Facial Impressions Are Predicted by the Structure of Group Stereotypes.

Impressions of other people's faces (e.g., trustworthiness) have long been thought to be evoked by morphological variation (e.g., upturned mouth) in a universal, fixed manner. However, recent research suggests that these impressions vary considerably across perceivers and targets' social-group memberships. Across 4,247 U.S. adults recruited online, we investigated whether racial and gender stereotypes may be a critical factor underlying this variability in facial impressions. In Study 1, we found that not only did facial impressions vary by targets' gender and race, but also the structure of these impressions was associated with the structure of stereotype knowledge. Study 2 extended these findings by demonstrating that individual differences in perceivers' own unique stereotype associations predicted the structure of their own facial impressions. Together, the findings suggest that the structure of people's impressions of others' faces is driven not only by the morphological variation of the face but also by learned stereotypes about social groups.

Changing Perceptions around Nontraditional Career Trajectories in Psychological Science.

In a tightening job market, early-career researchers may consider employment opportunities outside academia. Yet there is the widespread belief that such employment experience is perceived negatively by academic hiring committees. Changing perceptions and practices around this issue would benefit these researchers and the field of psychology as a whole.

To which world regions does the valence-dominance model of social perception apply?

Over the past 10 years, Oosterhof and Todorov's valence-dominance model has emerged as the most prominent account of how people evaluate faces on social dimensions. In this model, two dimensions (valence and dominance) underpin social judgements of faces. Because this model has primarily been developed and tested in Western regions, it is unclear whether these findings apply to other regions. We addressed this question by replicating Oosterhof and Todorov's methodology across 11 world regions, 41 countries and 11,570 participants. When we used Oosterhof and Todorov's original analysis strategy, the valence-dominance model generalized across regions. When we used an alternative methodology to allow for correlated dimensions, we observed much less generalization. Collectively, these results suggest that, while the valence-dominance model generalizes very well across regions when dimensions are forced to be orthogonal, regional differences are revealed when we use different extraction methods and correlate and rotate the dimension reduction solution. PROTOCOL REGISTRATION: The stage 1 protocol for this Registered Report was accepted in principle on 5 November 2018. The protocol, as accepted by the journal, can be found at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.7611443.v1 .

Computational approaches to the neuroscience of social perception.

Across multiple domains of social perception-including social categorization, emotion perception, impression formation and mentalizing-multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data has permitted a more detailed understanding of how social information is processed and represented in the brain. As in other neuroimaging fields, the neuroscientific study of social perception initially relied on broad structure-function associations derived from univariate fMRI analysis to map neural regions involved in these processes. In this review, we trace the ways that social neuroscience studies using MVPA have built on these neuroanatomical associations to better characterize the computational relevance of different brain regions, and discuss how MVPA allows explicit tests of the correspondence between psychological models and the neural representation of social information. We also describe current and future advances in methodological approaches to multivariate fMRI data and their theoretical value for the neuroscience of social perception.

Trait knowledge forms a common structure across social cognition.

Researchers have noted the resemblance across core models of social cognition, in which trait inferences centre on others' intentions and abilities (for example, warmth, competence). Current views posit that this common 'trait space' originates from the adaptive utility of the dimensions, predicting a relatively fixed and universal architecture. In contrast, we hypothesize that perceivers learn conceptual knowledge of how traits correlate, which shapes trait inferences similarly across domains (for example, faces, person knowledge, stereotypes), from which a common trait space emerges. Here we show substantial overlap between the structures of perceivers' conceptual and social perceptual trait spaces, across perceptual domains (studies 1-4) and that conceptual associations directly shape trait space (study 5). Furthermore, we find evidence that conceptual trait space is learned from social perception and actual personality structure (studies 6 and 7). Our findings suggest conceptual trait associations serve as a cornerstone in social perception, providing broad implications for the study of social behaviour.

Dynamic interactive theory as a domain-general account of social perception.

The perception of social categories, emotions, and personality traits from others' faces each have been studied extensively but in relative isolation. We synthesize emerging findings suggesting that, in each of these domains of social perception, both a variety of bottom-up facial features and top-down social cognitive processes play a part in driving initial perceptions. Among such top-down processes, social-conceptual knowledge in particular can have a fundamental structuring role in how we perceive others' faces. Extending the Dynamic Interactive framework (Freeman & Ambady, 2011), we outline a perspective whereby the perception of social categories, emotions, and traits from faces can all be conceived as emerging from an integrated system relying on domain-general cognitive properties. Such an account of social perception would envision perceptions to be a rapid, but gradual, process of negotiation between the variety of visual cues inherent to a person and the social cognitive knowledge an individual perceiver brings to the perceptual process. We describe growing evidence in support of this perspective as well as its theoretical implications for social psychology.

The neural representational geometry of social perception.

An emerging focus on the geometry of representational structures is advancing a variety of areas in social perception, including social categorization, emotion perception, and trait impressions. Here, we review recent studies adopting a representational geometry approach, and argue that important advances in social perception can be gained by triangulating on the structure of representations via three levels of analysis: neuroimaging, behavioral measures, and computational modeling. Among other uses, this approach permits broad and comprehensive tests of how bottom-up facial features and visual processes as well as top-down social cognitive factors and conceptual processes shape perceptions of social categories, emotion, and personality traits. Although such work is only in its infancy, a focus on corroborating representational geometry across modalities is allowing researchers to use multiple levels of analysis to constrain theoretical models in social perception. This approach holds promise to further our understanding of the multiply determined nature of social perception and its neural basis.

The conceptual structure of face impressions.

Humans seamlessly infer the expanse of personality traits from others' facial appearance. These facial impressions are highly intercorrelated within a structure known as "face trait space." Research has extensively documented the facial features that underlie face impressions, thus outlining a bottom-up fixed architecture of face impressions, which cannot account for important ways impressions vary across perceivers. Classic theory in impression formation emphasized that perceivers use their lay conceptual beliefs about how personality traits correlate to form initial trait impressions, for instance, where trustworthiness of a target may inform impressions of their intelligence to the extent one believes the two traits are related. This considered, we explore the possibility that this lay "conceptual trait space"-how perceivers believe personality traits correlate in others-plays a role in face impressions, tethering face impressions to one another, thus shaping face trait space. In study 1, we found that conceptual and face trait space explain considerable variance in each other. In study 2, we found that participants with stronger conceptual associations between two traits judged those traits more similarly in faces. Importantly, using a face image classification task, we found in study 3 that participants with stronger conceptual associations between two traits used more similar facial features to make those two face trait impressions. Together, these findings suggest lay beliefs of how personality traits correlate may underlie trait impressions, and thus face trait space. This implies face impressions are not only derived bottom up from facial features, but also shaped by our conceptual beliefs.

A Dynamic Structure of Social Trait Space.

Facial appearance evokes robust impressions of other people's personality traits. Recent research suggests that the trait space arising from face-based impressions shifts due to context and social cognitive factors. We suggest a novel framework in which multiple bottom-up and top-down processes mutually determine a dynamic rather than fixed trait space.

A Neural Mechanism of Social Categorization.

Humans readily sort one another into multiple social categories from mere facial features. However, the facial features used to do so are not always clear-cut because they can be associated with opponent categories (e.g., feminine male face). Recently, computational models and behavioral studies have provided indirect evidence that categorizing such faces is accomplished through dynamic competition between parallel, coactivated social categories that resolve into a stable categorical percept. Using a novel paradigm combining fMRI with real-time hand tracking, the present study examined how the brain translates diverse social cues into categorical percepts. Participants (male and female) categorized faces varying in gender and racial typicality. When categorizing atypical faces, participants' hand movements were simultaneously attracted toward the unselected category response, indexing the degree to which such faces activated the opposite category in parallel. Multivoxel pattern analyses (MVPAs) provided evidence that such social category coactivation manifested in neural patterns of the right fusiform cortex. The extent to which the hand was simultaneously attracted to the opposite gender or race category response option corresponded to increased neural pattern similarity with the average pattern associated with that category, which in turn associated with stronger engagement of the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex. The findings point to a model of social categorization in which occasionally conflicting facial features are resolved through competition between coactivated ventral-temporal cortical representations with the assistance of conflict-monitoring regions. More broadly, the results offer a promising multimodal paradigm to investigate the neural basis of "hidden", temporarily active representations in the service of a broad range of cognitive processes.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Individuals readily sort one another into social categories (e.g., sex, race), which have important consequences for a variety of interpersonal behaviors. However, individuals routinely encounter faces that contain diverse features associated with multiple categories (e.g., feminine male face). Using a novel paradigm combining neuroimaging with hand tracking, the present research sought to address how the brain comes to arrive at stable social categorizations from multiple social cues. The results provide evidence that opponent social categories coactivate in face-processing regions, which compete and may resolve into an eventual stable categorization with the assistance of conflict-monitoring regions. Therefore, the findings provide a neural mechanism through which the brain may translate inherently diverse social cues into coherent categorizations of other people.

Positivity bias in judging ingroup members' emotional expressions.

We investigated how group membership impacts valence judgments of ingroup and outgroup members' emotional expressions. In Experiment 1, participants, randomized into 2 novel, competitive groups, rated the valence of in- and outgroup members' facial expressions (e.g., fearful, happy, neutral) using a circumplex affect grid. Across all emotions, participants judged ingroup members' expressions as more positive than outgroup members' expressions. In Experiment 2, participants categorized fearful and happy expressions as being either positive or negative using a mouse-tracking paradigm. Participants exhibited the most direct trajectories toward the "positive" label for ingroup happy expressions and an initial attraction toward positive for ingroup expressions of fear, with outgroup emotion trajectories falling in between. Experiment 3 replicated Experiment 2 and demonstrated that the effect could not be accounted for by targets' gaze direction. Overall, people judged ingroup faces as more positive, regardless of emotion, both in deliberate and implicit judgments. (PsycINFO Database Record

Neural pattern similarity reveals the inherent intersection of social categories.

We provide evidence that neural representations of ostensibly unrelated social categories become bound together by their overlapping stereotype associations. While viewing faces, multi-voxel representations of gender, race, and emotion categories in the fusiform and orbitofrontal cortices were stereotypically biased and correlated with subjective perceptions. The findings suggest that social-conceptual knowledge can systematically alter the representational structure of social categories at multiple levels of cortical processing, reflecting bias in visual perceptions.

The medial prefrontal cortex in constructing personality models.

A recent study by Hassabis et al. suggests that the brain constructs 'personality models' of other people. When imagining another individual, multi-voxel patterns of fMRI activation in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) contained information about the individual's unique combination of personality traits. The authors propose that, in concert with other regions, the mPFC assembles a model of another's personality that is ultimately used to predict behavior.

Amygdala responsivity to high-level social information from unseen faces.

Previous research shows that the amygdala automatically responds to a face's trustworthiness when a face is clearly visible. However, it is unclear whether the amygdala could evaluate such high-level facial information without a face being consciously perceived. Using a backward masking paradigm, we demonstrate in two functional neuroimaging experiments that the human amygdala is sensitive to subliminal variation in facial trustworthiness. Regions in the amygdala tracked how untrustworthy a face appeared (i.e., negative-linear responses) as well as the overall strength of a face's trustworthiness signal (i.e., nonlinear responses), despite faces not being subjectively seen. This tracking was robust across blocked and event-related designs and both real and computer-generated faces. The findings demonstrate that the amygdala can be influenced by even high-level facial information before that information is consciously perceived, suggesting that the amygdala's processing of social cues in the absence of awareness may be more extensive than previously described.