Imaging Mental Representations of Sex-Typed Bodies: The Effect of Number of Trials on Image Quality
Sex categorization is a critical process in social perception. While psychologists have long theorized that perceivers have distinct mental representations of men and women that help them to achieve efficient sex categorizations, researchers have only recently begun using reverse-correlation to vis...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2013-07-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00476/full |
| _version_ | 1811200025531777024 |
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| author | David James Lick Colleen M. Carpinella Mariana A. Preciado Robert Philip Spunt Kerri L. Johnson |
| author_facet | David James Lick Colleen M. Carpinella Mariana A. Preciado Robert Philip Spunt Kerri L. Johnson |
| author_sort | David James Lick |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Sex categorization is a critical process in social perception. While psychologists have long theorized that perceivers have distinct mental representations of men and women that help them to achieve efficient sex categorizations, researchers have only recently begun using reverse-correlation to visualize the content of these mental representations. The present research addresses two issues concerning this relatively new methodological tool. First, previous studies of reverse-correlation have focused almost exclusively on perceivers’ mental representations of faces. Our study demonstrates that this technique can also be used to visualize mental representations of sex-typed bodies. Second, most studies of reverse-correlation have employed a relatively large number of trials (1,000+) to capture perceivers’ mental representations of a given category. Our study demonstrated that, at least for sex-typed representations of bodies, high quality reverse-correlation images can be obtained with as few as 100 trials. Overall, our findings enhance knowledge of reverse-correlation methodology in general and sex categorization in particular, providing new information for researchers interested in using this technique to understand the complex processes underlying social perception. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T01:56:54Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-43ecf1a040e34247a365b544c8d4f17c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T01:56:54Z |
| publishDate | 2013-07-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-43ecf1a040e34247a365b544c8d4f17c2022-12-22T03:52:46ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782013-07-01410.3389/fpsyg.2013.0047645387Imaging Mental Representations of Sex-Typed Bodies: The Effect of Number of Trials on Image QualityDavid James Lick0Colleen M. Carpinella1Mariana A. Preciado2Robert Philip Spunt3Kerri L. Johnson4University of California, Los AngelesUniversity of California, Los AngelesUniversity of California, Los AngelesCalifornia Institute of TechnologyUniversity of California, Los AngelesSex categorization is a critical process in social perception. While psychologists have long theorized that perceivers have distinct mental representations of men and women that help them to achieve efficient sex categorizations, researchers have only recently begun using reverse-correlation to visualize the content of these mental representations. The present research addresses two issues concerning this relatively new methodological tool. First, previous studies of reverse-correlation have focused almost exclusively on perceivers’ mental representations of faces. Our study demonstrates that this technique can also be used to visualize mental representations of sex-typed bodies. Second, most studies of reverse-correlation have employed a relatively large number of trials (1,000+) to capture perceivers’ mental representations of a given category. Our study demonstrated that, at least for sex-typed representations of bodies, high quality reverse-correlation images can be obtained with as few as 100 trials. Overall, our findings enhance knowledge of reverse-correlation methodology in general and sex categorization in particular, providing new information for researchers interested in using this technique to understand the complex processes underlying social perception.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00476/fullreverse correlationsocial perceptionBody Shapesex categorizationnumber of trials |
| spellingShingle | David James Lick Colleen M. Carpinella Mariana A. Preciado Robert Philip Spunt Kerri L. Johnson Imaging Mental Representations of Sex-Typed Bodies: The Effect of Number of Trials on Image Quality Frontiers in Psychology reverse correlation social perception Body Shape sex categorization number of trials |
| title | Imaging Mental Representations of Sex-Typed Bodies: The Effect of Number of Trials on Image Quality |
| title_full | Imaging Mental Representations of Sex-Typed Bodies: The Effect of Number of Trials on Image Quality |
| title_fullStr | Imaging Mental Representations of Sex-Typed Bodies: The Effect of Number of Trials on Image Quality |
| title_full_unstemmed | Imaging Mental Representations of Sex-Typed Bodies: The Effect of Number of Trials on Image Quality |
| title_short | Imaging Mental Representations of Sex-Typed Bodies: The Effect of Number of Trials on Image Quality |
| title_sort | imaging mental representations of sex typed bodies the effect of number of trials on image quality |
| topic | reverse correlation social perception Body Shape sex categorization number of trials |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00476/full |
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