Department of Psychology, University of York, United Kingdom.
Department of Psychological Sciences; Birkbeck, University of London, United Kingdom.
Cognition. 2018 Jan;170:190-200. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2017.10.002. Epub 2017 Oct 11.
Humans spontaneously attribute a wide range of traits to strangers based solely on their facial features. These first impressions are known to exert striking effects on our choices and behaviours. In this paper, we provide a theoretical account of the origins of these spontaneous trait inferences. We describe a novel framework ('Trait Inference Mapping') in which trait inferences are products of mappings between locations in 'face space' and 'trait space'. These mappings are acquired during ontogeny and allow excitation of face representations to propagate automatically to associated trait representations. This conceptualization provides a framework within which the relative contribution of ontogenetic experience and genetic inheritance can be considered. Contrary to many existing ideas about the origins of trait inferences, we propose only a limited role for innate mechanisms and natural selection. Instead, our model explains inter-observer consistency by appealing to cultural learning and physiological responses that facilitate or 'canalise' particular face-trait mappings. Our TIM framework has both theoretical and substantive implications, and can be extended to trait inferences from non-facial cues to provide a unified account of first impressions.
人类会根据陌生人的面部特征自发地赋予他们各种各样的特征。这些第一印象对我们的选择和行为会产生显著的影响。在本文中，我们提供了一种关于这些自发特征推断起源的理论解释。我们描述了一个新的框架（“特征推断映射”），其中特征推断是“面部空间”和“特征空间”之间位置映射的产物。这些映射是在个体发生过程中获得的，允许对面部表示的兴奋自动传播到相关的特征表示。这种概念化提供了一个框架，可以考虑个体发生经验和遗传继承的相对贡献。与许多关于特征推断起源的现有观点相反，我们仅提出了先天机制和自然选择的有限作用。相反，我们的模型通过诉诸于促进或“引导”特定面孔-特征映射的文化学习和生理反应来解释观察者之间的一致性。我们的 TIM 框架具有理论和实质意义，并可以扩展到非面部线索的特征推断，以提供第一印象的统一解释。
