Cited by 476Face Recognition and PerceptionEvolutionary Psychology and Human BehaviorEmotions and Moral Behavior

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Sex differences in the ability to recognise non-verbal displays of emotion: A meta-analysis

Thompson, Ashley E., Voyer, Daniel·2014·Cognition and Emotion

DOI 10.1080/02699931.2013.875889

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Abstract

The present study aimed to quantify the magnitude of sex differences in humans' ability to accurately recognise non-verbal emotional displays. Studies of relevance were those that required explicit labelling of discrete emotions presented in the visual and/or auditory modality. A final set of 551 effect sizes from 215 samples was included in a multilevel meta-analysis. The results showed a small overall advantage in favour of females on emotion recognition tasks (d=0.19). However, the magnitude of that sex difference was moderated by several factors, namely specific emotion, emotion type (negative, positive), sex of the actor, sensory modality (visual, audio, audio-visual) and age of the participants. Method of presentation (computer, slides, print, etc.), type of measurement (response time, accuracy) and year of publication did not significantly contribute to variance in effect sizes. These findings are discussed in the context of social and biological explanations of sex differences in emotion recognition.

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“…(Yang et al., 2023a), and positive emotions are more likely to cause the ceiling effect that conceals gender differences (Hampson et al., 2006; Thompson & Voyer, 2014), it is hypothesized that: H3a–d: Women will outperform men in the recognition accuracy of (a) sadness, (b) anger, (c)…”
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“(1972) suggest that females’ heightened interpersonal sensitivity underlies their effectiveness in receiving nonverbal cues (see also Thompson and Voyer, 2014).”
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“Meta-analyses show that women exhibit a small but reliable advantage in recognizing emotional expressions (Thompson and Voyer 2014), whereas older adults perform worse than younger adults (Ruffman et al. 2008; Mill et al. 2009).”
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Authors: Thompson, A. E., & Voyer, D.
Affiliations: University of New Brunswick (CA)
Corresponding author: Voyer, Daniel
ORCID: Thompson, Ashley E.
Voyer, Daniel
Venue: Cognition and Emotion
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Published: 2014-01-08
Volume: 28
Issue: 7
Pages: 1164-1195
ISSN: 0269-9931 (ISSN-L)
1464-0600
DOI: 10.1080/02699931.2013.875889
OpenAlex: W2023112595
Cited by: 476
References: 249
Citations by year: 2026: 32 · 2025: 49 · 2024: 47 · 2023: 47 · 2022: 47 · 2021: 47 · 2020: 79 · 2019: 26 · 2018: 33 · 2017: 28 · 2016: 26 · 2015: 10 · 2014: 4
FWCI: 2.19
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: closed
Locations: Cognition & Emotion (publishedVersion)
PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics: Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Face Recognition and Perception
Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior
Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Emotions and Moral Behavior
Keywords: sex differences, emotion recognition, facial expressions, vocal emotion, sensory modalities, age effects
MeSH terms: Adolescent, Adult, Age Factors, Child, Emotions, Facial Expression, Female, Humans, Male, Photic Stimulation, Sex Characteristics, Recognition, Psychology, Young Adult

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Sex differences in the ability to recognise non-verbal displays of emotion: A meta-analysis

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