Date of Award
6-15-2024
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Organizational Unit
College of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences, Psychology
First Advisor
Max Weisbuch
Second Advisor
Timothy Sweeny
Third Advisor
Heidi Vuletich
Fourth Advisor
Andrew Schnackenberg
Keywords
Belonging, Emotion, Ensemble perception
Abstract
Research in vision science suggests that people possess a perceptual mechanism – ensemble perception - which enables them to rapidly identify the characteristics of groups (e.g., emotion, sex-ratio, race-ratio). This work examined whether ensemble perceptions of groups are driven by the characteristics of group members whose behavior is most likely to impact the perceiver. Specifically, we predicted that more self-relevant group members would be weighted more heavily in ensemble perceptions than less self-relevant group members. Study 1 (n = 83) found that young adult participants’ ensemble perceptions of emotion were biased in favor of more self-relevant (younger adult) group members’ emotional expressions, compared to less self-relevant (older adult) group members’ emotional expressions, and that these ensemble perceptions informed judgments of belonging in the group. Study 2 recruited older (n = 94) and younger (n = 97) adult participants and again found a general pattern of bias in favor of more self-relevant (younger adult) group members’ emotional expressions in ensemble perceptions of emotion and that these ensemble perceptions informed evaluations of belonging in the group. Finally, Study 3 (n = 193) and Study 4 (n = 152) directly manipulated the relevance of older and younger adult group members and found that the extent of bias in ensemble perceptions of emotion depended on whether younger or older adults were made more self-relevant. Results suggest that incidental cues of social identity can bias ensemble perceptions of emotion and influence downstream judgments of belonging.
Copyright Date
6-2024
Copyright Statement / License for Reuse
All Rights Reserved.
Publication Statement
Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.
Rights Holder
Spencer T. Dobbs
Provenance
Received from ProQuest
File Format
application/pdf
Language
English (eng)
Extent
119 pgs
File Size
4.0 MB
Recommended Citation
Dobbs, Spencer T., "Ensemble Perception of Emotion: Incidental Effects of Social Identity" (2024). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 2448.
https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/2448