I (2002) Sex related factors in the perception of threatening facial expressions

ABSTRACT: This study replicated and extended previously reported sex differences involving both viewer and target in the recognition of threatening facial expres-sions. Based on the assumption that the evolved cognitive mechanisms mediating anger recognition would have been designed by natural selection to operate quickly in the interests of survival, brief tachistoscopic presentation of stimulus pho-tographs was used. Additionally, in contrast to prior published studies, the statistical methods of signal detection research were used to control for the confounding ef-fects of non-random guessing. The main hypothesis, that anger posed by males would be more accurately perceived than anger posed by females, was supported. A secondary hypothesis, that female-posed anger would be more accurately per-ceived by women than by men, received partial support. Testosterone levels, mea-sured inferentially in terms of diurnal cycles, failed to show the hypothesized posi-tive relationship to accuracy of anger perception. KEY WORDS: facial expressions; anger; sex differences; evolution. Long before we began communicating with language, we were com-municating with facial expressions. The production and understanding of facial expressions has been found in non-human primates (Chevalier