This study investigated gender differences in the accuracy and speed of recognition of facial expressions of sadness, anger, and fear in male and female models showing these emotions. According to ...the fitness threat hypothesis, females should be faster and more accurate in recognising emotional facial expressions of fear and sadness, whereas males should be faster and more accurate in recognising anger. According to the evolutionary opponent’s emotion recognition, male observers should be more efficient in recognising emotions presented by male models, and female observers in recognising emotions presented by female models. The facial expression recognition task included 210 colour images from the Karolinska Directed Emotional Faces (KDEF) database. The sample consisted of university students (29 male and 29 female). Testing was conducted individually, and efficiency measured with accuracy and speed of recognition (reaction time). The results showed that females were faster than males in recognizing all three facial expressions. They were also more accurate in recognizing fear, whereas there were no gender differences in accurate recognition of sadness and anger. No significant interactions were found between model and observer gender on either measure (accuracy and speed of recognition). However, all three emotional expressions were recognised more accurately, but not faster, when the model was female. The gender-specific pattern in facial expression recognition found in this study does not completely corroborate the fitness threat hypothesis.
U ovom istraživanju ispitivane su spolne razlike u točnosti i brzini prepoznavanja izraza tuge, ljutnje i straha s muških i ženskih lica. Prema evolucijskoj hipotezi prijetnje, žene bi trebale biti ...brže i točnije u prepoznavanju facijalnih ekspresija straha i tuge, a muškarci u prepoznavanju ljutnje. Prema evolucijskoj hipotezi o prepoznavanju protivnikovih emocija, muški promatrači trebali bi biti učinkovitiji u prepoznavanju emocija s muških lica, a ženski promatrači u prepoznavanju emocija sa ženskih lica. Zadatak prepoznavanja emocija uključivao je 210 fotografija u boji iz baze podataka Karolinska Directed Emotional Faces (KDEF). Uzorak su činili studenti (29 muškaraca i 29 žena). Testiranje je provedeno individualno, a učinkovitost je mjerena točnošću i brzinom prepoznavanja (vrijeme reakcije). Rezultati su pokazali da su žene bile brže od muškaraca u prepoznavanju svih triju emocionalnih izraza. Također su bile točnije u prepoznavanju straha, a spolnih razlika u točnosti prepoznavanja tuge i ljutnje nije bilo. Nisu pronađene značajne interakcije između spola modela i promatrača ni u točnosti ni u brzini prepoznavanja. Međutim, sva tri emocionalna izraza prepoznata su točnije, ali ne i brže, kada je model koji iskazuje emociju bio ženskog spola. Specifičan obrazac spolnih razlika u prepoznavanju izraza lica, pronađen u ovom istraživanju, ne potvrđuje u cijelosti evolucijsku hipotezu prijetnje.
