Race and Sex in the Perception of Emotion¹

A factorial design was utilized to investigate the effects of race of expresser (black or white), sex of expresser, race of perceiver (black or white), and sex of perceiver on the perception of emotion (POE), employing seven emotions (anger, happiness, surprise, fear, disgust, pain, and sadness). Overall results indicate significant main effects: for race of expresser (whites were more accurately perceived), for sex of expresser (females were more accurately perceived), for race of perceiver (blacks were more accurately perceived). There was no significant effect associated with sex of perceiver.