A meta-analytic review of sex differences in facial expression processing and their development in infants, children, and adolescents.
Abstract
Quantitative and qualitative reviews of the literature on sex differences in facial expression processing (FEP) have yielded conflicting findings regarding children. This study was designed to review quantitatively the literature on sex differences in FEP from infancy through adolescence and to evaluate consistency between the course of FEP development and predictions derived from preliminary theoretical models. Results, which indicate a female advantage at FEP, are consistent with predictions derived from an integrated neurobehavioral/social constructivist model. These findings suggest a need for research examining both neurological maturation and socialization as important factors in the development of sex differences in FEP and related skills. Possible directions for future study are discussed, with emphasis on the need to integrate the infant literature with research focused on older children and adults.
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The results of this study that there are no gender differences in the perception of target emotions diverge from various earlier reviews and meta-analyses on gender differences in emotion accuracy.
“The results of this study that there are no gender differences in the perception of target emotions diverge from various earlier reviews and meta-analyses on gender differences in emotion accuracy [16, 17, 18, 19, 48] and therefore demand an explanation.”
From Gender differences in emotion perception and self-reported emotional intelligence: A test of the emotion sensitivity hypothesis (2018) · cites this paper as [48]
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- Authors
- McClure, E. B.
- Venue
- Psychological Bulletin
- Published
- 2000
- Volume
- 126
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 424-453
- ISSN
- 0033-2909 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1455
- OpenAlex
- W2070710240
- Cited by
- 1,032
- References
- 12
- Citations by year
- 2026: 27 · 2025: 23 · 2024: 39 · 2023: 33 · 2022: 49 · 2021: 53 · 2020: 55 · 2019: 56 · 2018: 57 · 2017: 65 · 2016: 59 · 2015: 66 · 2014: 60 · 2013: 69 · 2012: 54
- FWCI
- 0.88
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychological Bulletin (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Face Recognition and Perception
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior
- Keywords
- sex differences, facial expression processing, facial expression perception, developmental trajectories, infancy, children, adolescents, neurobehavioral model, social constructivism, neurological maturation, socialization, gender differences in emotion
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Child, Child, Preschool, Emotions, Facial Expression, Female, Gender Identity, Humans, Infant, Male, Mother-Child Relations, Personality Development, Social Perception, Socialization
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