals judge a greater degree of averted gaze as still being direct. This range of gaze angles still viewed as direct has been dubbed "the cone of (direct) gaze". In the current research, ostracized and included participants viewed friendly-looking face stimuli with direct or slightly averted gaze (0°, 2°, 4°, 6°, and 8° to the left and to the right) and judged whether stimulus persons were looking at them or not. Ostracized individuals demonstrated a wider gaze cone than included individuals.

Effects of muscle dysmorphia, social comparisons and body schema priming on desire for social interaction: an experimental approach

BackgroundMuscle dysmorphia (MD) is a relatively young diagnosis referring to the desire for a high degree in lean muscle mass, while simultaneously believing that one is insufficiently muscular, mostly found in men. It goes along with a risk for social withdrawal to maintain rigid exercise and dietary regimen. The aim of the current study was thus, to explore differences in men with and without a risk for muscle dysmorphia regarding their desire for social interaction. Furthermore, we investigated potential effects of individual social comparison tendencies (the tendency to compare oneself with persons who are perceived to be superior or inferior to oneself on a certain dimension) and of one’s own body schema on the desire for social interaction.MethodsOne hundred physically active, college aged Austrian men were recruited via social media and flyers at fitness centers and the sports department of the University of Vienna. Participants were randomly assigned to a priming condition evoking their own body schema or a control condition and had to state their desire for social interaction with male or female stimulus persons of high or average attractiveness. We conducted a 2 (group of participant; men with vs. without a risk for MD) × 2 (priming condition; priming vs. non-priming) × 2 (attractiveness of stimulus person; highly attractive vs. less attractive) experimental design with different social comparison tendencies as covariates.ResultsMen with a risk for muscle dysmorphia showed lesser desire for social interaction than men without this risk, which can be seen as a risk factor for psychopathological outcomes. Generally, men with and without a risk for muscle dysmorphia did not differ with regard to their preferences for attractive stimulus persons as subjects for social interaction. We confirmed the notion that a tendency for downward social comparisons goes along with a diminished desire for social interaction.ConclusionsThis study showed that men with a risk for muscle dysmorphia appeared to be at higher risk for social withdrawal and that this is associated with social comparison tendencies. Future investigations on clinical populations are needed, for this population is highly prone to social isolation and negative outcomes related to it.

Masking the Identities of Celebrities and Personally Familiar Individuals: Effects on Visual and Auditory Recognition Performance.

The current study compared the effectiveness of masking on recognition performance for faces and voices of celebrities and personally familiar individuals. On the basis of the theory suggesting stronger memory representations for personally familiar individuals, we expected masking to be more effective for celebrities than for personally familiar stimulus persons. Furthermore, we sought to replicate the face recognition advantage with masked stimuli. Face pixelation and electronic changes of the voice pitch were applied as masking techniques, using four masking levels for each stimulus. Thirty-one undergraduate students were presented with the masked faces and voices of 10 celebrities and 10 personally familiar fellow students. As expected, more correct recognitions occurred for faces than for voices, suggesting that masking does not counteract the mechanisms causing the face recognition advantage. Unexpectedly, masking effectiveness did not differ between celebrities and personally familiar individuals. This may be due to the type of personally familiar individuals used. Within personally familiar stimuli, increased familiarity did not predict the effectiveness of masking. Whereas the highest masking level eliminated speaker recognition, masking did not fully eliminate face recognition. From a practical perspective, the findings especially question the suitability of pixelation as a means for identity concealment.

Genuine eye contact elicits self-referential processing.

The effect of eye contact on self-awareness was investigated with implicit measures based on the use of first-person singular pronouns in sentences. The measures were proposed to tap into self-referential processing, that is, information processing associated with self-awareness. In addition, participants filled in a questionnaire measuring explicit self-awareness. In Experiment 1, the stimulus was a video clip showing another person and, in Experiment 2, the stimulus was a live person. In both experiments, participants were divided into two groups and presented with the stimulus person either making eye contact or gazing downward, depending on the group assignment. During the task, the gaze stimulus was presented before each trial of the pronoun-selection task. Eye contact was found to increase the use of first-person pronouns, but only when participants were facing a real person, not when they were looking at a video of a person. No difference in self-reported self-awareness was found between the two gaze direction groups in either experiment. The results indicate that eye contact elicits self-referential processing, but the effect may be stronger, or possibly limited to, live interaction.

Spontaneous evaluative inferences and their relationship to spontaneous trait inferences.

Three experiments are reported that explore affectively based spontaneous evaluative impressions (SEIs) of stimulus persons. Experiments 1 and 2 used modified versions of the savings in relearning paradigm (Carlston & Skowronski, 1994) to confirm the occurrence of SEIs, indicating that they are equivalent whether participants are instructed to form trait impressions, evaluative impressions, or neither. These experiments also show that SEIs occur independently of explicit recall for the trait implications of the stimuli. Experiment 3 provides a single dissociation test to distinguish SEIs from spontaneous trait inferences (STIs), showing that disrupting cognitive processing interferes with a trait-based prediction task that presumably reflects STIs, but not with an affectively based social approach task that presumably reflects SEIs. Implications of these findings for the potential independence of spontaneous trait and evaluative inferences, as well as limitations and important steps for future study are discussed.

There is more to eye contact than meets the eye

Recent studies have shown enhanced brain and autonomic responses to seeing a face with a direct gaze. Interestingly, greater responses to eye contact vs. averted gaze have been observed when showing “live” faces as stimuli but not when showing pictures of faces on a computer screen. In this study, we provide unequivocal evidence that the differential responses observed in the “live” condition are dependent on the observer’s mental attributions. Results from two experiments showed that eye contact resulted in greater autonomic and brain responses compared to averted gaze if a participant believed that the stimulus person sitting on the other side of an electronic shutter was able to see him or her through the shutter. Gaze direction had no effects if participants believed that the transparency from their side was blocked. The results suggest that mental attributions exert a powerful modulation on the processing of socially relevant sensory information.

French-speaking children's freely produced labels for facial expressions.

In this study, we investigated the labeling of facial expressions in French-speaking children. The participants were 137 French-speaking children, between the ages of 5 and 11 years, recruited from three elementary schools in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The facial expressions included expressions of happiness, sadness, fear, surprise, anger, and disgust. Participants were shown one facial expression at a time, and asked to say what the stimulus person was feeling. Participants’ responses were coded by two raters who made judgments concerning the specific emotion category in which the responses belonged. 5- and 6-year-olds were quite accurate in labeling facial expressions of happiness, anger, and sadness but far less accurate for facial expressions of fear, surprise, and disgust. An improvement in accuracy as a function of age was found for fear and surprise only. Labeling facial expressions of disgust proved to be very difficult for the children, even for the 11-year-olds. In order to examine the fit between the model proposed by Widen and Russell (2003) and our data, we looked at the number of participants who had the predicted response patterns. Overall, 88.52% of the participants did. Most of the participants used between 3 and 5 labels, with correspondence percentages varying between 80.00% and 100.00%. Our results suggest that the model proposed by Widen and Russell (2003) is not limited to English-speaking children, but also accounts for the sequence of emotion labeling in French-Canadian children.

Does the Presence of a Learning Disability Elicit a Stigmatization?

Aims: To determine whether or not a Learning Disability(LD) label leads to stigmatization. Study Design: This research used a 2(sex of participant) x 2(LD label)x 2 (Sex of stimulus person) factorial design. Place and Duration of Study: Bucknell University, between October 2010 and April 2011. Methodology: Sample: We included 200 participants (137 women and 63 men, ranging in age from 18 – 75 years, M = 26.41. Participants rated the stimulus individual on 27 personality traits, 8 Life success measures, and the Big-5 personality dimensions. Also, participants completed a Social Desirability measure. Results: A MANOVA revealed a main effect for the Learning Disability description, F(6, 185) = 6.41 p< .0001, eta 2 = .17,for the Big-5 personality dimensions, Emotional Stability, F(1, 185) = 13.39, p < .001, eta 2 = .066, and Openness to Experiences F(1,185) = 7.12, p< .008, eta 2 = .036.Stimulus individuals described as having a learning disability were perceived as being less emotionally stable and more open to experiences than those described as not having a learning disability. Another MANOVA revealed a main effect for having a disability or not, F(8, 183) = 4.29, p< .0001, eta 2 = .158, for the Life Success items, Attractiveness, F(1, 198) = 16.63, p< .0001, eta 2 = .080, and Future Success,F(1, 198) = 4.57, p< .034, eta 2 = .023. Stimulus individuals described as having a learning disability were perceived as being less attractive and with less potential for success than those described as not having a learning disability. Conclusion: The results of this research provide evidence that a bias exists toward those who have learning disabilities. The mere presence of an LD label had the ability to cause a Original Research Article British Journal of Education, Society & Behavioural Science, 4(2): 211-225, 2014 212 differential perception of those with LDs and those without LDs.

Gender Differences in Neural Mechanisms Underlying Moral Judgment of Disgust: A Functional MRI Study

Much recent research has sought to uncover the gender difference in neural mechanism of moral judgment; however, very few researches study the neural gender differences in a specific area of moral judgment. The aim of this functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study was to examine possible gender difference in neural response to (sexual) disgusting pictures versus neutral pictures. Seventeen participants (9 males) were scanned while viewing pictures of tactile intimacy in same-sex and being asked to evaluate whether the behaviors between the stimulus persons in the pictures were morally appropriate or not. Both the neural responses to pictures of tactile intimacy in same-sex between male participants and female participants and the neural response to pictures of male-male tactile intimacy and to pictures of female-female tactile intimacy were examined. The results showed that significantly increased differential activations to the disgusting pictures relative to the neutral pictures were observed in the dorsal medial prefrontal cortex (BA 9) and amygdala. Furthermore, greater activation to the pictures of female-female tactile intimacy was observed in the left superior frontal gyrus/dorsal medial prefrontal cortex (BA 6). These results suggested a possible neural gender difference between female’s immoral behavior and male’s immoral behavior.

Face to Face Versus Facebook: Does Exposure to Social Networking Web Sites Augment or Attenuate Physiological Arousal Among the Socially Anxious?

The present study tested two competing hypotheses about the effect of Facebook exposure on the physiological arousal level of participants who then encountered the stimulus person in a face-to-face situation. Facebook exposure may attenuate later arousal by providing increased comfort and confidence, but it is also possible that Facebook exposure will augment arousal, particularly among the socially anxious. Participants completed a measure of social anxiety and were exposed to a stimulus person via Facebook, face to face, or both. Galvanic skin response was recorded during the exposures to the stimulus person. Results were consistent with the augmentation hypothesis: a prior exposure on Facebook will lead to increased arousal during a face-to-face encounter, particularly for those high in social anxiety.