doi:10.1177/01461672231159775

Paper Title

Social Class, Sex, and the Ability to Recognize Emotions: The Main Effect is in the Interaction

Authors

BRUCE J. ELLIS

Willem Eduard Frankenhuis

Susan A. Brener

Ethan S. Young

Keywords

Social Class
Emotion Recognition
Social Cognition
Sex Differences
Reading the Mind in the Eyes Task
Cambridge Mindreading Face-Voice Battery
Incidental Face Memory
Interaction Effects
Subjective Social Class (SSC)
Emotion Recognition Abilities
Male-Driven Effect
Exploratory Analyses
Preregistered Studies
Social Cognitive Performance
Sex-Class Interaction

Article Type

Research Article

Journal

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin

Research Impact Tools

DOI

10.1177/01461672231159775

Issue

Volume : 50 | Issue : 8 | Page No : 1197-1210

Published On

August, 2024

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Abstract

Previous research has demonstrated an inverse relation between subjective social class (SSC) and performance on emotion recognition tasks. Study 1 (N = 418) involved a preregistered replication of this effect using the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Task and the Cambridge Mindreading Face-Voice Battery. The inverse relation replicated; however, exploratory analyses revealed a significant interaction between sex and SSC in predicting emotion recognition, indicating that the effect was driven by males. In Study 2 (N = 745), we preregistered and tested the interaction on a separate archival dataset. The interaction replicated; the association between SSC and emotion recognition again occurred only in males. Exploratory analyses (Study 3; N = 381) examined the generalizability of the interaction to incidental face memory. Our results underscore the need to reevaluate previous research establishing the main effects of social class and sex on emotion recognition abilities, as these effects apparently moderate each other.