Document Type
Poster
Event Website
http://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/source/
Start Date
17-4-2016
Keywords
Facial Inference, Personality, Big Five, SAM, Mechanical Turk, Emotion Interpretation, Thin-Slicing
Abstract
This survey is one in a series of studies utilizing Amazon.com’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk) to investigate the facial inference process. Participants in this study were asked to infer the emotions and personality traits shown in three facial expressions (angry, sad, happy) of young white females and males in six photographs. Each picture was presented for 10 seconds followed by four questions about the individual in the picture. The first question asked participants to identify the emotion shown, from a list of six emotions (anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, surprise). The next three questions consist of condensed sets of the Big Five personality adjective markers (Saucier, 1994), the three Self-Assessment Manikin dimensions (SAM) (Bradley & Lang, 1994), and items related to attractiveness, perceived motivation and morality inferences.
The study was a 2 (gender) X 3 (facial expression) repeated-measures design. Happy expressions were rated as good, positive on personality traits, and attractiveness. Participants inferred angry faces as highly negative on all measures including bad, threatening, and not pleasing to look at. Sad emotional expressions were associated with negative and positive personality traits and the individuals were considered unattractive, and good.
Evidence of grouping personality traits based on peoples’ appearances was first discovered by Edward Thorndike. He named this phenomenon the “halo effect.” This occurs when we unconsciously attribute positive personality traits to a person using a global characteristic (such as good, happy, or attractive). Clearly there is also a “horns effect” which occurs when we use a global characteristic (such as bad, angry, or unattractive) to attribute negative personality traits to a person. Results of this study demonstrate how quickly the halo and horn effects are forming when examining an unknown face for the first time. Presumably this indicates that people have learned from previous experience to “package” or group traits that are consistently attributed to someone who manifests particular global characteristics.
Recommended Citation
Swiney, Janine; Stahelski, Anthony; and Radeke, Mary, "A MTurk Facial Inference Study" (2016). Symposium Of University Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE). 11.
https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/source/2016/cos/11
Department/Program
Psychology
Included in
Experimental Analysis of Behavior Commons, Personality and Social Contexts Commons, Social Psychology Commons
A MTurk Facial Inference Study
This survey is one in a series of studies utilizing Amazon.com’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk) to investigate the facial inference process. Participants in this study were asked to infer the emotions and personality traits shown in three facial expressions (angry, sad, happy) of young white females and males in six photographs. Each picture was presented for 10 seconds followed by four questions about the individual in the picture. The first question asked participants to identify the emotion shown, from a list of six emotions (anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, surprise). The next three questions consist of condensed sets of the Big Five personality adjective markers (Saucier, 1994), the three Self-Assessment Manikin dimensions (SAM) (Bradley & Lang, 1994), and items related to attractiveness, perceived motivation and morality inferences.
The study was a 2 (gender) X 3 (facial expression) repeated-measures design. Happy expressions were rated as good, positive on personality traits, and attractiveness. Participants inferred angry faces as highly negative on all measures including bad, threatening, and not pleasing to look at. Sad emotional expressions were associated with negative and positive personality traits and the individuals were considered unattractive, and good.
Evidence of grouping personality traits based on peoples’ appearances was first discovered by Edward Thorndike. He named this phenomenon the “halo effect.” This occurs when we unconsciously attribute positive personality traits to a person using a global characteristic (such as good, happy, or attractive). Clearly there is also a “horns effect” which occurs when we use a global characteristic (such as bad, angry, or unattractive) to attribute negative personality traits to a person. Results of this study demonstrate how quickly the halo and horn effects are forming when examining an unknown face for the first time. Presumably this indicates that people have learned from previous experience to “package” or group traits that are consistently attributed to someone who manifests particular global characteristics.
https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/source/2016/cos/11
Faculty Mentor(s)
Dr. Anthony Stahelski
Dr. Mary Radeke