magazine issue 4 2014 / Issue 20

More than meets the eye: Physical sensations influence first impressions

• written by Michael Slepian
• edited by Brian Meier

Can bodily states influence accurate perceptions of other people? In the studies discussed earlier, bodily states led to person perception biases (e.g., seeing others as Republican or Democrat, regardless of their actual political affiliation), but it turns out that bodily states can also influence the accuracy of impressions. For example, when women have higher fertility (i.e., when they are near peak ovulation), they are more attuned to reproduction-relevant or sexually-relevant cues including (for heterosexual women) greater attention to masculine features and wearing more attractive clothing (Macrae, Alnwick, Milne, & Schloerscheidt, 2002; Haselton, Mortezaie, Pillsworth, Bleske-Recheck, & Frederick, 2007). Thus, the biological state of increased fertility seems to lead to an enhanced sexual interest, and thus we predicted that this would lead heterosexual women to be more accurate in judging male sexual orientation (which is necessary for finding a mate). Indeed, as heterosexual women neared peak ovulation, they were better at accurately perceiving male, but not female, sexual orientation from merely observing faces (Rule, Rosen, Slepian & Ambady, 2011). Similar results were found when a mating interest was promoted by reading a story. From these studies discussed above, we can see that sensory and biological states influence how people are perceived, whether they judge others as male or female, Republican or Democrat, biracial or monoracial, and whether they can accurately perceive someone’s sexual orientation.

Conclusion

A long line of work has examined how people think about social categories and how people make impressions of others. When someone walks toward you on the street, we know what visual, emotional and motivational factors will influence how you perceive that person. New research is demonstrating that your own bodily state can also influence how you perceive people, whether you think they are trustworthy, what their political affiliation or profession is, and even their race, gender and sexual orientation. Everyday experiences such as how hard you press down on something or whether you lean forward or backward can influence how you see the people around you.

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