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The Roles of Featural and Configural Face Processing in Snap Judgments of Sexual Orientation

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  • Joshua A Tabak
  • Vivian Zayas

Abstract

Research has shown that people are able to judge sexual orientation from faces with above-chance accuracy, but little is known about how these judgments are formed. Here, we investigated the importance of well-established face processing mechanisms in such judgments: featural processing (e.g., an eye) and configural processing (e.g., spatial distance between eyes). Participants judged sexual orientation from faces presented for 50 milliseconds either upright, which recruits both configural and featural processing, or upside-down, when configural processing is strongly impaired and featural processing remains relatively intact. Although participants judged women’s and men’s sexual orientation with above-chance accuracy for upright faces and for upside-down faces, accuracy for upside-down faces was significantly reduced. The reduced judgment accuracy for upside-down faces indicates that configural face processing significantly contributes to accurate snap judgments of sexual orientation.

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  • Joshua A Tabak & Vivian Zayas, 2012. "The Roles of Featural and Configural Face Processing in Snap Judgments of Sexual Orientation," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(5), pages 1-7, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0036671
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0036671
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    Cited by:

    1. Rosenbaum, Mark S. & Russell, Eric M. & Russell-Bennett, Rebekah, 2017. "“I’ll wait for him†: Understanding when female shoppers prefer working with gay male sales associates," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 172-179.
    2. Tiziana Mancini & Chiara Imperato, 2020. "Can Social Networks Make Us More Sensitive to Social Discrimination? E-Contact, Identity Processes and Perception of Online Sexual Discrimination in a Sample of Facebook Users," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-11, April.
    3. Rosenbaum, Mark S. & Russell-Bennett, Rebekah & Drennan, Judy, 2015. "Commercial friendships between gay sales associates and straight female customers in luxury settings: A proposed theoretical framework," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 179-186.

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