Women seen as happy and men as angry despite real emotions
Sex influences emotional interpretation in voices and faces

Date:
April 5, 2022
Source:
University of Essex
Summary:
Faces and voices are more likely to be judged as male when they
are angry, and as female when they are happy, new research has
revealed. The study found that how we understand the emotional
expression of a face or voice is heavily influenced by perceived
sex, and vice versa. He said: "This study shows how important
it is not to rely too much on your first impressions, as they
can easily be wrong. "Next time you find yourself attributing
happiness or sadness to a woman be aware of your bias and possible
misinterpretation."


FULL STORY ========================================================================== Faces and voices are more likely to be judged as male when they are angry,
and as female when they are happy, new University of Essex research
has revealed.


==========================================================================
The study led by Dr Sebastian Korb found that how we understand the
emotional expression of a face or voice is heavily influenced by perceived
sex, and vice versa.

The paper published in the journalEmotionreveals that both men and women subconsciously make the same mistakes.

Dr Korb, from the Department of Psychology, hopes the research will be
expanded and could help make us more aware of our built-in biases.

He said: "This study shows how important it is not to rely too much on
your first impressions, as they can easily be wrong.

"Next time you find yourself attributing happiness or sadness to a woman
be aware of your bias and possible misinterpretation.



========================================================================== "Interestingly there wasn't a gender divide in the way the perceived sex
of a face affected emotional judgements -- but women were slightly more sensitive to subtle changes in emotion overall." The research used 121
avatar faces and 121 human voices created by modifying the emotional
expression in degrees from happy to angry, and the sex on a sliding
scale from male to female.

A total of 256 participants in three studies were shown the mock-ups or
played the voices and asked to judge emotions and whether someone was
male or female.

When comparing the size of the effects, it was found for both faces and
voices that emotion influenced the perception of sex more than the other
way around.

It is thought this may be due to an unconscious activation of the amygdala
- - an important emotion centre in the brain.

This almond-shaped cluster of neurons located deep in the brain allows
us to rapidly detect and react to threats, such as an angry attacker
but is not involved in determining a person's sex.

It is also speculated that being biased to perceive males as angry is
an evolutionary advantage as it prepares for a fight or flight response.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Essex. Note: Content
may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Sebastian Korb, Nace Mikus, Claudia Massaccesi, Jack Grey,
Suvarnalata
Xanthate Duggirala, Sonja A. Kotz, Marc Mehu. EmoSex:
Emotion prevails over sex in implicit judgments of faces and
voices.. Emotion, 2022; DOI: 10.1037/emo0001089 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/04/220405123938.htm

--- up 5 weeks, 1 day, 10 hours, 50 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1:317/3)