The cultural learning account of first impressions

Cook, Richard; Eggleston, Adam; Over, Harriet

doi:10.1016/j.tics.2022.05.007

Cited by 14 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 118 publications

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“…A recent systematic review and meta-analysis found that reliable judgements of trustworthiness emerge around 3 − 5 years of age, and that trust impressions continue to develop throughout childhood, showing adult-like patterns between 10 and 13 years of age 25 . This conclusion accords well the view that first impressions are learned ontogenetically, either through first-hand interaction with others, or through exposure to cultural messages about the appearance of heroes and villains, ‘jocks and ‘geeks’, the competent and incompetent 26 – 29 .…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 87%

“…There was no effect of trustworthiness when faces were submissive (i.e., low in dominance). These data appear incompatible with a learning account of first impressions 26 , 28 .…”

Section: Introductioncontrasting

confidence: 73%

“…When addressing questions of mechanism and origin–how and why we spontaneously infer the traits of others–it makes little difference whether traits are inferred from veridical expression cues (where the person depicted experiences or intends to convey an emotion) or pseudo-expression cues (where the observer perceives emotion where none is experienced or conveyed). In both cases, the means by which participants infer traits is likely to be the same 26 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is important that future studies of the development of first impressions distinguish trait inferences based on facial structure from those based on facial expression 26 . These two types of trait inference are likely to be mediated by different neurocognitive mechanisms and may exhibit different developmental trajectories.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Preferential looking studies of trustworthiness detection confound structural and expressive cues to facial trustworthiness

Eggleston

Tsantani

Over

et al. 2022

Sci Rep

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On encountering a stranger, we spontaneously attribute to them character traits (e.g., trustworthiness, intelligence) based on their facial appearance. Participants can base impressions on structural face cues—the stable aspects of facial appearance that support identity recognition–or expression cues, such as the presence of a smile. It has been reported that 6- to 8-month-old infants attend to faces that adults judge to be trustworthy in preference to faces judged untrustworthy. These results are striking because the face stimuli employed were ostensibly emotion neutral. Consequently, these preferential looking effects have been taken as evidence for innate sensitivity to structural face cues to trustworthiness. However, scrutiny of the emotion rating procedure used with adults suggests that the face stimuli employed may have been judged emotion neutral only when interleaved with more obvious examples of facial affect. This means that the faces may vary in emotional expression when compared to each other. Here, we report new evidence obtained from adult raters that the stimuli used in these studies confound trustworthiness and untrustworthiness with the presence of happiness and anger, respectively. These findings suggest that the preferential looking effects described in infants are compatible with a preference for positive facial affect and may not reflect early sensitivity to structural face cues to trustworthiness.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 87%

“…There was no effect of trustworthiness when faces were submissive (i.e., low in dominance). These data appear incompatible with a learning account of first impressions 26 , 28 .…”

Section: Introductioncontrasting

confidence: 73%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Preferential looking studies of trustworthiness detection confound structural and expressive cues to facial trustworthiness

Eggleston

Tsantani

Over

et al. 2022

Sci Rep

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“…Whereas evidence of cultural universality might suggest that first impressions have an innate origin, evidence of individual differences and cross-cultural variability accords with the view that first impressions are heavily influenced by cultural learning. According to the trait inference mapping account (Cook et al, 2022; Cook & Over, 2020; Over et al, 2020; Over & Cook, 2018), first impressions are the products of associative mappings between points in face-space (representations of facial structure) and points in trait-space (representations of the potential trait profiles that others may possess). Associative mappings are thought to be acquired through correlated face-trait experience; for example, exposure to cultural instruments (e.g., propaganda, illustrated story books, art and iconography) that repeatedly pair certain types of faces (e.g., handsome, square jaw, perfect smile) with particular traits (e.g., bravery, honesty, leadership).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does a lack of perceptual expertise prevent participants from forming reliable first impressions of “other-race” faces?

Tsantani¹,

Over²,

Cook³

2023

Journal of Experimental Psychology: General

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Many studies investigating first impressions from faces employ stimulus sets that comprise only White faces. It is argued that participants lack the necessary perceptual expertise to provide reliable trait evaluations when viewing faces from ethnicities that differ from their own. In combination with a reliance on White and WEIRD participants, this concern has contributed to the widespread use of White face stimuli in this literature. The present study sought to determine whether concerns about the use of so-called other-race faces are justified by assessing the test-retest reliability of trait judgments made about sameand other-race faces. In two experiments conducted on 400 British participants, we find that White British participants made reliable trait judgments about Black faces, and Black British participants made reliable trait judgments about White faces. It is important that future work be conducted to determine how widely these results generalize. Considering our findings, however, we suggest (a) that the default assumption in future first impressions research should be that participants-particularly those recruited from diverse communities-are able to form reliable first impressions of other-race faces and (b) that faces of color be included in stimulus sets whenever possible.

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