Not Just About Faces in Context: Face–Context Relation Moderates the Impact of Contextual Threat on Facial Trustworthiness

Recent work showed that the attribution of facial trustworthiness can be influenced by the surrounding context in which a face is embedded: contexts that convey threat make faces less trustworthy. In four studies (N = 388, three preregistered) we tested whether face–context integration is influenced by how faces and contexts are encoded relationally. In Experiments 1a to 1c, face–context integration was stronger when threatening stimuli were attributable to the human action. Faces were judged less trustworthy when shown in threatening contexts that were ascribable (vs. non-ascribable) to the human action. In Experiment 2, we manipulated face–context relations using instructions. When instructions presented facial stimuli as belonging to the “perpetrators” of the threatening contexts, no difference with the control (no-instructions) condition was found in face–context integration. Instead, the effect was reduced when faces were presented as “victims.” We discussed the importance of considering relational reasoning when studying face–context integration.