Distinct neurocognitive bases for social trait judgments of faces in autism spectrum disorder

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by difficulties in social processes, interactions, and communication. Yet, the neurocognitive bases underlying these difficulties are unclear. Here, we triangulated the trans-diagnostic approach to personality, social trait judgments of faces, and neurophysiology to investigate (1) the relative position of autistic traits in a comprehensive social-affective personality space and (2) the distinct associations between the social-affective personality dimensions and social trait judgment from faces in individuals with ASD and neurotypical individuals. We collected personality and facial judgment data from a large sample of online participants (N = 89 self-identified ASD; N = 308 neurotypical controls). Factor analysis with 33 sub-scales of 10 social-affective personality questionnaires identified a 4-dimensional personality space. This analysis revealed that ASD and control participants did not differ significantly along the personality dimensions of empathy and prosociality, antisociality, or social agreeableness. However, the associations between these dimensions and judgments of facial trustworthiness and warmth differed across groups. Neurophysiological data also indicated that ASD and control participants might rely on distinct neuronal representations for judging trustworthiness and warmth from faces. These results suggest that the atypical association between social-affective personality and social trait judgment from faces may contribute to the social and affective difficulties associated with ASD.

“It’s a Racist plot”: An Experimental test of the Racial Defense

Black municipal leaders are routinely accused of using race and racism to sidestep allegations that they have run afoul the ethics of public office. That is, they use racial defenses to respond to what they view as racist attacks against them. This type of race-based account has been treated as commonplace in American politics, but its effectiveness as a political account has received little scholarly attention. For example, how effective is the racial defense at minimizing negative political fallout for scandalized Black politicians? Using data from a survey experiment, I test how Black Americans respond to the political accounts profferred by Black elected officials accused of official misconduct. I show that a strategy involving a racial defense can yield positive evaluations in terms of trait judgment and voter intention, while offering no comment reduces participant suspicion about investigative malfeasance.

Mnemic Neglect for Behaviors Enacted by Members of One’s Nationality Group

People exhibit impaired recall for highly self-threatening information that describes them, a phenomenon called the mnemic neglect effect (MNE). We hypothesized that the MNE extends to recall for information that highly threatens an individual’s important in-group identity. We tested our hypothesis in two experiments in which participants read behaviors depicted as enacted by either in-group members (Experiment 1 = American and Experiment 2 = British) or out-group members (Andorrans). Participants recalled identity-threatening behaviors poorly when enacted by in-group members but not when enacted by out-group members. Additional results evinced in-group favoritism in (1) evaluations of the two groups and (2) trait judgments made from the behaviors, but only on traits central to the self. Finally, mediational analyses suggested that the group-driven memory differences are plausibly due to the global between-group evaluation differences but not the perceived between-group trait judgment differences.

Encoding of facial features by single neurons in the human amygdala and hippocampus

The human amygdala and hippocampus play a key role in face processing. However, it has been unknown how the neurons in the human amygdala and hippocampus encode facial feature information and directs eye movements to salient facial features such as the eyes and mouth. In this study, we identified a population of neurons that differentiated fixations on the eyes vs. mouth. The response of these feature-selective neurons was not dependent on fixation order, and eye-preferring and mouth-preferring neurons were not of different neuronal types. We found another population of neurons that differentiated saccades to the eyes vs. mouth. Population decoding confirmed our results and further revealed the temporal dynamics of face feature coding. Interestingly, we found that the amygdala and hippocampus played a different role in encoding face features. Lastly, we revealed two functional roles of feature-selective neurons that they encoded the salient region for face recognition and they encoded perceived social trait judgment. Together, we revealed and characterized a new class of neurons that encoded facial features. These neurons may play an important role in social perception and recognition of faces.

Training and Improving Accuracy of Personality Trait Judgments

Given that accurate trait judgments are related to myriad positive characteristics and outcomes, this chapter focuses on approaches for improving trait judgment accuracy. The chapter outlines potential trait judgment training approaches aligned with the realistic accuracy model (RAM) and presents available evidence from previous training research in other domains of person perception and basic personality research. In addition, the chapter examines how characteristics of the trait, target, and judge can potentially impact training effectiveness. More research is needed to develop effective, generalizable, and impactful training interventions for personality and trait judgment accuracy.

Oxytocin modulation of self-other distinction is replicable and influenced by oxytocin receptor (OXTR) genotype

Intranasal oxytocin (OXT) has been associated with effects on diverse social-emotional domains in humans, however progress in the field is currently hampered by poor replicability. Limited statistical power and individual differences in biological factors, such as oxytocin receptor (OXTR) genetics, may have contributed to these variable findings. To this end, we present a pharmaco-genetic study aiming at (1) replicating previous findings suggesting that intranasal oxytocin (24 IU) blurs self-other distinction in a large sample of n = 170 male subjects, (2) determining whether variations in common receptor polymorphisms (rs237887, rs2268491, rs2254298, rs53576, rs2268498) influence sensitivity to oxytocin’s behavioral effects. Employing a validated oxytocin-sensitive trait judgment paradigm, we confirmed that it blurred self-other distinction in terms of decision time and subsequent memory. However, oxytocin only influenced decision time in rs53576 G carriers, whereas effects on memory performance were most pronounced in rs2268498 TT homozygotes. In summary, the current study replicates our previous findings showing that oxytocin blurs self-other distinction and suggests that sensitivity to its effects in this domain are receptor genotype dependent.

The Culturally Situated Process of Personality Judgment

Personality psychology has made tremendous progress in demonstrating important outcomes of personality traits. Yet the process by which people make personality judgment needs to be better understood. In this chapter, it is argued that to provide personality judgment, people must rely on a reference group of the target, a lay theory of the trait, or both. Importantly, the specific reference group and lay theory that people naturally choose are situated in their immediate cultural milieu, affecting trait judgment in systematic ways. Moreover, the relative impact of reference groups and lay theories on personality judgment can change under different circumstances. Postulates concerning the nature of these circumstances, consideration of how traits are inferred, and possible routes to better compare cultural groups on traits can also stimulate new understanding of the personality process.

Seeing and Feeling Your Way to Accurate Personality Judgments

Empathy, the practice of taking and emotionally identifying with another’s point of view, is a skill that likely provides context to another’s behavior. Yet systematic research on its relation with accurate personality trait judgment is sparse. This study investigated this relation between one’s empathic response tendencies (perspective taking, empathic concern, fantasy, and personal distress) and the accuracy with which she or he makes judgments of others. Using four different samples ( N = 1,153), the tendency to perspective take ( ds = .23–.27) and show empathic concern ( ds = .28–.42) were all positively related meta-analytically to distinctive accuracy, normative accuracy, and the assumed similarity of trait judgments. However, the empathic tendencies for fantasy and personal distress showed more complex patterns of relation. These findings are discussed in relation to previous literature, and in particular, why it is reasonable for empathy to be related to the accuracy of trait judgments.