Childhood Adversity Predicts Conflated Dominance and Trust Perceptions and Reduced Sensitivity to Dominance Cues in Faces

Research has shown that differences in external contexts can affect the perception of interpersonal traits and social threats. Adverse environments in early childhood may thus influence the development of threat detection cues. Across two studies, we examine how these trait judgments are impacted by adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). In Study A, 120 subjects rated face images for both dominance and trustworthiness. An ACE score of 4 or above predicted reduced reliance upon attributions of dominance when making trustworthiness judgments about faces, and attachment style had differing impacts on this effect dependent upon early exposure to adversity. In Study B, 180 participants evaluated the trustworthiness of faces, which were manipulated in dominance. High-ACE subjects rated high-dominance faces as more trustworthy than the low-ACE group. Results suggest that exposure to early adversity reduces sensitivity to cues of dominance in faces. The plasticity of relationships between trust and dominance attributions is discussed, INSEAD.