Older and younger adults' first impressions from faces: Similar in agreement but different in positivity

Abstract

People readily form first impressions from faces, with consensual judgments that have significant social consequences. Similar impressions are shown by children, young adults (YA), and people from diverse cultures. However, this is the first study to systematically investigate older adults' (OA) impressions. OA and YA showed similar levels of within-age agreement in their impressions of competence, health, hostility, and trustworthiness. Both groups also showed stronger within- than between-age agreement. Consistent with other evidence for age-related increases in positivity, OA showed more positive impressions of the health, hostility, and trustworthiness of faces. These effects tended to be strongest for the most negatively valenced faces, suggesting that they derive from OA lesser processing of negative cues rather than greater processing of positive cues. An own-age bias in impressions was limited to greater OA positivity in impressions of the hostility of older faces, but not younger ones. Although OA and YA differed in vision and executive function, only OA slower processing speed contributed to age differences in impression positivity. Positivity effects in OA have not been previously linked to processing speed, and research investigating possible explanations for this effect would be worthwhile. © 2012 American Psychological Association.