Emotion in the neutral face: a mechanism for impression formation?

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Social Psychology
• Perception

Background:

• Facial cues significantly contribute to impression formation and personality inferences.
• Common facial characteristics are associated with specific emotions and perceived personality traits, varying by gender.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how emotion-resembling facial cues impact impression formation.
• To determine if perceived gender-based traits are influenced by generalized emotion cues.

Main Methods:

• A pilot study assessed impressions from neutral male and female faces.
• A primary study used "warped" neutral faces, digitally altered to structurally resemble anger or fear without visible emotion signs.
• Ratings of these altered faces were compared to assess trait perceptions.

Main Results:

• Neutral female faces were perceived as more submissive, affiliative, naive, honest, cooperative, babyish, fearful, and happy than neutral male faces.
• Gender effects on impressions were replicated in the primary study.
• Faces warped to resemble fear or anger elicited impression profiles similar to gender-based stereotypes, indicating emotion overgeneralization.

Conclusions:

• Perception of personality traits is influenced by subtle, emotion-resembling facial cues.
• Emotion overgeneralization plays a significant role in how we form impressions from neutral faces.
• Stereotype-driven impressions are reinforced by generalized emotional facial cues.