Caring or daring? Exploring the impact of facial masculinity/femininity and gender category information on first impressions

In two studies we disentangled and systematically investigated the impact of subtle facial cues to masculinity/femininity and gender category information on first impressions. Participants judged the same unambiguously male and female target persons–either with masculine or feminine facial features slightly enhanced–regarding stereotypically masculine (i.e., competence) and feminine (i.e., warmth) personality traits. Results of both studies showed a strong effect of facial masculinity/femininity: Masculine-looking persons were seen as colder and more competent than feminine-looking persons. This effect of facial masculinity/femininity was not only found for typical (i.e., masculine-looking men and feminine-looking women) and atypical (i.e., masculine-looking women and feminine-looking men) category members; it was even found to be more pronounced for atypical than for typical category members. This finding reveals that comparing atypical members to the group prototype results in pronounced effects of facial masculinity/femininity. These contrast effects for atypical members predominate assimilation effects for typical members. Intriguingly, very subtle facial cues to masculinity/femininity strongly guide first impressions and may have more impact than the gender category

Looking Competent Does Not Appeal to All Voters Equally: The Role of Social Class and Politicians’ Facial Appearance for Voting Likelihood

Voters generally value competence in politicians. Four studies, all conducted in Germany, show that this is especially pronounced in people of higher compared with lower social class. The first study, with a representative sample (N1 = 2239), found that the reported importance of competence in politicians increased with increasing socioeconomic status (SES). This was mediated by self-perceived competence which was higher in participants of higher SES. In three further studies (two preregistered, N2a&2b = 396, N3 = 400) participants merely saw pictures of politicians’ faces. Perceived competence based on facial appearance increased the likelihood of voting for a politician. Again, this effect was stronger among participants of higher compared with lower SES. This moderation persisted after controlling for participants’ political orientation and politicians’ perceived warmth and dominance. We discuss implications for future research on the psychological underpinnings of social class as well as appearance effects in the political context

Comparative judgements: how the direction of comparison determines the answer

Befragungsteilnehmer werden oft gebeten, Vergleiche anzustellen. So kann z.B. in der Marktforschung eine Produktneuheit mit ihrem Vorgänger verglichen werden. Bei den Wahlen in den USA kann es darum gehen, ob George Bush bessere Chancen hat als sein Konkurrent Bill Clinton oder umgekehrt. In der vorliegenden Untersuchung wird geprüft, welchen Einfluß eine 'Umkehrung' der Vergleichsobjekte auf das Urteil des Befragten hat. D.h.: Ist es ein Unterschied ob George Bush mit Bill Clinton verglichen wird oder ob Bill Clinton mit George Bush verglichen wird? Dies wird in mehreren Experimenten überprüft. Es zeigt sich, daß die Reihenfolge der Vergleichsobjekte einen großen Einfluß auf das Urteil des Befragten hat. (psz

The effect of money priming on self-focus in the imitation-inhibition task : a registered report

The self-sufficiency hypothesis suggests that priming individuals with money makes them focus more strongly on themselves than on others. However, recently, research supporting this claim has been heavily criticized and some attempts to replicate have failed. A reason for the inconsistent findings in the field may lay in the common use of explicit measures, because they tend to rely on one or just a few items and are thus prone to demand effects and low reliability. In the present research, we administered, in two experiments, the imitation-inhibition task – a robust, unobtrusive, and reliable paradigm that is sensitive to self-other focus on a trial-by-trial basis. A pilot study found an increased focus on the self as compared to others when primed with money. Building on this finding, a preregistered high-powered experiment replicated this effect, suggesting that money primes may indeed increase a focus on the self. An additionally carried out meta-analysis indicates that automatic imitation is modulated by self-other focus and that money primes lead to a smaller focus on the self than conventional methods. Overall, the found effects are rather small and several limitations, such as order effects, call for a cautious interpretation of the findings

Die Vergleichsrichtung bestimmt das Ergebnis von Vergleichsurteilen

Fragen zu Vergleichsurteilen werden oft 'gerichtet' formuliert, d.h. ein Objekt A soll mit einem Objekt B verglichen werden, oder aber B mit A. Von Interesse für die Umfrageforschung ist dabei, ob die in der Frageformulierung vorgegebene Richtung das Vergleichsergebnis beeinflußt. Experimentelle Untersuchungen dazu zeigen eklatante Unterschiede als Funktion der Vergleichsrichtung bis hin zur Umkehrung der ordinalen Präferenzen. Basierend auf Überlegungen der kognitiven Psychologie von Vergleichsprozessen stellt der vorliegende Beitrag Einflußgrößen dar, die diese Efffekte modifizieren. Desweiteren werden die Implikationen für die Frageformulierung bei Vergleichsurteilen diskutiert. (pmb

Subjective assessments and evaluations of change: some lessons from social cognition research

In den letzten Jahren hat ein rapider ökonomischer, politischer und sozialer Wandel stattgefunden. Das Ende des Kommunismus in Osteuropa, das Entstehen neuer Staaten (oft begleitet von Bürgerkriegen) und die Wiedervereinigung Deutschlands tangieren die Lebensbedingungen der meisten Europäer. Die vorliegende Arbeit referiert die Forschungsliteratur, die sich damit befaßt, wie Menschen diesen Umbrüchen sozial und psychisch begegnen. Basierend auf einem Forschungsprogramm, das die kognitiven Prozesse bei der Beurteilung der Lebenszufriedenheit untersucht, gehen die Autoren von der Annahme aus, daß der subjektiv wahrgenommene Wandel häufig kaum mit dem tatsächlichen (objektiven) Geschehen korrespondiert. Die Determinanten dieses 'bias' werden näher bestimmt. (pmb

The availability heuristic revisited: experienced ease of retrieval in mundane frequency estimated

Nach Tversky und Kahnemans (1973) 'availability (Erreichbarkeit) heuristic' schätzen Individuen die Häufigkeit oder die Wahrscheinlichkeit eines Ereignisses danach ein, mit welcher Leichtigkeit ihnen Beispiele oder Assoziationen einfallen. Der vorliegend Beitrag zeigt, daß in den Forschungen zu diesem Ansatz die Leichtigkeit, mit der sich an etwas erinnert wird, und der Umfang des Erinnerten nicht unterschieden werden. Anhand eines Experiments mit den Einschätzungsurteilen von 28 Studenten wird der Ansatz einer methodischen und analytischen Revision unterzogen. (pmb

Recognition and approach responses toward threatening objects

Previous research suggests that positive stimuli are often approached as well as recognized faster than negative stimuli. We argue that this effect does not hold if negative stimuli are associated with threat. Based on fear module theory ( Öhman &amp; Mineka, 2001 , 2003 ), we argue that individuals recognize threatening stimuli faster than positive stimuli because of a constant monitoring of the environment for threatening objects. Moreover, based on the assumption of a motivational account underlying approach-avoidance responses ( Krieglmeyer &amp; Deutsch, 2010 ), we assume the recognition then directly evokes a careful and slow approach of threatening objects. Applying a response time task that measures approach movement and recognition times within the same task, we found that individuals recognize threatening pictures faster than positive pictures, but approach the threatening pictures slower than the positive pictures. </jats:p