1
|
Mohsenin S, Munz KP. Gender-Ambiguous Voices and Social Disfluency. Psychol Sci 2024:9567976241238222. [PMID: 38620057 DOI: 10.1177/09567976241238222] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/17/2024] Open
Abstract
Recently, gender-ambiguous (nonbinary) voices have been added to voice assistants to combat gender stereotypes and foster inclusion. However, if people react negatively to such voices, these laudable efforts may be counterproductive. In five preregistered studies (N = 3,684 adult participants) we found that people do react negatively, rating products described by narrators with gender-ambiguous voices less favorably than when they are described by clearly male or female narrators. The voices create a feeling of unease, or social disfluency, that affects evaluations of the products being described. These effects are best explained by low familiarity with voices that sound ambiguous. Thus, initial negative reactions can be overcome with more exposure.
Collapse
|
2
|
Yoo J, Jasko K, Winkielman P. Fluency, prediction and motivation: how processing dynamics, expectations and epistemic goals shape aesthetic judgements. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2024; 379:20230326. [PMID: 38104614 PMCID: PMC10725759 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2023.0326] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/04/2023] [Accepted: 11/21/2023] [Indexed: 12/19/2023] Open
Abstract
What psychological mechanisms underlie aesthetic judgements? An influential account known as the Hedonic Marking of Fluency, later developed into a Processing Fluency Theory of Aesthetic Pleasure, posits that ease of processing elicits positive feelings and thus enhances stimulus evaluations. However, the theory faces empirical and conceptual challenges. In this paper, we extend it by integrating insights from predictive processing frameworks (PPF) and the epistemic motivation model (EMM). We propose four extensions. First, fluency of a stimulus depends on perceivers' expectations-their internal model of the world. Second, perceivers also form expectations about fluency itself and thus can experience surprising fluency. These expectations can come from the individual's history, their current task and their environment. Third, perceivers can value fluency but also disfluency, reflecting their non-directional epistemic goals. Fourth, perceivers also have directional epistemic goals, preferring specific conclusions or belief content. Consequently, affective reactions depend on whether the stimulus satisfies those goals. These directional epistemic goals may override concerns about fluency or change the value of fluency associated with specific content. We review supporting evidence and introduce novel predictions. By integrating insights from PPF and EMM, our framework can better capture established fluency effects and highlights their limitations and extensions. This article is part of the theme issue 'Art, aesthetics and predictive processing: theoretical and empirical perspectives'.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jenny Yoo
- Department of Psychology, University of California, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093-0109, USA
| | - Katarzyna Jasko
- Jagiellonian University, Institute of Psychology, Ingardena 6, 30-060 Krakow, Poland
| | - Piotr Winkielman
- Department of Psychology, University of California, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093-0109, USA
- SWPS University, Chodakowska 19/31, 03-815 Warsaw, Poland
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Tieo S, Dezeure J, Cryer A, Lepou P, Charpentier MJ, Renoult JP. Social and sexual consequences of facial femininity in a non-human primate. iScience 2023; 26:107901. [PMID: 37766996 PMCID: PMC10520438 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.107901] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/17/2023] [Revised: 08/11/2023] [Accepted: 09/08/2023] [Indexed: 09/29/2023] Open
Abstract
In humans, femininity shapes women's interactions with both genders, but its influence on animals remains unknown. Using 10 years of data on a wild primate, we developed an artificial intelligence-based method to estimate facial femininity from naturalistic portraits. Our method explains up to 30% of the variance in perceived femininity in humans, competing with classical methods using standardized pictures taken under laboratory conditions. We then showed that femininity estimated on 95 female mandrills significantly correlated with various socio-sexual behaviors. Unexpectedly, less feminine female mandrills were approached and aggressed more frequently by both sexes and received more male copulations, suggesting a positive valuation of masculinity attributes rather than a perception bias. This study contributes to understand the role of femininity on animal's sociality and offers a framework for non-invasive research on visual communication in behavioral ecology.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sonia Tieo
- CEFE, University Montpellier, CNRS, EPHE, IRD, Montpellier, France
| | - Jules Dezeure
- Projet Mandrillus, Fondation Lékédi pour la Biodiversité, Bakoumba BP 52, Gabon
| | - Anna Cryer
- Projet Mandrillus, Fondation Lékédi pour la Biodiversité, Bakoumba BP 52, Gabon
| | - Pascal Lepou
- Projet Mandrillus, Fondation Lékédi pour la Biodiversité, Bakoumba BP 52, Gabon
| | - Marie J.E. Charpentier
- Institut des Sciences de l’Evolution de Montpellier (ISEM), UMR5554 - University of Montpellier/CNRS/IRD/EPHE, Place Eugène Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 5, France
| | | |
Collapse
|
4
|
Beyond the features: The role of consistency in impressions of trust. SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL BULLETIN 2022. [DOI: 10.32872/spb.9233] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
To be successful in social life, perceivers need to form impressions of other people's trustworthiness. Current models of this process emphasize the role of specific descriptive content–individual verbal and visual features determining trust impressions. In contrast, we describe three lines of our research showing that trust impressions also depend on consistency–a sense of fit–between features. The first line demonstrates that consistency of brief verbal characterizations increases trust judgments. The second line shows that trust judgments and behaviors are boosted by incidental consistency between the foreground and background of visual scenes. The third line observes that consistency between facial features enhances impressions of trustworthiness. In all these studies, consistency (measured via subjective ratings, reaction times, and physiological measures) positively and uniquely predicted trust judgments. Overall, our results, and related findings, show that trust impressions are not a simple sum of the contributing parts, but reflect a “gestalt.” We theoretically locate these findings in frameworks emphasizing the role of fluency, predictive coding, and coherence in social cognition.
Collapse
|
5
|
Diel A, Lewis M. The uncanniness of written text is explained by configural deviation and not by processing disfluency. Perception 2022; 51:3010066221114436. [PMID: 35912496 DOI: 10.1177/03010066221114436] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Deviating from human norms in human-looking artificial entities can elicit uncanny sensations, described as the uncanny valley. This study investigates in three tasks whether configural deviation in written text also increases uncanniness. It further evaluates whether the uncanniness of text is better explained by perceptual disfluency and especially deviations from specialized categories, or conceptual disfluency caused by ambiguity. In the first task, lower sentence readability predicted uncanniness, but deviating sentences were more uncanny than typical sentences despite being just as readable. Furthermore, familiarity with a language increased the effect of configural deviation on uncanniness but not the effect of non-configural deviation (blur). In the second and third tasks, semantically ambiguous words and sentences were not uncannier than typical sentences, but deviating, non-ambiguous sentences were. Deviations from categories with specialized processing mechanisms thus better fit the observed results as an explanation of the uncanny valley than ambiguity-based explanations.
Collapse
|
6
|
Innovative research on the visual performance of image two-dimensional animation film based on deep neural network. Neural Comput Appl 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s00521-021-06140-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
|
7
|
Luther T, Lewis CA, Grahlow M, Hüpen P, Habel U, Foster C, Bülthoff I, Derntl B. Male or Female? - Influence of Gender Role and Sexual Attraction on Sex Categorization of Faces. Front Psychol 2021; 12:718004. [PMID: 34621218 PMCID: PMC8490621 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.718004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2021] [Accepted: 09/02/2021] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
The categorization of dominant facial features, such as sex, is a highly relevant function for social interaction. It has been found that attributes of the perceiver, such as their biological sex, influence the perception of sexually dimorphic facial features with women showing higher recognition performance for female faces than men. However, evidence on how aspects closely related to biological sex influence face sex categorization are scarce. Using a previously validated set of sex-morphed facial images (morphed from male to female and vice versa), we aimed to investigate the influence of the participant's gender role identification and sexual orientation on face sex categorization, besides their biological sex. Image ratings, questionnaire data on gender role identification and sexual orientation were collected from 67 adults (34 females). Contrary to previous literature, biological sex per se was not significantly associated with image ratings. However, an influence of participant sexual attraction and gender role identity became apparent: participants identifying with male gender attributes and showing attraction toward females perceived masculinized female faces as more male and femininized male faces as more female when compared to participants identifying with female gender attributes and attraction toward males. Considering that we found these effects in a predominantly cisgender and heterosexual sample, investigation of face sex perception in individuals identifying with a gender different from their assigned sex (i.e., transgender people) might provide further insights into how assigned sex and gender identity are related.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Teresa Luther
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Tübingen Center for Mental Health (TüCMH), University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Carolin A. Lewis
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Tübingen Center for Mental Health (TüCMH), University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- Emotion Neuroimaging Lab, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
- International Max Planck Research School on Neuroscience of Communication: Function, Structure, and Plasticity, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Melina Grahlow
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Tübingen Center for Mental Health (TüCMH), University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- Graduate Training Centre of Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Philippa Hüpen
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine, JARA-Institute Brain Structure Function Relationship (INM 10), Research Center Jülich, Jülich, Germany
| | - Ute Habel
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine, JARA-Institute Brain Structure Function Relationship (INM 10), Research Center Jülich, Jülich, Germany
| | - Celia Foster
- Biopsychology and Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Sports Science, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany
- Department of Human Perception, Cognition and Action, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Isabelle Bülthoff
- Department of Human Perception, Cognition and Action, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Birgit Derntl
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Tübingen Center for Mental Health (TüCMH), University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- LEAD Graduate School & Research Network, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- International Max Planck Research School for Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- Tübingen Neuro Campus, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Driscoll RL, Clancy EM, Fenske MJ. Motor-response execution versus inhibition alters social-emotional evaluations of specific individuals. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2021; 215:103290. [PMID: 33711504 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2021.103290] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/13/2020] [Revised: 12/03/2020] [Accepted: 02/22/2021] [Indexed: 10/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Social-emotional evaluations of unfamiliar people are negatively impacted by ignoring or withholding motor-responses from images that depict them; an effect attributed to the propensity of inhibition to affectively devalue associated stimuli. Prior findings suggest that the social-emotional consequences of inhibition may operate on category-level representations that impact all members of a corresponding group. Here we assess whether such social-emotional consequences of motor-response action versus inaction also operate on item-level representations of specific individuals. Participants memorized individual identities of a group of fellow students before completing a Go/No-go response-inhibition task designed to associate item-level representations of each previously-memorized person with action (Go trials) or inaction (No-go trials). Social identities associated with action were consistently rated as more trustworthy in subsequent evaluations than those associated with inaction. This suggests that the social-emotional consequences of motor-response execution versus inhibition can operate on item-level stimulus representations in memory.
Collapse
|
9
|
Ryali CK, Goffin S, Winkielman P, Yu AJ. From likely to likable: The role of statistical typicality in human social assessment of faces. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2020; 117:29371-29380. [PMID: 33229540 PMCID: PMC7703555 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1912343117] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Humans readily form social impressions, such as attractiveness and trustworthiness, from a stranger's facial features. Understanding the provenance of these impressions has clear scientific importance and societal implications. Motivated by the efficient coding hypothesis of brain representation, as well as Claude Shannon's theoretical result that maximally efficient representational systems assign shorter codes to statistically more typical data (quantified as log likelihood), we suggest that social "liking" of faces increases with statistical typicality. Combining human behavioral data and computational modeling, we show that perceived attractiveness, trustworthiness, dominance, and valence of a face image linearly increase with its statistical typicality (log likelihood). We also show that statistical typicality can at least partially explain the role of symmetry in attractiveness perception. Additionally, by assuming that the brain focuses on a task-relevant subset of facial features and assessing log likelihood of a face using those features, our model can explain the "ugliness-in-averageness" effect found in social psychology, whereby otherwise attractive, intercategory faces diminish in attractiveness during a categorization task.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Chaitanya K Ryali
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093
| | - Stanny Goffin
- Department of Psychology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Maastricht University, 6229 ER Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Piotr Winkielman
- Department of Psychology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093
- Faculty of Psychology, SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, 03-815 Warsaw, Poland
| | - Angela J Yu
- Department of Cognitive Science, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093;
- Department of Cognitive Science, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093
| |
Collapse
|
10
|
Kaminska OK, Magnuski M, Olszanowski M, Gola M, Brzezicka A, Winkielman P. Ambiguous at the second sight: Mixed facial expressions trigger late electrophysiological responses linked to lower social impressions. COGNITIVE, AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE 2020; 20:441-454. [PMID: 32166625 PMCID: PMC7105445 DOI: 10.3758/s13415-020-00778-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Social interactions require quick perception, interpretation, and categorization of faces, with facial features offering cues to emotions, intentions, and traits. Importantly, reactions to faces depend not only on their features but also on their processing fluency, with disfluent faces suffering social devaluation. The current research used electrophysiological (EEG) and behavioral measures to explore at what processing stage and under what conditions emotional ambiguity is detected in the brain and how it influences trustworthiness judgments. Participants viewed male and female faces ranging from pure anger, through mixed expressions, to pure happiness. They categorized each face along the experimental dimension (happy vs. angry) or a control dimension (gender). In the emotion-categorization condition, mixed (ambiguous) expressions were classified relatively slower, and their trustworthiness was rated relatively lower. EEG analyses revealed that early brain responses are independent of the categorization condition, with pure faces evoking larger P1/N1 responses than mixed expressions. Some late (728- 880 ms) brain responses from central-parietal sites also were independent of the categorization condition and presumably reflect familiarity of the emotion categories, with pure expressions evoking larger central-parietal LPP amplitude than mixed expressions. Interestingly, other late responses were sensitive to both expressive features and categorization task, with ambiguous faces evoking a larger LPP amplitude in frontal-medial sites around 560-660 ms but only in the emotion categorization task. Critically, these late responses from the frontal-medial cluster correlated with the reduction in trustworthiness judgments. Overall, the results suggest that ambiguity detection involves late, top-down processes and that it influences important social impressions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Mateusz Gola
- Institute for Neural Computation, Swartz Center for Computational Neuroscience, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
- Institute of Psychology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Aneta Brzezicka
- University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Warsaw, Poland
- Department of Neurosurgery, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Piotr Winkielman
- University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Warsaw, Poland.
- Psychology Department, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
11
|
Rad MS, Shackleford C, Lee KA, Jassin K, Ginges J. Folk theories of gender and anti-transgender attitudes: Gender differences and policy preferences. PLoS One 2019; 14:e0226967. [PMID: 31887173 PMCID: PMC6936834 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0226967] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/07/2019] [Accepted: 12/06/2019] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Transgender rights and discrimination against transgender people are growing public policy issues. Theorizing from social, cognitive, and evolutionary psychology suggests that beyond attitudes, discrimination against transgender people may derive from folk theories about what gender is and where it comes from. Transgender identity is met with hostility, in part, because it poses a challenge to the lay view that gender is determined at birth, and based on observable physical and behavioral characteristics. Here, in two pre-registered studies (N = 1323), we asked American adults to indicate the gender of a transgender target who either altered their biology through surgical interventions or altered their outward appearance: to what extent is it their birth-assigned gender or their self-identified gender? Responses correlate strongly with affect toward transgender people, measured by feeling thermometers, yet predict views on transgender people’s right to use their preferred bathrooms above and beyond feelings. Compared to male participants, female participants judge the person’s gender more in line with the self-identified gender than the birth-assigned gender. This is consistent with social and psychological theories that posit high status (e.g., men) and low status (e.g., women) members of social classification systems view group hierarchies in more and less essentialist ways respectively. Gender differences in gender category beliefs decrease with religiosity and conservatism, and are smaller in higher age groups. These results suggest that folk theories of gender, or beliefs about what gender is and how it is determined have a unique role in how transgender people are viewed and treated. Moreover, as evident by the demographic variability of gender category beliefs, folk theories are shaped by social and cultural forces and are amenable to interventions. They offer an alternative pathway to measure policy support and possibly change attitude toward transgender people.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Mostafa Salari Rad
- Kahneman-Treisman Center for Behavioral Science & Public Policy, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, United States of America
- Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, United States of America
- Department of Psychology, New School for Social Research, The New School, New York City, New York, United States of America
- * E-mail:
| | - Crystal Shackleford
- Department of Psychology, New School for Social Research, The New School, New York City, New York, United States of America
| | - Kelli Ann Lee
- Department of Psychology, New School for Social Research, The New School, New York City, New York, United States of America
| | - Kate Jassin
- Department of Psychology, New School for Social Research, The New School, New York City, New York, United States of America
| | - Jeremy Ginges
- Department of Psychology, New School for Social Research, The New School, New York City, New York, United States of America
| |
Collapse
|
12
|
Abstract
Processing fluency, a metacognitive feeling of ease of cognitive processing, serves as a cue in various types of judgments. Processing fluency is sometimes evaluated by response times, with shorter response times indicating higher fluency. The present study examined existence of the opposite association; that is, it tested whether disfluency may lead to faster decision times when it serves as a strong cue in judgment. Retrieval fluency was manipulated in an experiment using previous presentation and phonological fluency by varying pronounceability of pseudowords. Participants liked easy-to-pronounce and previously presented words more. Importantly, their decisions were faster for hard-to-pronounce and easy-to-pronounce pseudowords than for pseudowords moderate in pronounceability. The results thus showed an inverted-U shaped relationship between fluency and decision times. The findings suggest that disfluency can lead to faster decision times and thus demonstrate the importance of separating different processes comprising judgment when response times are used as a measure of processing fluency.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Štěpán Bahník
- Department of Management, Faculty of Business Administration, University of Economics, Prague, Czech Republic
| |
Collapse
|
13
|
|
14
|
Olszanowski M, Kaminska OK, Winkielman P. Mixed matters: fluency impacts trust ratings when faces range on valence but not on motivational implications. Cogn Emot 2017; 32:1032-1051. [DOI: 10.1080/02699931.2017.1386622] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Piotr Winkielman
- SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Warsaw, Poland
- Department of Psychology, University of California, San Diego, USA
- Behavioural Science Group, Warwick Business School, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK
| |
Collapse
|