Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
http://hdl.handle.net/1893/36942
Appears in Collections: | Psychology Journal Articles |
Peer Review Status: | Refereed |
Title: | Consistent Facial Cues to Social Class Across Two Different Western Contexts |
Author(s): | Bjornsdottir, R Thora Morgan, Mclean Hjördísar Jónsdóttir, Harpa Lind Garðarsdóttir, Ragna Benedikta Rule, Nicholas O |
Contact Email: | thora.bjornsdottir@stir.ac.uk |
Keywords: | context first impressions person perception social class socioeconomic status |
Issue Date: | 19-Mar-2025 |
Date Deposited: | 4-Mar-2025 |
Citation: | Bjornsdottir RT, Morgan M, Hjördísar Jónsdóttir HL, Garðarsdóttir RB & Rule NO (2025) Consistent Facial Cues to Social Class Across Two Different Western Contexts. <i>European Journal of Social Psychology</i>. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.3163 |
Abstract: | Individuals form impressions of others’ social-class standing from nonverbal information, including facial appearance. Whether the facial cues relating to (perceptions of) social class generalize across different contexts and class measures (e.g., income, subjective status) remains unknown. We tested which facial cues relate to actual and perceived social class using multiple social-class measures in two contexts: Canada (using contemporary lab-based photos) and Iceland (using mid-20th-century yearbook photos). Results show that facial appearance reveals and predicts impressions of social class broadly (vs. only for specific measures). Greater facial Attractiveness (attractiveness/competence/health) and Positivity (affect/warmth) related to higher social-class standing in both contexts, suggesting that social class influences facial appearance similarly in different environments. Attractiveness also primarily explained social-class perceptions. Validity and utilization of other cues, however, differed between contexts, and we observed perception accuracy only for Canadian targets. These findings provide a more complete understanding of accuracy and bias in perceiving social class. |
DOI Link: | 10.1002/ejsp.3163 |
Rights: | © 2025 The Author(s). European Journal of Social Psychology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Licence URL(s): | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
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Euro J Social Psych - 2025 - Bjornsdottir - Consistent Facial Cues to Social Class Across Two Different Western Contexts.pdf | Fulltext - Published Version | 896.24 kB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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