Facial Stereotype Bias Is Mitigated by Training

2020 ◽  
pp. 194855062097255
Author(s):  
Kao-Wei Chua ◽  
Jonathan B. Freeman
Keyword(s):  
Real World ◽  
White Male ◽  
Facial Appearance ◽  
Hiring Decisions ◽  
Evaluative Priming ◽  
Social Traits ◽  
Trust Games

People automatically infer others’ personality (e.g., trustworthiness) based on facial appearance, and such facial stereotype biases predict real-world consequences across political, legal, and business domains. The present research tested whether these biases can be mitigated through counterstereotype training aimed at reconfiguring the associations between specific facial appearances and social traits. Across six studies and a replication, a behavioral counterstereotype training consistently reduced or eliminated facial stereotype biases for White male faces in the context of economic trust games, hiring decisions, and even automatic evaluations assessed via evaluative priming. Together, the results demonstrate a fundamental malleability in facial stereotyping related to trustworthiness, with a minimal training able to mitigate the tendency to activate and apply long-held, highly automatized facial stereotypes. These findings suggest that face impressions are more flexible than typically appreciated, and they provide a potential inroad toward combating our ingrained biases based on facial appearance.

The Gender Typicality of Faces and Its Impact on Visual Processing and on Hiring Decisions

2013 ◽  
Vol 60 (6) ◽  
pp. 444-452 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa von Stockhausen ◽  
Sara Koeser ◽  
Sabine Sczesny
Keyword(s):  
Visual Processing ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Visual Exploration ◽  
Facial Appearance ◽  
Leadership Roles ◽  
Hiring Decisions ◽  
Leadership Selection ◽  
Gender Typicality ◽  
Second Stage ◽  
The Feminine

Past research has shown that the gender typicality of applicants’ faces affects leadership selection irrespective of a candidate’s gender: A masculine facial appearance is congruent with masculine-typed leadership roles, thus masculine-looking applicants are hired more certainly than feminine-looking ones. In the present study, we extended this line of research by investigating hiring decisions for both masculine- and feminine-typed professional roles. Furthermore, we used eye tracking to examine the visual exploration of applicants’ portraits. Our results indicate that masculine-looking applicants were favored for the masculine-typed role (leader) and feminine-looking applicants for the feminine-typed role (team member). Eye movement patterns showed that information about gender category and facial appearance was integrated during first fixations of the portraits. Hiring decisions, however, were not based on this initial analysis, but occurred at a second stage, when the portrait was viewed in the context of considering the applicant for a specific job.

Star Trek Discovers Women

2020 ◽  
pp. 267-286
Author(s):  
Amy C. Chambers
Keyword(s):  
Black Woman ◽  
Real World ◽  
White Male ◽  
Women Scientists ◽  
Star Trek ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Woman Scientist ◽  
Race And Gender ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Universe

Women scientists are often seen as anomalous exceptions in the fictional (and indeed real) world of white, male dominated scientific research. Even in the supposedly race and gender blind future of Star Trek, a black woman science specialist is considered revolutionary. Science and technology are a backdrop for the Star Trek universe. The theory and practice that gives the narrative a spectacular speculative frame is often perceived as neutral (or at least benevolent) as Starfleet explores the universe. Star Trek idealises science and the scientist, and throughout much of its history the science future it imagines has been distinctly white and male. This chapter argues that Star Trek has historically given women the space to be scientists, but Discovery goes further than previous entries into the canon by taking a black woman scientist from the margin to the centre of the story and offering a future when neither race nor gender present a barrier.

scholarly journals Understanding the role of faces in person perception: Increased reliance on facial appearance when judging sociability

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bastian Jaeger ◽  
Anthony M Evans ◽  
Marielle Stel ◽  
Ilja van Beest
Keyword(s):  
Impression Formation ◽  
Person Perception ◽  
Emotional Expressiveness ◽  
Central Component ◽  
Facial Appearance ◽  
Hiring Decisions ◽  
Facial Cues ◽  
Job Candidates ◽  
Trait Impressions

Faces play a central role in person perception. People spontaneously judge others’ personality based on their facial appearance and these impressions guide many consequential decisions. Under what conditions do people rely on facial appearance? Here, we test whether reliance on facial appearance depends on the goal of impression formation (i.e., on which trait dimension targets are evaluated). Trait impressions are, to a large extent, based on the resemblance of facial cues to emotion expressions. As emotional expressiveness is a central component of sociability, we hypothesized that people would more readily perceive sociability in faces. Across three preregistered studies (N = 1,436), we find that facial appearance is indeed seen as more indicative of a person’s sociability than their morality or competence. We find the same pattern when examining the influence of facial cues on judgment and decision-making. People are more confident in the accuracy of their trait impressions when judging sociability (vs. morality or competence; Study 1, n = 527), they value information on the facial appearance of job candidates more when looking for a sociable (vs. moral or competent) employee (Study 2, n = 390), and they view reliance on facial appearance when making hiring decisions as more appropriate and more effective when looking for a sociable (vs. moral or competent) employee (Study 3, n = 519). Together, our results provide converging evidence that people view facial appearance as especially relevant for judging a person’s sociability.

scholarly journals Perceiving threat in others: The role of body morphology

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. e0249782
Author(s):  
Terence J. McElvaney ◽  
Magda Osman ◽  
Isabelle Mareschal
Keyword(s):  
Social Interactions ◽  
Real World ◽  
The Body ◽  
Perceived Threat ◽  
Facial Appearance ◽  
Body Morphology ◽  
Facial Information ◽  
Perception Of Threat ◽  
The Impact

People make judgments of others based on appearance, and these inferences can affect social interactions. Although the importance of facial appearance in these judgments is well established, the impact of the body morphology remains unclear. Specifically, it is unknown whether experimentally varied body morphology has an impact on perception of threat in others. In two preregistered experiments (N = 250), participants made judgments of perceived threat of body stimuli of varying morphology, both in the absence (Experiment 1) and presence (Experiment 2) of facial information. Bodies were perceived as more threatening as they increased in mass with added musculature and portliness, and less threatening as they increased in emaciation. The impact of musculature endured even in the presence of faces, although faces contributed more to the overall threat judgment. The relative contributions of the faces and bodies seemed to be driven by discordance, such that threatening faces exerted the most influence when paired with non-threatening bodies, and vice versa. This suggests that the faces and bodies were not perceived as entirely independent and separate components. Overall, these findings suggest that body morphology plays an important role in perceived threat and may bias real-world judgments.

Realistic Masks in the Real World

2021 ◽  
pp. 216-236
Author(s):  
Jet G. Sanders ◽  
Rob Jenkins
Keyword(s):  
Face Recognition ◽  
Machine Vision ◽  
Crime Prevention ◽  
Real World ◽  
Personnel Selection ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Experimental Tests ◽  
Face Identification ◽  
Facial Appearance ◽  
Criminal Cases

Security and crime prevention often rely on facial appearance to connect individuals to behaviours. Hyper-realistic face masks can potentially frustrate this connection by allowing the wearer to look like someone else. In this chapter, we review the evidence that hyper-realistic masks are truly realistic, in the sense that they are accepted as real faces. We begin by outlining relevant experimental studies of face identification and disguise. We then tabulate all criminal cases known to involve hyper-realistic face masks (41 cases between 2009 and 2019). Experimental tests suggest that failures to detect such masks can be attributed to the realism of the masks, without invoking inattention or incompetence on the part of observers. We end with eight proposals for improving mask detection, encompassing training, personnel selection, and machine vision. If the misuse of hyper-realistic masks becomes widespread, our inability to detect them will compromise face recognition infrastructure.

Replications can cause distorted belief in scientific progress

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michał Białek
Keyword(s):  
Real World ◽  
Scientific Progress ◽  
The Public ◽  
Psychological Science

AbstractIf we want psychological science to have a meaningful real-world impact, it has to be trusted by the public. Scientific progress is noisy; accordingly, replications sometimes fail even for true findings. We need to communicate the acceptability of uncertainty to the public and our peers, to prevent psychology from being perceived as having nothing to say about reality.

Current Issues: Evidence-Based Practice for the Real World: Thoughts on Clinical Education in Communication Disorders

2010 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 100-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne K. Bothe
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Education ◽  
Real World ◽  
Evidence Based Practice ◽  
Communication Disorders ◽  
University Faculty ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Speech Language Pathology ◽  
Basic Principles ◽  
The Real ◽  
Language Pathology

This article presents some streamlined and intentionally oversimplified ideas about educating future communication disorders professionals to use some of the most basic principles of evidence-based practice. Working from a popular five-step approach, modifications are suggested that may make the ideas more accessible, and therefore more useful, for university faculty, other supervisors, and future professionals in speech-language pathology, audiology, and related fields.

Qualitative Case Study Research Design

2015 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Tetnowski
Keyword(s):  
Research Design ◽  
Real World ◽  
Qualitative Case Study ◽  
Case Study Research ◽  
Study Research

Qualitative case study research can be a valuable tool for answering complex, real-world questions. This method is often misunderstood or neglected due to a lack of understanding by researchers and reviewers. This tutorial defines the characteristics of qualitative case study research and its application to a broader understanding of stuttering that cannot be defined through other methodologies. This article will describe ways that data can be collected and analyzed.

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