Face perception in context: Allocentric distance in perceptions of facial gender

Abstract

We examined how allocentric distance between faces influences perceptions of facial gender. Indeed, faces are often observed in social contexts (i.e., with other faces) and given that social cognition functions, in part, to help people manage a complex network of relationships, it is possible that face perception is tuned to relational variables such as social distance. In the current work, we examined whether the spatial distance between faces shapes the degree to which gender judgments of a target face are contrasted from the gender of the co-present face. In three studies, pairs of faces were briefly presented, and participants were tasked with evaluating the gender of one face in the pair. We manipulated the spatial distance between faces in a pair to be “near”, “intermediate”, and “far”. In Studies 2–3, we added a pre-cue/post-cue manipulation to examine the spontaneity of social distance effects. In all studies, we observed an effect of social distance, such that gender judgments of a target face were more likely to be contrasted against the gender of the co-present face when the distance between the faces was far versus near. The results of Studies 2–3 suggest that the effects of social distance on judgments of face gender are unintentional or spontaneous in nature. Moreover, results from all studies suggest that the effects of social distance on judgments of facial gender reflect categorical concepts of distance (“near” versus “far”) rather than linear effects that increase with each increase in distance.