Perceptual and Social Attributes Underlining Age-Related Preferences for Faces

Abstract

Although aesthetic preferences are known to be important in person perception and can play a significant role in everyday social decisions, the effect of the age of the observer on aesthetic preferences for faces of different ages has not yet been fully investigated. In the present study we investigated whether aesthetic preferences change with aging, with an age-related bias in favoring faces from one’s own age group. In addition, we examined the role of age on both the perceptual qualities and the social attributes of faces that may influence these aesthetic judgements. Both younger and older adult observers provided ratings to images of younger, middle-aged and older unfamiliar faces. As well as attractiveness, the rating dimensions included other perceptual (distinctiveness, familiarity) and social (competence, trustworthiness and dominance) factors. The results suggested a consistent aesthetic preference for youthful faces across all ages of the observers but, surprisingly, no evidence for an age-related bias in attractiveness ratings. Older adults tended to provide higher ratings of attractiveness, competence and trustworthiness to the unfamiliar faces, consistent with the positivity effect previously reported. We also tested whether perceptual factors such as face familiarity or distinctiveness affected aesthetic ratings. Only ratings of familiarity, but not distinctiveness, were positively associated with the attractiveness of the faces. Moreover, ratings of familiarity decreased with increasing age of the face. With regard to the social characteristics of the faces, we found that the age of the face negatively correlated with ratings of trustworthiness provided by all observers, but with the competence ratings of older observers only. Interestingly, older adults provided higher ratings of perceived competence and trustworthiness to younger than older faces. However, our results also suggest that higher attractiveness ratings, together with older aged faces, led to more positive evaluations of competence. The results are discussed within the context of an age-related decline in the differentiation of faces in memory. Our findings have important implications for a better understanding of age-related perceptual factors and cognitive determinants of social interactions with unfamiliar others across the adult lifespan.

Angry, old, male – and trustworthy? How expressive and person voice characteristics shape listener trust

“…The present results corroborate evidence that younger faces appear more trustworthy than older faces [33] and that perceived vocal babyishness positively predicts ratings of warmth, honesty, and kindness [41]. Additionally, they converge with a more general age bias and a "youth ideal" that appeals on multiple levels and that readily engages processing resources.…”

“…In the context of a trust game, participants expressed greater trust towards older as compared with younger individuals [31], yet their trustworthiness ratings did not map onto actual behavior in the game. Moreover, other work assessing trustworthiness impressions found them to be independent of age [32] or to favour younger over older adults [33].…”

Prosocial behavior in aging: which factors can explain age-related differences in social-economic decision making?

“…This interpretation is used to explain not only the positive psychological condition but also the physical one in which the recipient was described with positive physical features, such as "he/she dresses in a serious fashion" (see Table 1). Moreover, previous studies found that older adults were positively biased by the first impression received from the unfamiliar faces, giving higher ratings of positive perceptual and social attributes compared to younger adults (Kiiski et al, 2016;Zebrowitz et al, 2013). However, in the light of the age-related increase in altruistic motivation (Hubbard et al, 2016) and in the prioritization of socially meaningful goals (Carstensen et al, 2003), our results support the view that older adults give more relevance to social reward than monetary reward (e.g., Redemacher et al, 2014).…”

Pupil dilation as an implicit measure of appetitive Pavlovian learning

“…Two high-resolution images of young, female faces with a neutral facial expression from the FACES database (Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin;image ID 132, 182;Ebner, Riediger, & Lindenberger, 2010) served as CS. The images presented resembled each other regarding relevant perceptual and social parameters comprising perceived attractiveness, competence, dominance, familiarity, trustworthiness, and distinctiveness, based on empirical ratings provided in an aesthetic preference study (Kiiski, Cullen, Clavin, & Newell, 2016). Both stimuli had equal mean luminance and were presented on a gray background.…”

“…In addition, participants performed a dichotomous preference rating: Both cues and four further images of young female faces from the FACES database (image ID 63, 22, 150, 171) most similar in rated attractiveness were used (Kiiski et al, 2016). During each choice, two stimuli were presented simultaneously, and participants were asked to promptly indicate via button press which image they preferred based on their current judgment (Bray & O'Doherty, 2007;Kahnt et al, 2011;Metereau & Dreher, 2013;Prévost et al, 2013).…”