The Positivity Bias Phenomenon in Face Perception Given Different Information on Ability

Abstract

The negativity bias has been shown in many fields, including in face processing. We assume that this bias stems from the potential threat inlayed in the stimuli (e.g., negative moral behaviors) in previous studies. In the present study, we conducted one behavioral and one event-related potentials (ERPs) experiments to test whether the positivity bias rather than negativity bias will arise when participants process information whose negative aspect involves no threat, i.e., the ability information. In both experiments, participants first completed a valence rating (negative-to-positive) of neutral facial expressions. Further, in the learning period, participants associated the neutral faces with high-ability, low-ability, or control sentences. Finally, participants rated these facial expressions again. Results of the behavioral experiment showed that compared with pre-learning, the expressions of the faces associated with high ability sentences were classified as more positive in the post-learning expression rating task, and the faces associated with low ability sentences were evaluated as more negative. Meanwhile, the change in the high-ability group was greater than that of the low-ability group. The ERP data showed that the faces associated with high-ability sentences elicited a larger early posterior negativity, an ERP component considered to reflect early sensory processing of the emotional stimuli, than the faces associated with control sentences. However, no such effect was found in faces associated with low-ability sentences. To conclude, high ability sentences exerted stronger influence on expression perception than did low ability ones. Thus, we found a positivity bias in this ability-related facial perceptual task. Our findings demonstrate an effect of valenced ability information on face perception, thereby adding to the evidence on the opinion that person-related knowledge can influence face processing. What’s more, the positivity bias in non-threatening surroundings increases scope for studies on processing bias.

Long-Term Influence of Incidental Emotions on the Emotional Judgment of Neutral Faces

“…Our findings are in line with previous literature indicating that neutral face stimuli can be subject to influences from contextual factors ( Anderson et al, 2011 ; Suess et al, 2015 ; Wieser and Moscovitch, 2015 ; Zhao et al, 2017 ; Baum and Abdel Rahman, 2021 ). Moreover, these results add to the literature by showing that negative contextual information presented in a preceding and unrelated experiment could attribute emotion to neutral faces in a subsequent experiment with ∼12 min of duration and an interval of a few minutes (approximately 5 min) between the experiments.…”

Alexithymia and the Evaluation of Emotionally Valenced Scenes

“…In the present study, we employed the paradigm developed by Hughes and Rutherford (2013) to study relationships between alexithymia and the processing of static emotional scenes that do or do not depict IM. We expected that positive images would be easier to classify than negative images, overall, replicating findings of positivity biases in emotion perception (Zhao et al, 2017). Moreover, if negative valence and IM increase scene complexity, we reasoned that participants would generally be slower and less accurate when classifying scenes with these attributes, compared to ones that were positively valenced and did not imply motion.…”

Neural correlates of fanhood: the role of fan identity and team brand strength

“…That is, fans always find ways to cope with factors threatening their connection to the teams ( Delia, 2019 ) and one may argue that positive events (e.g., team victories) are more meaningful for sport fans. Consistently, there is the possibility that when individuals process negative information that do not involve a threat, a positive bias rather than a negative bias may occur ( Zhao et al, 2017 ; Verdade et al, 2022 ).…”