Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/143263
Title: Effects of baby schema and mere exposure on explicit and implicit face processing
Authors: Venturoso, Leonardo
Gabrieli, Giulio
Truzzi, Anna
Azhari, Atiqah
Setoh, Peipei
Bornstein, Marc H.
Esposito, Gianluca
Keywords: Social sciences::Psychology
Issue Date: 2019
Source: Venturoso, L., Gabrieli, G., Truzzi, A., Azhari, A., Setoh, P., Bornstein, M. H., & Esposito, G. (2019). Effects of baby schema and mere exposure on explicit and implicit face processing. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 2649-. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02649
Project: NAP-SUG (GE)
MOE AcRF Tier 1 (GE)
Journal: Frontiers in Psychology
Abstract: In an increasingly multicultural society, the way people perceive individuals from the same vs different ethnic groups greatly affects their own and societal well-being. Two psychological effects that influence these perceptions are the Mere-Exposure Effect (MRE), wherein familiarity with certain objects or persons suffices for people to develop a preference for them, and the Baby Schema (BS), a set of specific facial features that evokes caregiving behaviors and an affective orientation in adults. In the present study, we aimed to investigate whether these two effects play a role in implicit physiological responses to babies vs. adults faces belonging to participants in-group vs. out-group. In study 1, the pupillary diameter of 62 Caucasian participants (M = 31; F = 31) who observed adult and infant faces of different ethnic groups (Caucasian, Chinese) was measured. In study 2, brain waves of 38 Caucasian participants (M = 19; F = 19), who observed the same set of faces, were recorded using EEG. In both studies, adults explicit preferences (i.e., attitudes) toward faces were assessed using questionnaires. In Study 1, females showed greater attention to infant than adult faces (BS effect) in both pupils, regardless of the ethnic group of the face. By contrast, males attended to infant more than adult faces for out-group faces only (BS effect). In Study 2, greater left posterior-parietal alpha activation toward out-group compared to in-group adult faces was found in males (MRE). Participants with a low BS effect toward in-group baby faces exhibited greater left posterior alpha activation to out-group than in-group baby faces (MRE). These findings reveal how different levels of sensitivity to in-group infants may moderate perceptions of both in-group and out-group baby faces. Questionnaire measures on attitudes showed that males and females preferred in-group to out-group adult faces (MRE). Participants in Study 2 also reported a greater preference for infants than adults faces (BS effect). These findings explicate the roles of gender and the Baby Schema effect in moderating implicit processing of in-group and out-group faces, despite their lack in moderating explicit reports. Contradictory findings at the implicit (physiological) and explicit (self-report) levels suggest that differential processing of faces may occur at a non-conscious level.
URI: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/143263
ISSN: 1664-1078
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02649
DOI (Related Dataset): https://doi.org/10.21979/N9/TGTTTR
Schools: School of Social Sciences 
Rights: © 2019 Venturoso, Gabrieli, Truzzi, Azhari, Setoh, Bornstein and Esposito. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Fulltext Permission: open
Fulltext Availability: With Fulltext
Appears in Collections:SSS Journal Articles

Files in This Item:
File Description SizeFormat 
Effects of baby schema and mere exposure on explicit and implicit face processing.pdf1.29 MBAdobe PDFThumbnail
View/Open

SCOPUSTM   
Citations 20

11
Updated on Mar 16, 2024

Web of ScienceTM
Citations 20

12
Updated on Oct 25, 2023

Page view(s)

220
Updated on Mar 19, 2024

Download(s) 50

102
Updated on Mar 19, 2024

Google ScholarTM

Check

Altmetric


Plumx

Items in DR-NTU are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.