The expression and evaluation of facial emotion across the life span: An examination of the cohort bias effect.
Item
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Title
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The expression and evaluation of facial emotion across the life span: An examination of the cohort bias effect.
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Identifier
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AAI9908383
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identifier
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9908383
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Creator
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Yecker, Sandra A.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Joan C. Borod
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Date
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1998
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Psychology, Developmental
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Abstract
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The purpose of this study was to examine changes in the expression and perception of facial emotion as a function of age. Additionally, the cohort bias effect, a possible decoding advantage for the processing of emotional cues by same-age peers, was systematically investigated. The developmental component of this study tested the theory that right-hemisphere processing of facial expression declines with advancing age.;Positive (happiness and pleasant surprise) and negative (sadness and disgust) emotional expressions, along with a neutral or "relaxed" facial expression, were posed by 30 young (21-40 years; {dollar}M = 30.1),{dollar} 30 middle-aged (41-60 years; {dollar}M = 49.2),{dollar} and 30 older women (61-80 years; {dollar}M = 69.9).{dollar} The resultant facial stimuli were presented to 12 young (25-35 years; {dollar}M = 31.0),{dollar} 12 middle-aged (45-55 years; {dollar}M = 50.7),{dollar} and 12 older women (aged 65-75 years; {dollar}M = 67.2).{dollar} Posers and raters were matched across age groups on demographic and cognitive variables. Raters made judgments about (1) intensity of facial musculature, (2) accuracy of the poser's intended facial expression, (3) confidence in their accuracy judgments, and (4) poser's probable age. These judgments about facial stimuli represent a variety of tasks that tap the processing of emotionally-laden and non-emotional facial characteristics. Women were studied because there is evidence that they are better encoders and decoders of emotional stimuli than are men. High levels of interrater reliability were obtained (accuracy alpha =.95, intensity alpha =.99).;Findings revealed that a cohort bias effect was not operative in this data set and suggested that this bias can be controlled by thoroughly matching rater groups on task-specific neuropsychological abilities, e.g., visual perception and facial recognition. Overall the expressions of the older posers were rated as less accurate and with less confidence than those of the young and middle-aged posers. Intensity of emotional expression was not found to diminish with age, but the neutral face was rated as more intense for the young and middle-aged posers than for the older posers. These results replicate the findings of Moreno (1987) who used a small set of young raters. Exploratory investigations of depressive symptomatology and non-emotional cues from the facial stimuli were also conducted.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
