Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39829318›Full record

ArticlePersonality & social psychology bulletin2026

Social Category Modulation of the Happy Face Advantage.

Douglas Martin, Ewan Bottomley, Jacqui Hutchison, Agnieszka E Konopka, Gillian Williamson, Rachel Swainson

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Personality & social psychology bulletin, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Douglas MartinUniversity of Aberdeen, UK.ORCID 0000-0002-9718-7662
Ewan BottomleyUniversity of Aberdeen, UK.
Jacqui HutchisonUniversity of Aberdeen, UK.
Agnieszka E KonopkaUniversity of Aberdeen, UK.
Gillian WilliamsonThe Open University, Milton Keynes, UK.
Rachel SwainsonUniversity of Aberdeen, UK.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

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.

Indexed as

Facial ExpressionFacial RecognitionHappinessSocial PerceptionAdultFemaleHumansMaleYoung Adultemotion categorizationface processinghappy face advantageperson perceptionsocial categorizationsocial cognition

Identifiers

PMID39829318
PMCPMC13022007

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.