面孔加工中的热情优先效应：来自眼动的证据

The Primacy of Warmth in Face Processing:Evidence from Eye Tracking Data

本研究采用眼动追踪技术,从注意的角度考察面孔加工中热情和能力的关系。结果发现:热情面孔比能力面孔的首次注视到达时间更短;热情面孔的注视次数显著多于能力面孔,且总注视时间更长;在趋避判断的消极条件下,个体更倾向于对热情面孔做出回避的判断且反应时更长,在积极条件下则不存在显著差异。这表明,相比于能力面孔,个体对热情面孔注意更加警觉、注意维持更久,回避消极热情面孔的倾向更强。因此,热情面孔在注意和行为判断过程中对个体更加重要,即面孔加工中存在热情优先效应。

According to the stereotype content model(SCM), warmth and competence are the two universal dimensions of social cognition. However, the relationship between warmth and competence is controversial. Some studies suggested that warmth judgments carried more weight in social cognition and there was an effect of the primacy of warmth, whereas some other studies suggested differently. Moreover, it is unknown as to what is the relationship between warmth and competence in facial attention processing. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to explore the relationship between warmth and competence in face processing from the perspective of attention.Thirty participants(seventeen females) participated in the experiment, which was designed with a 2(facial type: warmth, competence) × 2(valance: positive, negative) within-subject study. This experiment recorded the time to first fixation, the fixation counts and the total fixation duration using eye tracking technique. During the experiment, the two sides of the screen presented warm and competent faces randomly. Then a black probe point appeared randomly on the left or right side. The participants were told that they should judge the location of the probe as accurately as possible. There was a total of 270 trails. All faces were presented only once, and the positions were balanced. At the end of the experiment, the participants were asked to evaluate the approach-avoidance of all faces with a 9-point rating(1 = most likely to avoid, 9 = most likely to approach).In terms of eye tracking data, the study found that the time to first fixation on the warm faces were shorter than the competent faces. Compared to the competent faces, fixation counts were more and total fixation duration was longer on warm faces, and similarly the fixation counts and total fixation duration of positive-judgment faces were more than the negative-judgment faces. The results of approach-avoidance judgment were significant between the evaluation of the negative warm and competent faces;individuals were more likely to avoid negatively warm faces than negatively competent faces. The positive dimension was not significant.In the early stages of facial attention, the time to first fixation on the warm faces was shorter, which indicated that the judgment of others’ intentions took precedence over the judgment of the competence to achieve intentions in the early stages of face perception, capturing the observer’s attention more quickly. In the late stage of attention, the attention to the warm faces were maintained. Compared with the competent faces, the warm faces might convey stronger threatening information. What is more, individuals evaded judgments about warm faces more than competent ones under negative conditions, which might reflect that the intention of others directly affected the individual’s survival value and interpersonal activities, and then the individual presented alertness to the warm faces. Therefore, the data supports the view that there is an effect of the primacy of warmth during the face processing.