Brief exposures: Male sexual orientation is accurately perceived at 50 ms

By Nicholas O. Rule, N. Ambady. 2008

267 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract People have proved adept at categorizing others into social categories, at least when the categorical distinction is perceptually obvious (e.g., age, race, or gender). There remain many social groups whose boundaries are less clear, however. The current work therefore tested judgments of an ambiguous social category (male sexual orientation) from faces shown for durations between 33 ms and 10,000 ms. The sexual orientation of faces presented for 50 ms, 100 ms, 6500 ms, 10,000 ms, and at a self-paced rate (averaging 1500 ms), was categorized at above-chance levels with no decrease in accuracy for briefer exposures. Previous work showing impression formation at similar speeds relied on consensus to determine the validity of judgments. The present results extend these findings by providing a criterion for judgmental accuracy—actual group membership.

Subfields: Cognitive Neuroscience, Experimental and Cognitive Psychology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/bdff070eddd8766e63e3cd2e6762e130680d0e18

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In Cognitive Neuroscience

In Experimental and Cognitive Psychology

Citations in the corpus

Intergroup Perception and Cognition: An Integrative Framework for Understanding the Causes and Consequences of Social Categorization (2017, background): “Nonetheless , stimulus exposures as low as 50 ms appear sufficient to elicit the above-chance accuracy observed in most studies (Rule & Ambady, 2008), and gay vs straight stereotypes are activated spontaneously upon presentation of gay and straight male faces (Rule, Macrae, & Ambady, 2009),…”
First Impressions From Faces Among U.S. and Culturally Isolated Tsimane’ People in the Bolivian Rainforest (2012, background): “…and character is supported by systematic research evidence documenting rapid and consensual first impressions from faces (Bar, Neta, & Linz, 2006; Rule & Ambady, 2008; Willis & Todorov, 2006) as well as sensitivity to variations in facial attractiveness and babyfaceness in young infants (Kramer,…”
The dynamics of warmth and competence judgments, and their outcomes in organizations (2011, background): “…has shown that ―babyfaceness,‖ which is linked to perceived trustworthiness, innocence, and warmth (for a review, see Zebrowitz, 1997), is a liability for White people striving to attain high positions of leadership in government (Zebrowitz & Montepare, 2005) and industry (Rule & Ambady, 2008).”
Female sexual orientation is perceived accurately, rapidly, and automatically from the face and its features (2009, background): “Given the rapid speed at which the faces were to be presented, cues from face shape—including the contribution of hairstyle to face shape—may become hyper-salient (see Rule & Ambady, 2008).”
Fooled by first impressions? Reexamining the diagnostic value of appearance-based inferences (2010, result): “These inferences occur spontaneously and rapidly (Ballew & Todorov, 2007; Bar, Neta, & Linz, 2006; Rule & Ambady, 2008a; Todorov, Pakrashi, & Oosterhof, 2009; Willis & Todorov, 2006).”
The Social Ladder: A Rank-Based Perspective on Social Class (2013, background): “…rank are transmitted in brief periods of dynamic behavior (i.e., thin slices) as are signs of other aspects of one’s social self, such as personality traits (Ambady & Rosenthal, 1992; Gosling, Ko, Mannarelli, & Morris, 2002) or social identities (e.g., sexual orientation; Rule & Ambady, 2008).”
Social attributions from faces: determinants, consequences, accuracy, and functional significance. (2015, background): “Consider studies on judgments of sexual orientation from facial images (Rule & Ambady 2008b, Rule et al. 2009b).”