Different Faces in the Crowd: A Happiness Superiority Effect for Schematic Faces in Heterogeneous Backgrounds
Recently, D.V. Becker, Anderson, Mortensen, Neufeld, and Neel (2011) proposed recommendations to avoid methodological confounds in visual search studies using emotional photographic faces. These confounds were argued to cause the frequently observed Anger Superiority Effect (ASE), the faster detecti...
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| Format: | Journal Article |
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American Psychological Association
2014
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/26384 |
| _version_ | 1848751971165536256 |
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| author | Craig, B. Becker, S. Lipp, Ottmar |
| author_facet | Craig, B. Becker, S. Lipp, Ottmar |
| author_sort | Craig, B. |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Recently, D.V. Becker, Anderson, Mortensen, Neufeld, and Neel (2011) proposed recommendations to avoid methodological confounds in visual search studies using emotional photographic faces. These confounds were argued to cause the frequently observed Anger Superiority Effect (ASE), the faster detection of angry than happy expressions, and conceal a true Happiness Superiority Effect (HSE). In Experiment 1, we applied these recommendations (for the first time) to visual search among schematic faces that previously had consistently yielded a robust ASE. Contrary to the prevailing literature, but consistent with D.V. Becker et al. (2011), we observed a HSE with schematic faces. The HSE with schematic faces was replicated in Experiments 2 and 3 using a similar method in discrimination tasks rather than fixed target searches. Experiment 4 isolated background heterogeneity as the key determinant leading to the HSE. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T08:01:12Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-26384 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T08:01:12Z |
| publishDate | 2014 |
| publisher | American Psychological Association |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-263842017-09-13T15:26:25Z Different Faces in the Crowd: A Happiness Superiority Effect for Schematic Faces in Heterogeneous Backgrounds Craig, B. Becker, S. Lipp, Ottmar happy superiority effect visual search face-in-the-crowd effect anger superiority effect emotional expressions Recently, D.V. Becker, Anderson, Mortensen, Neufeld, and Neel (2011) proposed recommendations to avoid methodological confounds in visual search studies using emotional photographic faces. These confounds were argued to cause the frequently observed Anger Superiority Effect (ASE), the faster detection of angry than happy expressions, and conceal a true Happiness Superiority Effect (HSE). In Experiment 1, we applied these recommendations (for the first time) to visual search among schematic faces that previously had consistently yielded a robust ASE. Contrary to the prevailing literature, but consistent with D.V. Becker et al. (2011), we observed a HSE with schematic faces. The HSE with schematic faces was replicated in Experiments 2 and 3 using a similar method in discrimination tasks rather than fixed target searches. Experiment 4 isolated background heterogeneity as the key determinant leading to the HSE. 2014 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/26384 10.1037/a0036043 American Psychological Association fulltext |
| spellingShingle | happy superiority effect visual search face-in-the-crowd effect anger superiority effect emotional expressions Craig, B. Becker, S. Lipp, Ottmar Different Faces in the Crowd: A Happiness Superiority Effect for Schematic Faces in Heterogeneous Backgrounds |
| title | Different Faces in the Crowd: A Happiness Superiority Effect for Schematic Faces in Heterogeneous Backgrounds |
| title_full | Different Faces in the Crowd: A Happiness Superiority Effect for Schematic Faces in Heterogeneous Backgrounds |
| title_fullStr | Different Faces in the Crowd: A Happiness Superiority Effect for Schematic Faces in Heterogeneous Backgrounds |
| title_full_unstemmed | Different Faces in the Crowd: A Happiness Superiority Effect for Schematic Faces in Heterogeneous Backgrounds |
| title_short | Different Faces in the Crowd: A Happiness Superiority Effect for Schematic Faces in Heterogeneous Backgrounds |
| title_sort | different faces in the crowd: a happiness superiority effect for schematic faces in heterogeneous backgrounds |
| topic | happy superiority effect visual search face-in-the-crowd effect anger superiority effect emotional expressions |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/26384 |