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" Perception of Scary Halloween Masks by Zoo Animals and Humans "
Sinnott, Joan M.; Speaker, H. Anton; Powell, Laura A.; Mosteller, Kelly W.
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AL
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| Record Number
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936223
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LA8hx6q5js
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| Language of Document
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English
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| Main Entry
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Sinnott, Joan M.; Speaker, H. Anton; Powell, Laura A.; Mosteller, Kelly W.
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| Title & Author
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Perception of Scary Halloween Masks by Zoo Animals and Humans [Article]\ Sinnott, Joan M.; Speaker, H. Anton; Powell, Laura A.; Mosteller, Kelly W.
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| Title of Periodical
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International Journal of Comparative Psychology
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| Volume/ Issue Number
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25/2
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| Date
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2012
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| Abstract
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Zoo animals were tested to see if they perceived the scary nature of Halloween masks, using a procedure that measured the avoidance response latency to take food from a masked human experimenter. Human perception of the masks was also assessed using a rating scale, with results showing that a Bill Clinton mask was rated not scary, while a Vampire mask was rated very scary. Animal results showed that primate latencies correlated significantly with the human ratings, while non-primate latencies did not. Taken together, these results indicate that human perception of scary faces does not depend upon human-specific cultural factors, e.g., belief in the supernatural. Rather, it has a more biological basis, shared specifically with other primates, by which scary faces are perceived as predators or threatening conspecifics.
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