Experimental psychological investigation of individual differences in the accuracy and bias of facial impressions and their metacognition

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21K03124
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 10040:Experimental psychology-related
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: Suzuki Atsunobu 東京大学, 大学院人文社会系研究科(文学部), 准教授 (80547498)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 顔 / 印象 / 特性推論 / メタ認知

Outline of Final Research Achievements

People form impressions of other individuals’ personalities and abilities from their faces. This project examined the following two research questions regarding such facial impressions: 1) Do people who have a metacognition that facial expressions are accurate actually form accurate or biased facial impressions? 2) What accounts for individual differences in the accuracy and bias of facial impressions and metacognitions about them? For the first question, I found consistent evidence that the facial impressions formed by people with the metacognition that facial impressions are accurate are not necessarily accurate. While the results for the second question were unclear, I obtained interesting findings that the positive associations between fiction reading habits and social cognition may not be robust in Japan, and that people with the metacognition that facial impressions are accurate rely more on inappropriate facial cues, both of which merit further investigation in future research.

Free Research Field

実験心理学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

人間は他者の顔から性格や能力を判断し、その人に対する振る舞いを調整する傾向を持つ。このように対人認知・行動の重要な影響因である顔印象が正確であるのか、人間はその（不）正確性を正しく自覚できているのかを明らかにすることは、重要な研究課題である。本研究は、顔印象は正確だというメタ認知を持つ人の顔印象は実際には正確ではないこと、および、そもそも顔印象の正確性は安定した個人特性ではないことを新たに示した点で、学術的意義を有する。加えて、こうした実証的知見は顔印象が選挙、裁判、雇用などの重大な社会的意思決定に影響を与えている現状に警鐘を鳴らす点で、社会的意義を有する。