TY - JOUR
T1 - Perspective taking reduces intergroup bias in visual representations of faces
AU - Hutchings, Ryan J.
AU - Simpson, Austin J.
AU - Sherman, Jeffrey W.
AU - Todd, Andrew R.
N1 - Funding Information:
This manuscript includes research conducted as part of RJH's doctoral dissertation at the University of California, Davis under the direction of ART. The research was facilitated by National Science Foundation Grant BCS-1764097 (awarded to ART). We thank Paul Eastwick, Alison Ledgerwood, Kyle Ratner, and Andre Wang for helpful comments and suggestions at various stages of this project. We thank Rebecca Neufeld for assisting in data collection.
Funding Information:
This manuscript includes research conducted as part of RJH's doctoral dissertation at the University of California, Davis under the direction of ART. The research was facilitated by National Science Foundation Grant BCS-1764097 (awarded to ART). We thank Paul Eastwick, Alison Ledgerwood, Kyle Ratner, and Andre Wang for helpful comments and suggestions at various stages of this project. We thank Rebecca Neufeld for assisting in data collection.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2021/9
Y1 - 2021/9
N2 - Intergroup biases shape most aspects of person construal, including lower-level visual representations of group members' faces. Specifically, ingroup members' faces tend to be represented more positively than outgroup members' faces. Here, we used a reverse-correlation paradigm to test whether engaging in perspective taking (i.e., actively imagining another person's mental states) can reduce these biased visual representations. In an initial image-generation experiment, participants were randomly assigned to a minimal group and then composed a narrative essay about an ingroup or an outgroup target person, either while adopting the person's perspective or while following control instructions. Afterward, they generated an image of the person's face in a reverse-correlation image-classification task. Subsequent image-assessment experiments using an explicit rating task, a sequential priming task, and an economic trust game with separate samples of participants revealed that ingroup faces elicited more likability and trustworthiness than did outgroup faces. Importantly, this pattern of intergroup bias was consistently weaker in faces created by perspective takers. Additional image-assessment experiments identified the mouth (i.e., smiling cues) as a critical facial region wherein the interactive effects of group membership and perspective taking emerged. These findings provide initial evidence that perspective taking may be an effective strategy for attenuating, though not for eliminating, intergroup biases in visual representations of what group members look like.
AB - Intergroup biases shape most aspects of person construal, including lower-level visual representations of group members' faces. Specifically, ingroup members' faces tend to be represented more positively than outgroup members' faces. Here, we used a reverse-correlation paradigm to test whether engaging in perspective taking (i.e., actively imagining another person's mental states) can reduce these biased visual representations. In an initial image-generation experiment, participants were randomly assigned to a minimal group and then composed a narrative essay about an ingroup or an outgroup target person, either while adopting the person's perspective or while following control instructions. Afterward, they generated an image of the person's face in a reverse-correlation image-classification task. Subsequent image-assessment experiments using an explicit rating task, a sequential priming task, and an economic trust game with separate samples of participants revealed that ingroup faces elicited more likability and trustworthiness than did outgroup faces. Importantly, this pattern of intergroup bias was consistently weaker in faces created by perspective takers. Additional image-assessment experiments identified the mouth (i.e., smiling cues) as a critical facial region wherein the interactive effects of group membership and perspective taking emerged. These findings provide initial evidence that perspective taking may be an effective strategy for attenuating, though not for eliminating, intergroup biases in visual representations of what group members look like.
KW - Intergroup bias
KW - Minimal-group paradigm
KW - Perspective taking
KW - Reverse correlation
KW - Social cognition
KW - Visual representations
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U2 - 10.1016/j.cognition.2021.104808
DO - 10.1016/j.cognition.2021.104808
M3 - Article
C2 - 34157552
AN - SCOPUS:85109091943
VL - 214
JO - Cognition
JF - Cognition
SN - 0010-0277
M1 - 104808
ER -