Dataset Information

Trait dominance promotes reflexive staring at masked angry body postures.

ABSTRACT: It has been shown that dominant individuals sustain eye-contact when non-consciously confronted with angry faces, suggesting reflexive mechanisms underlying dominance behaviors. However, dominance and submission can be conveyed and provoked by means of not only facial but also bodily features. So far few studies have investigated the interplay of body postures with personality traits and behavior, despite the biological relevance and ecological validity of these postures. Here we investigate whether non-conscious exposure to bodily expressions of anger evokes reflex-like dominance behavior. In an interactive eye-tracking experiment thirty-two participants completed three social dominance tasks with angry, happy and neutral facial, bodily and face and body compound expressions that were masked from consciousness. We confirmed our predictions of slower gaze-aversion from both non-conscious bodily and compound expressions of anger compared to happiness in high dominant individuals. Results from a follow-up experiment suggest that the dominance behavior triggered by exposure to bodily anger occurs with basic detection of the category, but not recognition of the emotional content. Together these results suggest that dominant staring behavior is reflexively driven by non-conscious perception of the emotional content and triggered by not only facial but also bodily expression of anger.

SUBMITTER: Hortensius R

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4280224 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Trait dominance promotes reflexive staring at masked angry body postures.

Hortensius Ruud R van Honk Jack J de Gelder Beatrice B Terburg David D

PloS one 20141230 12

It has been shown that dominant individuals sustain eye-contact when non-consciously confronted with angry faces, suggesting reflexive mechanisms underlying dominance behaviors. However, dominance and submission can be conveyed and provoked by means of not only facial but also bodily features. So far few studies have investigated the interplay of body postures with personality traits and behavior, despite the biological relevance and ecological validity of these postures. Here we investigate whe ...[more]

PMID: 25549321

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Project description:As with faces, participants are better at discriminating upright bodies than inverted bodies. This inversion effect is reliable for whole figures, namely, bodies with heads, but it is less reliable for headless bodies. This suggests that removal of the head disrupts typical processing of human figures, and raises questions about the role of faces in efficient body discrimination. In most studies, faces are occluded, but the aim here was to exclude faces in a more ecologically valid way by presenting photographic images of human figures from behind (about-facing), as well as measuring gaze to different parts of the figures. Participants determined whether pairs of sequentially presented body postures were the same or different for whole and headless figures. Presenting about-facing figures (heads seen from behind) and forward-facing figures with faces enabled a comparison of the effect of the presence or absence of faces. Replicating previous findings, there were inversion effects for forward-facing whole figures, but less reliable effects for headless images. There were also inversion effects for about-facing whole figures, but not about-facing headless figures. Accuracy was higher in the forward- compared to the about-facing conditions, but proportional dwell time was greater to bodies in about-facing images. Likewise, despite better discrimination of forward-facing upright compared to inverted whole figures, participants focused more on the heads and less on the bodies in upright compared to inverted images. However, there was no clear relationship between performance and dwell time proportions to heads. Body inversion effects (BIEs) were found with about-facing whole figures and headless forward-facing figures, despite the absence of faces. With inverted whole figures, there was a significant relationship between performance and greater looking at bodies, and less at heads suggesting that in more difficult conditions a focus on bodies is associated with better discrimination. Overall, the findings suggest that the visual system has greater sensitivity to bodies in their most experienced form, which is typically upright and with a head. Otherwise, the more a face is implied by the context, as in whole figures or forward- rather than about-facing headless bodies, the better the performance as holistic/configural processing is likely stronger.

Project description:Facial expression and gaze direction play an important role in social communication. Previous research has demonstrated the perception of anger is enhanced by direct gaze, whereas, it is unclear whether perception of fear is enhanced by averted gaze. In addition, previous research has shown the anxiety affects the processing of facial expression and gaze direction, but hasn't measured or controlled for depression. As a result, firm conclusions cannot be made regarding the impact of individual differences in anxiety and depression on perceptions of face expressions and gaze direction. The current study attempted to reexamine the effect of the anxiety level on the processing of facial expressions and gaze direction by matching participants on depression scores. A reliable psychophysical index of the range of eye gaze angles judged as being directed at oneself [the cone of direct gaze (CoDG)] was used as the dependent variable in this study. Participants were stratified into high/low trait anxiety groups and asked to judge the gaze of angry, fearful, and neutral faces across a range of gaze directions. The result showed: (1) the perception of gaze direction was influenced by facial expression and this was modulated by trait anxiety. For the high trait anxiety group, the CoDG for angry expressions was wider than for fearful and neutral expressions, and no significant difference emerged between fearful and neutral expressions; For the low trait anxiety group, the CoDG for both angry and fearful expressions was wider than for neutral, and no significant difference emerged between angry and fearful expressions. (2) Trait anxiety modulated the perception of gaze direction only in the fearful condition, such that the fearful CoDG for the high trait anxiety group was narrower than the low trait anxiety group. This demonstrated that anxiety distinctly affected gaze perception in expressions that convey threat (angry, fearful), such that a high trait anxiety level modulated the impact of indirectly threatening expressions (fearful), and did not influence responses to directly threatening expression (angry). These findings partially support the shared signal hypothesis.

Project description:OBJECTIVE: The Theory of Structural Dissociation of the Personality (TSDP) proposes that dissociative identity disorder (DID) patients are fixed in traumatic memories as "Emotional Parts" (EP), but mentally avoid these as "Apparently Normal Parts" of the personality (ANP). We tested the hypotheses that ANP and EP have different biopsychosocial reactions to subliminally presented angry and neutral faces, and that actors instructed and motivated to simulate ANP and EP react differently. METHODS: Women with DID and matched healthy female actors (CON) were as ANP and EP (DIDanp, DIDep, CONanp, CONep) consecutively exposed to masked neutral and angry faces. Their brain activation was monitored using functional magnetic resonance imaging. The black-and-white dotted masks preceding and following the faces each had a centered colored dot, but in a different color. Participants were instructed to immediately press a button after a perceived color change. State anxiety was assessed after each run using the STAI-S. Final statistical analyses were conducted on 11 DID patients and 15 controls for differences in neural activity, and 13 DID patients and 15 controls for differences in behavior and psychometric measures. RESULTS: Differences between ANP and EP in DID patients and between DID and CON in the two dissociative parts of the personality were generally larger for neutral than for angry faces. The longest reaction times (RTs) existed for DIDep when exposed to neutral faces. Compared to DIDanp, DIDep was associated with more activation of the parahippocampal gyrus. Following neutral faces and compared to CONep, DIDep had more activation in the brainstem, face-sensitive regions, and motor-related areas. DIDanp showed a decreased activity all over the brain in the neutral and angry face condition. There were neither significant within differences nor significant between group differences in state anxiety. CON was not able to simulate genuine ANP and EP biopsychosocially. CONCLUSIONS: DID patients have dissociative part-dependent biopsychosocial reactions to masked neutral and angry faces. As EP, they are overactivated, and as ANP underactivated. The findings support TSDP. Major clinical implications are discussed.

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Trait dominance promotes reflexive staring at masked angry body postures.

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Trait dominance promotes reflexive staring at masked angry body postures.

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