Interfacing With Faces: Perceptual Humanization and Dehumanization

Abstract

This article links the visual perception of faces and social behavior. We argue that the ways in which people visually encode others’ faces—a rapid-fire perceptual categorization—can result in either humanizing or dehumanizing modes of perception. Our model suggests that these perceptual pathways channel subsequent social inferences and behavior. We focus on the construct of perceptual dehumanization, which involves a shift from configural to featural processing of human faces and, in turn, enables the infliction of harm, such as harsh punishments. We discuss visual attention as an antecedent of perceptual modes and consequent modes of social behavior and speculate about the functions of humanization and dehumanization in sustaining macro-level social structures.

Implicit race attitudes modulate visual information extraction for trustworthiness judgments

“…Configural processing has also been proposed as crucial during trustworthiness judgments of faces [7]. Interestingly, a recent study showed that it was harder for participants to punish own-race faces displayed in low spatial frequency [72]. Taken together, these results could suggest that lower reliance on low SF with Black faces, as observed in the present study, may reflect a lower reliance on configural processing during trustworthiness judgments of Black faces, especially in individuals with higher implicit racial biases.…”

“…It is noteworthy to mention that Black people are not the only dehumanized group. For example, Fincher and Tetlock [72] suggest that people process the faces of norm violators, another kind of dehumanized group, differently-i.e. without the use of face-specific processes.…”

Humanization of critical care—psychological effects on healthcare professionals and relatives: a systematic review

“…Piece-by-piece as opposed to whole facial processing is the mode our brain uses to distinguish objects and is known to be a dehumanizing mode of facial perception. 8 Functional magnetic resonance imaging has shown that medial prefrontal cortex activation is necessary for social cognition and is activated when seeing other humans but is not activated when seeing objects. 6 Critically ill patients are often sedated, reducing their ability to make eye contact.…”

Visual attention to members of own and other groups: Preferences, determinants, and consequences

“…Finally, recent theorizing has proposed that biases in visual attention to faces may be associated with dehumanization (Haslam, ). In particular, Fincher et al () suggest that processing faces featurally instead of holistically can impact the extent to which we perceive others as less than fully human. Initial studies found that this piecemeal style of face processing was associated with dehumanization of people categorized as social norms violators (Fincher & Tetlock, ).…”

“…Changing what we see by selectively attending to or avoiding certain faces or features changes the input for further processes and judgements often regardless of whether this direct attention occurs unintentionally or through instruction (Adolphs et al, 2005;Firestone & Scholl, 2016;Hills, Cooper, & Pake, 2013;Kawakami et al, 2014). Therefore, it is not surprising that recent models of person perception in an intergroup context not only highlight the scarcity of research on visual attention but also actively encourage researchers to investigate these processes (Fincher, Tetlock, & Morris, 2017;Xiao, Coppin, & Van Bavel, 2016).…”