Ensemble Perception of Emotion: Incidental Effects of Social Identity

<p>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 (<em>n</em> = 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 (<em>n</em> = 94) and younger (<em>n</em> = 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 (<em>n</em> = 193) and Study 4 (<em>n</em> = 152) directly manipulated the 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.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Year

2024

Author dc:creator

• Dobbs, Spencer T.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Max Weisbuch
• Timothy Sweeny
• Heidi Vuletich
• Andrew Schnackenberg

• Belonging
• Emotion
• Ensemble perception
• Cognition and Perception
• Psychology
• Social and Behavioral Sciences
• Social Psychology

Statement dc:rights

• <p>Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.</p>

Language dc:language

English (eng)

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/2448

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.du.edu:etd-3429