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Judgements of trustworthiness based on facial features have mainly been investigated by presenting faces in isolation. However, real-life situations often involve contextual cues. Here, we review our work showing that judgements of trustworthiness from faces are influenced by contextual threat. Individuals are judged as less trustworthy when their faces are surrounded by threatening, as opposed to neutral or merely negative, contexts. Delving into the mechanisms underlying face-context integration, our work reveals that the bond between trustworthiness and threat goes beyond mere stimuli congruency, suggesting that threatening contexts alter person evaluation by conveying information of adaptive significance. We propose an inferential approach to face-context integration, where faces and contexts are encoded relationally: modifying this relational encoding, via verbal or emotional cues, results in changes in face-context integration. We conclude by outlining the significance of embracing the impact of contextual cues in shaping impressions from faces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent work showed that the attribution of facial trustworthiness can be influenced by the surrounding context in which a face is embedded: contexts that convey threat make faces less trustworthy. In four studies (N = 388, three preregistered) we tested whether face–context integration is influenced by how faces and contexts are encoded relationally. In Experiments 1a to 1c, face–context integration was stronger when threatening stimuli were attributable to the human action. Faces were judged less trustworthy when shown in threatening contexts that were ascribable (vs. non-ascribable) to the human action. In Experiment 2, we manipulated face–context relations using instructions. When instructions presented facial stimuli as belonging to the "perpetrators" of the threatening contexts, no difference with the control (no-instructions) condition was found in face–context integration. Instead, the effect was reduced when faces were presented as "victims." We discussed the importance of considering relational reasoning when studying face–context integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The face is a powerful source to make inferences about one's trustworthiness. Recent studies demonstrated that facial trustworthiness is influenced by the level of threat conveyed by the visual scene in which faces are embedded: untrustworthy-looking faces are more likely judged as untrustworthy when shown in threatening scenes. Here, we explore whether this face-context congruency effect is specific to the negative pole of the threat-trust domain. Experiment 1 (N = 89) focused on the differential impact of positive vs. negative face-context congruency within the domains of threat and trust. Negative congruency (i.e. untrustworthy-looking faces in threatening contexts) led to more extreme attributions as opposed to positive congruency (i.e. trustworthy-looking faces in reassuring contexts). Experiment 2 (N = 120) replicated these findings by further showing their domain-specificity. The negativity bias was found in the threat-trust domain, but not when extroverted- vs. introverted-looking faces appeared in happy vs. sad context scenes. Experiment 3 (N = 154, pre-registered) replicated the pattern observed in Experiment 1 while controlling for the extent to which both threatening and reassuring context stimuli were related to the human action. We discussed the theoretical implications of these results for understanding how contextual information is integrated into the evaluation of facial trustworthiness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on face perception has established that faces surrounded by threatening contexts are perceived as less trustworthy. Moreover, recent studies revealed that such a face-context integration effect is moderated by the nature of the relational qualifier connecting the face and the context: presenting a face as belonging to either the perpetrator or the victim of the threatening context changes its perceived trustworthiness. Here, we asked whether relational qualifiers can also be extracted from subtle facial cues. In two preregistered studies (N = 225), we tested whether face-context integration is qualified by facial emotions. In Experiment 1, faces appeared with either happy or fearful emotional expressions in threatening contexts (vs. no context). Facial emotions moderated face-context integration: The negative impact of contextual threat on attributed trustworthiness showed stronger for happy than fearful faces. In Experiment 2, participants judged the emotional stimuli on both trustworthiness and smartness. Emotions altered face-context integration when judging trustworthiness but did not alter smartness judgments. Moreover, participants' tendency to judge happy faces in threatening contexts as less trustworthy correlated with their belief that the target face belonged to the criminal on the scene. The importance of considering relational encoding when studying person perception is discussed. • Faces presented in threatening contexts are judged as less trustworthy. • We found that targets' emotional expression qualified face-context integration. • Happy (vs. fearful) faces in threatening contexts were judged more negatively. • The role of emotions on face-context integration was specific for trustworthiness. • Trustworthiness judgments correlated with face-context relational beliefs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]