Differences between perceived age and chronological age in women: A multi-ethnic and multi-centre study

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Anthropology
• Cosmetic Science

Background:

• Accurate age perception from facial cues impacts social judgments of health and attractiveness.
• Previous research indicated consistent patterns in female facial age perception across ethnicities, influenced by assessor demographics.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate variations in age estimation accuracy (Δ age) from digital portraits across different ethnicities and age groups.
• To examine the influence of assessor gender and ethnicity on age perception accuracy.

Main Methods:

• Digital portraits of 180 women (20-66 years) from five ethnicities were assessed for age by 120 raters of each ethnicity and gender.
• Age estimation differences (Δ age) between perceived and chronological age were calculated.

Main Results:

• Age estimation accuracy varied significantly by assessor ethnicity, with French assessors showing the smallest Δ age and South African assessors the largest.
• French women were perceived as older, and Chinese women as younger than their chronological age.
• Younger women exhibited larger Δ age than middle-aged and older women, with notable interactions involving assessor gender and ethnicity.

Conclusions:

• Facial age estimation accuracy is influenced by the photographed woman's age and ethnicity, as well as the assessor's gender and ethnicity.
• Findings highlight ethnic variations in skin pigmentation and aging, with implications for cosmetic science and cross-cultural perception research.