Social Category Modulation of the Happy Face Advantage

The size of the happy face advantage—faster categorization of happy faces—is modulated by interactions between perceiver and target social categories, with reliable happy face advantages for ingroups but not necessarily outgroups. The current understanding of this phenomenon is constrained by the limited social categories typically used in experiments. To better understand the mechanism(s) underpinning social category modulation of the happy face advantage, we used racially more diverse samples of perceivers and target faces and manipulated the intergroup context in which they appeared. We found evidence of ingroup bias, with perceivers often showing a larger happy face advantage for ingroups than outgroups (Experiments 1–2). We also found evidence of majority/minority group bias, with perceivers showing a larger happy face advantage for majority outgroups than minority outgroups (Experiments 2–3c). These findings suggest social category modulation of the happy face advantage is a dynamic context-dependent process.