Age Differences in the Differentiation of Trait Impressions From Faces

• Published in: The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences Vol. 71; no. 2; p. 220
• Main Authors: Ng, Stacey Y, Zebrowitz, Leslie A, Franklin, Jr, Robert G
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.03.2016
• Subjects: Adolescent; Age Factors; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Facial Expression; Female; Humans; Male; Social Perception; Visual Perception; Young Adult; Aging; Trait impressions; Face perception; Differentiation; Positivity bias
• ISSN: 1758-5368
• DOI: 10.1093/geronb/gbu113

We investigated whether evidence that older adults (OA) show less differentiation of visual stimuli than younger adults (YA) extends to trait impressions from faces and effects of face age. We also examined whether age differences in mood, vision, or cognition-mediated differentiation differences. Finally, we investigated whether age differences in trait differentiation mediated differences in impression positivity. We used a differentiation index adapted from previous work on stereotyping to assess OA and YA likelihood of assigning different faces to different levels on trait scales. We computed scores for ratings of older and younger faces' competence, health, hostility, and untrustworthiness. OA showed less differentiated trait ratings than YA. Measures of mood, vision, and cognition did not mediate these rater age differences. Hostility was differentiated more for younger than older faces, while health was differentiated more for older faces, but only by OA. Age differences in differentiation mediated age differences in impression positivity. Less differentiation of trait impressions from faces in OA is consistent with previous evidence for less differentiation in face and emotion recognition. Results indicated that that age-related dedifferentiation does not reflect narrow changes in visual function. They also provide a novel explanation for OA positivity effects.