Cited by 1,788Face Recognition and PerceptionEvolutionary Psychology and Human BehaviorFace recognition and analysis

The Chicago face database: a free stimulus set of faces and norming data

Open access
Ma, Debbie S., Correll, Joshua, Wittenbrink, Bernd·2015·Behavior Research Methods

Abstract

Researchers studying a range of psychological phenomena (e.g., theory of mind, emotion, stereotyping and prejudice, interpersonal attraction, etc.) sometimes employ photographs of people as stimuli. In this paper, we introduce the Chicago Face Database, a free resource consisting of 158 high-resolution, standardized photographs of Black and White males and females between the ages of 18 and 40 years and extensive data about these targets. In Study 1, we report pre-testing of these faces, which includes both subjective norming data and objective physical measurements of the images included in the database. In Study 2 we surveyed psychology researchers to assess the suitability of these targets for research purposes and explored factors that were associated with researchers' judgments of suitability. Instructions are outlined for those interested in obtaining access to the stimulus set and accompanying ratings and measures.

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  • The choice of using intelligence, trustworthiness, sociability and happiness as dependent attributes for the halo effect was driven by existing literature.

    “The choice of using intelligence, trustworthiness, sociability and happiness as dependent attributes for the halo effect was driven by existing literature on this cognitive bias, such as [4,6,8,9,22,53,60–63].”

    From What is beautiful is still good: the attractiveness halo effect in the era of beauty filters (2024) · cites this paper as [53]

    The Contributions of the CFD section lists trustworthiness and happy expression among its face ratings, and the Results relate both ratings to experts’ judgments of face suitability (page numbers unavailable). The paper does not establish intelligence or sociability as attributes for a halo-effect study, or explain the citing authors’ choice of dependent attributes. (LLM, conf=0.82)

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Research works printed but not linked: 26

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Authors
Ma, D. S., Correll, J., & Wittenbrink, B.
Affiliations
  • California State University, Northridge (US)
  • University of Colorado Boulder (US)
  • University of Chicago (US)
Corresponding author
Ma, Debbie S.
Venue
Behavior Research Methods
Published
2015-01-13
Volume
47
Issue
4
Pages
1122-1135
ISSN
  • 1554-351X (ISSN-L)
  • 1554-3528
OpenAlex
W1964981411
Cited by
1,788
References
7
Citations by year
2026: 182 · 2025: 238 · 2024: 219 · 2023: 206 · 2022: 209 · 2021: 216 · 2020: 196 · 2019: 134 · 2018: 100 · 2017: 54 · 2016: 25 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 1 · 2012: 1
FWCI
36.66
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Behavior Research Methods (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • California State University ScholarWorks (system-wide DSpace) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • National Science Foundation (1226143)
  • University of Chicago
  • Booth School of Business, University of Chicago
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Face Recognition and Perception
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition › Face recognition and analysis
Keywords
face images, stimulus set, facial attractiveness, gender, age, theory of mind, emotions, interpersonal attraction
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Adult, Chicago, Emotions, Face, Female, Humans, Judgment, Male, Photic Stimulation, Prejudice, Reference Values, Stereotyping, Databases, Factual, Young Adult

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