The Face and Person Perception: Insights from Social Cognition

The Face and Person Perception: Insights from

Social CognitionKimberly A. Quinn and C. Neil Macrae

Contents

I. Foundation of the studyII. Social-cognitive dynamics of face

perceptionIII. Processing multiple social-category cuesIV. The categorization–identification

interfaceV. Conclusion and Discussion

I. Foundation of the study

Understanding the dynamics of social categorization

Considering visual processing (bottom-up process) and semantic knowledge (top-down process) for understanding in face perception

Derived from Bruce and Young (1986) dual route model

Reminder of Bruce & Young theory

Main Focus

Debate of identity-nonspecific information’s role, and previous studies showed:

a. Dissociation between abstract generic information from faces and face recognition

b. Integrated processing of identity-specific and -nonspecific information

c. Explain where visually derived semantic codes related to identity-nonspecific information, and how extra-facial factors influence face processing -> social-cognitive perspective

II. Social-cognitive dynamics of face perception

Social perceivers automatically and inevitably perceive others according to visible dimensions such as sex, race, and age (Fiske, 1998)

Brewer’s (1988) dual-process model: perceivers choose implicitly between stereotyping and individuation

Fiske and Neuberg’s (1990) continuum model: priority to stereotyping and depicting individuation as a correction process

Brewer’s model (1988) primitive categorization

Fiske and Neuberg’s (1990) initial categorization

Emphasize social categorization of faces.

Social-cognitive models person perception rather than face recognition, and primarily to the construal of unfamiliar rather than familiar individuals.

These models assumed stereotyping sufficient for identity-specific information, therefore identity-non specific information processing is not needed.

III. Processing multiple social-category cues

Three experiments from Quinn and Macrae (2005)Experiment 1: showed social categorization need

an appropriate processing goalExperiment 2: if perceiver didn’t categorize

stimuli, the reaction times won’t be differ between repeated and new stimuli

Experiment 3: the efficiency of sex categorization depended on the age of a target, but age categorization was not influenced by variation in target sex.

a. Single category selection Perceiver using relevant dimension and

inhibit irrelevant ones. Quinn and Macrae (2005) second

experiment. Stereotype activation is also selective.Challenge on finding: Wiese, Schweinberger,

and Neumann (2008) recently reported ERP version of Quinn and Macrae’s multiple-category repetition-priming experiment.

b. Multiple-category integration Quinn & Macrae’s third experiment Freeman et.al easy and difficult-to-categorize faces’ task

c. Integrating processing of social-category cues and other social cues cues to differentiate sex (facial features and specific facial expression)

Male angry Female fear

gaze direction and emotional expression

There is still debate

Happy direct gaze

Fear averted gaze

race categorization and emotional expression

Anger expression identified faster in African people

Happy expression identified faster in Caucasian

Voice CuesRaki´c, Steffens, and Mummendey (2011), who used a ‘who said what?’ paradigm

to examine the separate and combined influences of voice and facial cues in person perception

Contextual cuesPerceivers do not categorize by race when another dimension of categorization is more useful in the ongoing context.Example: T-shirt colour denoted coalitions that race did not.

Social-cognitive evidence thus suggests that the processing of identity-nonspecific information in faces is extremely flexible and responsive to such factors as processing goals, semantic knowledge, and contextual cues.

IV. The categorization–identification interface

a. Social categorization influences identity recognition

‘cross-race’ or ‘other-race’ effect. social categorization also plays a critical role in

shaping own- and other-race face processing. Other race identity recognition could also be

sensitive to social categorization (making in-group and out-group)

Social categorization can even affect how individual features are perceived.

Emotional recognition

b. Identity recognition influences social categorization it is easier to extract categorical information from known versus unknown faces. before a perceiver can recognize a target’s unique identity, the target’s face must first receive basic visual processing. primacy of categorical thinking Identity recognition appears to be heavily reliant on the extraction of configural information across multiple features

Categorization vs identification Quinn, Mason, and Macrae (2010) used

automatic priming paradigm to investigate whether and when participants would automatically respond to unfamiliar and familiar others according to identity versus social category

V. Conclusion

Emphasis on the processing of identity-nonspecific (primarily social-category) information.

The contribution of social cognition face perception is twofold. a. social categorizationb. importance of extra-facial (prejudice)

A comprehensive account of face perception requires, at minimum, the consideration of three issues.a. Model should specify whether and how various forms of identity-specific and -nonspecific information are integratedb. Specify the downstream consequences of such integrationc. Make clear the nature and extent of online feedback from long-term memory during face processing.

Discussion

Which social categorization needed or automatically came out when we’re looking at a person?

Procedures and results in Quinn and Macrae’s study should be explained in more details.