![\"\"](\"http:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2015\/01\/30\/us\/politics\/presidential-candidate-tracker-1422646394170\/presidential-candidate-tracker-1422646394170-articleLarge-v9.jpg\"){kind=tracking}
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Have you ever wondered if people picture others differently in their minds? Is the picture of Barack Obama in your mind different from that in your brother\u2019s mind? Research suggests that depending on the attitudes you have, it might be. A recent study has proposed that political opinions can change the mental pictures we have of politicians.<\/p>\n
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Image source: http:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2015\/01\/30\/us\/politics\/presidential-candidate-tracker-1422646394170\/presidential-candidate-tracker-1422646394170-articleLarge-v9.jpg<\/a><\/p>\n In cognitive psychology, the concept of pattern recognition is commonly understood as assigning meaning to some incoming stimulus. One example of pattern recognition is face recognition. There are two main systems used for face recognition: analytic and holistic. The holistic approach assigns meaning by using top-down processes. These processes are those that are generated from knowledge or experience that we have about the stimulus. Bottom-up processes, which use the features of a stimulus to ascribe meaning, are prevalent in the analytic approach to face recognition. However, it is the top-down approaches that can help explain why Young, Ratner, and Fazio (2014) found that mental representations of Mitt Romney depend on political affiliations.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The researchers conducted this study during the 2012 presidential election between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama. They wanted to determine if the mental representations of Mitt Romney differed between Democrats and Republicans. But, how exactly can you know what a person\u2019s internal representation actually looks like? Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately!), science hasn\u2019t been created that allows us to look into the minds of one another. However, these researchers came up with a solution. Using a technique called reverse-correlation image classification, they were able to create an approximation of what Mitt Romney would look like to participants. They did this by presenting the participants with multiple trials of 2 pictures of Romney and asking which looked more like him. The pictures were all created using a base image of Romney and then superimposing noise patterns to slightly alter it (See Figure 1). They then aggregated all of the images selected as being more like Romney from each trial into one photo. This image was meant to represent the mental picture that individual had of Romney. The researchers also asked the participants about their political attitudes.<\/p>\n Figure 1. Example of the images that participants had to choose between in determining which was more representative of Mitt Romney. (Obtained from Young, Ratner, & Fazio, 2014).<\/p>\n In the second phase of the experiment, the researchers brought in another pool of participants. This time the participants had to rate the trustworthiness of Romney from the images generated by individual\u2019s representations of him in the first phase. The researchers decided to use trustworthiness as the measure because Romney\u2019s level of trust was questioned during this election season. An earlier survey of Ohio voters had found that people thought Barack Obama to be more trustworthy than Romney. Therefore, the level of trustworthiness that an individual gave to the image was hypothesized to indicate the amount of support that individual had for Romney. (If you are interested in other research about trustworthiness and facial recognition, I recommend this\u00a0post.<\/a>)\u00a0The researchers compared the judged trustworthiness in phase two to the level of support for Romney indicated by phase one individuals. They found that the more Republican participants were, the more their mental image of Romney was seen as trustworthy. These findings supported their hypothesis and indicate that we actually do picture people differently in our own minds based on the attitudes that we hold.<\/p>\n This research highlights the importance of the top-down processes for face recognition mentioned earlier. The political knowledge and attitudes that one holds can cause him or her to assign different meaning to a politicians face. Not only does this bias your beliefs about politicians, but also, it biases your mental representation of them as well!<\/p>\n As we approach the 2016 presidential election, this research holds a lot of relevance. When you think of a certain candidate, keep in mind that your mental pictures of him or her may be less veridical than you think<\/p>\n Reference:<\/p>\n Young, A. I., Ratner, K. G., & Fazio, R. H. (2014). Political attitudes bias the mental representation of a presidential candidate\u2019s face. Psychological Science, 25, <\/em>503-510. doi: 10.1177\/0956797613510717<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n