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(en) Visual perspective taking (VPT), i.e., the ability to adopt another person’s viewpoint, entails two distinct processes, Level-1 (L1)-VPT and Level-2 (L2)-VPT, referring to the ability to perceive whether a target sees an object and how this target sees an object, respectively. Whereas previous work investigated the impact of targets’ social characteristics on L1-VPT, the present research is the first to do so regarding L2-VPT. Specifically, we investigate the impact of targets’ membership in groups varying in perceived competence and warmth, the two fundamental dimensions of social perception (Fiske et al., 2002; Abele et al., 2021). Previous research on groups perceived to be low in both competence and warmth (LCLW) revealed that people fail to perceive members of these groups as truly social agents but dehumanize them instead (Harris & Fiske, 2009, 2011). Building on these results, we hypothesized that LCLW outgroup membership would negatively impact observers’ VPT, revealing stronger egocentric interference: lower VPT efficiency (as measured by dividing response time by error rate) answering from the target’s perspective when the observer and the target do not perceive a stimulus the same way. Participants in six experiments (N=442) engaged in a L2-VPT task. They were instructed to answer as quickly as possible whether a cued number matched a number present on a scene from either their own or the avatar’s perspective. Avatars belonged to a low competence low warmth group (LCLW; e.g., the homeless) or a high competence low warmth group (HCLW; e.g., bankers) in Experiments 1-5, thus contrasting LCLW targets with other targets high on only one of the two dimensions. In Experiment 6 avatars belonged to a LCLW group or a high competence high warmth group (HCHW; e.g., female students), thus contrasting LCLW targets with targets high in competence and warmth to maximize social distance between groups. Relying on a variety of designs, Experiments 1-4 sought to investigate the impact of LCLW targets on L2-VPT. Given the inconclusive results regarding the presence or absence of altercentric interference (i.e., lower VPT efficiency answering from one’s own perspective when oneself and a target do not perceive a stimulus the same way) in the original paradigm (Surtees et al., 2012), we also sought to replicate previous findings using the original paradigm in Experiment 1. In Experiments 5 and 6, we replaced the neutral avatar drawings used in the first four experiments with pictures of prototypical targets to increase ecological validity. Across all experiments, we consistently found support for the presence of both egocentric and altercentric interference, but this was not moderated by differences in groups’ competence and warmth. These findings suggest that social characteristics such as membership in dehumanized outgroups do not influence L2-VPT. Such findings support recent viewpoints on VPT, such as the submentalizing account arguing that VPT is merely the unintentional processing of attentional cues, or Westra’s (2016) suggestion that L2-VPT might only require a recall from previous knowledge and not an active adoption of targets’ perspective.
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Vanbeneden, A., Woltin, K.-A., & Yzerbyt, V. (2022). Impact of perceived group’s competence and warmth on Level-2 visual perspective taking. European Social Cognition Network (ESCON) Transfer of Knowledge Conference, Milan, Italy. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/277087