Sexual Orientation Perception Involves Gendered Facial Cues

Bibliographic Data

ID23329546
AuthorsJoanne B Freeman (0000-0002-2061-8460, Tufts University, corresponding author), Jonathan B Freeman (Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA,), Kerri L Johnson (0000-0002-1458-2019, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA), Nalini Ambady (Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA), Nicholas O Rule (0000-0002-2332-9058, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada)
Year2010
Volume36
Issue10
Pages1318-1331
Publication date2010-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePersonality and Social Psychology Bulletin (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0146-1672 • E-ISSN: 1552-7433
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0146167210378755
PMID20682754
OpenAlexW2114534208
LanguageEN
Citations received78
References cited44

Perceivers can accurately judge a face’s sexual orientation, but the perceptual mechanisms mediating this remain obscure. The authors hypothesized that stereotypes casting gays and lesbians as gender “inverts,” in cultural circulation for a century and a half, lead perceivers to use gendered facial cues to infer sexual orientation. Using computer-generated faces, Study 1 showed that as two facial dimensions (shape and texture) became more gender inverted, targets were more likely to be judged as gay or lesbian. Study 2 showed that real faces appearing more gender inverted were more likely to be judged as gay or lesbian. Furthermore, the stereotypic use of gendered cues influenced the accurate judgment of sexual orientation. Although using gendered cues increased the accuracy of sexual orientation judgments overall, Study 3 showed that judgments were reliably mistaken for targets that countered stereotypes. Together, the findings demonstrate that perceivers utilize gendered facial cues to glean another’s sexual orientation, and this influences the accuracy or error of judgments.

Developmental psychology · Face (sociological concept) · Face perception · Lesbian · Orientation (vector space) · Perception · Sexual orientation · Social perception · Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior · Psychology · Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment · Social and Intergroup Psychology · Social Psychology

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