Ensemble perception of emotion: Incidental effects of social identity

Research in vision science suggests that people possess a perceptual mechanism-ensemble perception-which enables them to rapidly identify the characteristics of groups (e.g., emotion, sex-ratio, race-ratio). This work examined whether ensemble perceptions of groups are driven by the characteristics of group members whose behavior is most likely to impact the perceiver. Specifically, we predicted that more self-relevant group members would be weighted more heavily in ensemble perceptions than less self-relevant group members. Study 1 (n = 83) found that young adult participants' ensemble perceptions of emotion were biased in favor of more self-relevant (younger adult) group members' emotional expressions, compared to less self-relevant (older adult) group members' emotional expressions, and that these ensemble perceptions informed judgments of belonging in the group. Study 2 recruited older (n = 94) and younger (n = 97) adult participants and again found a general pattern of bias in favor of more self-relevant (younger adult) group members' emotional expressions in ensemble perceptions of emotion and that these ensemble perceptions informed evaluations of belonging in the group. Finally, Study 3 (n = 193) directly manipulated the self-relevance of older and younger adult group members and found that the extent of bias in ensemble perceptions of emotion depended on whether younger or older adults were made more self-relevant. Results suggest that incidental cues of social identity can bias ensemble perceptions of emotion and influence downstream judgments of belonging. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).