Social class, sex, and the ability to recognize emotions: The main effect is in the interaction

S.A. Brener; Willem Frankenhuis; E.S. Young; Bruce J. Ellis

doi:10.1177/01461672231159775

Social class, sex, and the ability to recognize emotions: The main effect is in the interaction

S.A. Brener^*, Willem Frankenhuis, E.S. Young, Bruce J. Ellis

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Previous research has demonstrated an inverse relation between subjective social class (SSC) and performance on emotion recognition tasks. Study 1 (N = 418) involved a preregistered replication of this effect using the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Task and the Cambridge Mindreading Face-Voice Battery. The inverse relation replicated; however, exploratory analyses revealed a significant interaction between sex and SSC in predicting emotion recognition, indicating that the effect was driven by males. In Study 2 (N = 745), we preregistered and tested the interaction on a separate archival dataset. The interaction replicated; the association between SSC and emotion recognition again occurred only in males. Exploratory analyses (Study 3; N = 381) examined the generalizability of the interaction to incidental face memory. Our results underscore the need to reevaluate previous research establishing the main effects of social class and sex on emotion recognition abilities, as these effects apparently moderate each other.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1197-1210
Number of pages	14
Journal	Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
Volume	50
Issue number	8
Early online date	4 Apr 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672231159775
Publication status	Published - Aug 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: BJE’s contributions have been supported by the Consortium for Families and Health Research at the University of Utah. WEF’s contributions have been supported by the Dutch Research Council (V1.Vidi.195.130) and the James S. McDonnell Foundation ( https://doi.org/10.37717/220020502 ).

Funders	Funder number
James S. McDonnell Foundation
University of Utah
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek	V1.Vidi.195.130

Keywords

emotion recognition
sex differences
social class
social cognition

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brener-et-al-2023-social-class-sex-and-the-ability-to-recognize-emotions-the-main-effect-is-in-the-interactionFinal published version, 363 KBLicence: Taverne

Cite this

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abstract = "Previous research has demonstrated an inverse relation between subjective social class (SSC) and performance on emotion recognition tasks. Study 1 (N = 418) involved a preregistered replication of this effect using the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Task and the Cambridge Mindreading Face-Voice Battery. The inverse relation replicated; however, exploratory analyses revealed a significant interaction between sex and SSC in predicting emotion recognition, indicating that the effect was driven by males. In Study 2 (N = 745), we preregistered and tested the interaction on a separate archival dataset. The interaction replicated; the association between SSC and emotion recognition again occurred only in males. Exploratory analyses (Study 3; N = 381) examined the generalizability of the interaction to incidental face memory. Our results underscore the need to reevaluate previous research establishing the main effects of social class and sex on emotion recognition abilities, as these effects apparently moderate each other.",

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Social class, sex, and the ability to recognize emotions: The main effect is in the interaction

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

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