The Distortion Effects of Age Stereotypes on Facial Perception and Memory

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2009
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Haverford College. Department of Psychology
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Award
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eng
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Haverford users only
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Abstract
This study examines whether the presence of social information affects facial processing. It explores whether a short verbal description about age-typical behaviors is sufficient to warrant categorization into a particular social group, and if this subsequent categorization process is capable of influencing facial encoding and recognition processes. Sixty subjects from Haverford College were presented with six male and six female faces that were accompanied by a written statement that varied in its implied age, and they were asked to make an explicit age estimation for each face. After a brief distracter task all subjects completed a surprise recognition task. Subjects were required to choose between the original target face shown during the presentation phase and a face whose age was morphed to more appropriately represent the information from the verbal description. It was found that the presence of social information significantly affected recognition abilities, especially for faces paired with young descriptions. Findings are discussed in regards to in-group/out-group effects, and the relationship between the encoding and recognition stages of facial processing.
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