Bamshad Maryam, Xie Karina, Rasheed Rema, Holt Kathryn, Assabil-Bentum Grace, Aoki Nicholas B
Department of Biological Sciences, Lehman College, CUNY, Bronx, NY, United States.
Department of Linguistics, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, United States.
Front Psychol. 2025 Jun 26;16:1517308. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1517308. eCollection 2025.
Dominance cues may offend and elicit anger. Based on theories of affect-as-information, we tested whether subtle cues in words or images indicative of dominance could activate the stress response and impact decision-making.
Participants asked to imagine being patients were exposed to subtle dominance cues of a doctor. By measuring the skin conductance levels and through self-reported assessments, we examined whether participants would be offended when exposed to dominance cues in text alone or when combined with facial images. Participants assessed the probability of a medication's side effects and chose to take the medication prescribed after reading a doctor's advice that was worded to sound either condescending or neutral. The doctor's statements were shown alone or matched with a photo of either a dominant-looking or a trustworthy-looking face.
Most found dominance cues presented in text, with or without a facial image, offensive. No differences were found in probability assessment but the choice to take the medication was affected when the condescendingly worded text was combined with a photo of a dominant face. Arousal levels increased while viewing the dominance cues, but the levels decreased when decisions were made following exposure to a condescendingly worded text and its matching facial expression of dominance.
The study contributes to understanding the impact of lower-intensity emotions sensed during social interactions on decision-making, which could be important for designing computer programs that mimic human social interactions.
支配性线索可能会冒犯他人并引发愤怒。基于情感即信息的理论，我们测试了言语或图像中暗示支配性的微妙线索是否会激活应激反应并影响决策。
要求参与者想象自己是患者，并接触医生的微妙支配性线索。通过测量皮肤电导率水平并进行自我报告评估，我们研究了参与者在仅接触文本中的支配性线索或与面部图像结合时是否会感到被冒犯。参与者评估了药物副作用的可能性，并在阅读了措辞显得居高临下或中立的医生建议后，选择是否服用所开的药物。医生的陈述单独展示，或与一张看起来有支配感或值得信赖的脸的照片相匹配。
大多数人发现，无论有无面部图像，文本中呈现的支配性线索都具有冒犯性。在可能性评估方面未发现差异，但当措辞居高临下的文本与一张有支配感的脸的照片结合时，服用药物的选择受到了影响。观看支配性线索时唤醒水平会升高，但在接触了措辞居高临下的文本及其匹配的支配性面部表情后做出决策时，唤醒水平会下降。
该研究有助于理解社交互动中感知到的低强度情绪对决策的影响，这对于设计模仿人类社交互动的计算机程序可能很重要。
