Person perception from changing emotional expressions: primacy, recency, or averaging effect?. Issue 8 (17th November 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Fang, Xia; van Kleef, Gerben A.; Sauter, Disa A.
• Is Part Of: Cognition and emotion. Volume 32:Issue 8(2018)
• Page Start: 1597
• Page End: 1610
• Publication Date: 2018-11-17
• Subjects: Changing emotional expressions -- dominance -- affiliation -- competence -- recency effect; Cognition -- Periodicals; Emotions and cognition -- Periodicals; 155.413
• DOI: 10.1080/02699931.2018.1432476
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0269-9931

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Dynamic changes in emotional expressions are a valuable source of information in social interactions. As the expressive behaviour of a person changes, the inferences drawn from the behaviour may also change. Here, we test the possibility that dynamic changes in emotional expressions affect person perception in terms of stable trait attributions. Across three experiments, we examined perceivers' inferences about others' personality traits from changing emotional expressions. Expressions changed from one emotion ("start emotion") to another emotion ("end emotion"), allowing us to disentangle potential primacy, recency, and averaging effects. Drawing on three influential models of person perception, we examined perceptions of dominance and affiliation (Experiment 1a), competence and warmth (Experiment 1b), and dominance and trustworthiness (Experiment 2). A strong recency effect was consistently found across all trait judgments, that is, the end emotion of dynamic expressions had a strong impact on trait ratings. Evidence for a primacy effect was also observed (i.e. the information of start emotions was integrated), but less pronounced, and only for trait ratings relating to affiliation, warmth, and trustworthiness. Taken together, these findings suggest that, when making trait judgements about others, observers weigh the most recently displayed emotion in dynamic expressions more heavily than the preceding emotion.