Social salience of objects
While there are colours and patterns that are objectively more vivid, salience is a function of the difference between the target object and its environment, or "ground". The greater the difference between the target and the ground, the stronger the social salience of that target. In the case of social salience, this distinction is characterized as a comparison between the attributes of the target and the attributes of other items in the target's proximal ground. Other items in the target's proximal ground set the norm for attributes an observer can expect. When an object’s attributes violate those pre-set expectations, it is socially salient. The strength of an object's social salience may also be underscored when it is the target of a goal-oriented search by an observer. An observer looking for a target object is more attuned to the object’s attributes and will be able to pick them out more rapidly from a crowd.Social salience of people
The social salience of an individual is a compilation of that individual's salient attributes. These may be changes to dress or physical attributes with respect to a previous point in time or with respect to the surrounding environment. Salient attributes of an individual may include the following: * Clothing (e.g., boldly patterned clothing) * Manipulation to physical appearance (e.g., novel hair colour) * Accessory that is infrequent in presence across the general population or indicative of an individual change (e.g., a leg brace) The social salience of an individual in a group is defined both by individual salient attributes and comparison with the attributes of other members of the group. As with the salience of objects, the social salience of an individual in a group depends on the attributes of the other members of that group. Little is known about social salience between groups but within-group preferences lead to greater social salience for members of an observer’s own group than for members outside of the group or in a different group. Salient attributes of an individual in a group may include the following: * Activeness * Trustworthiness * Friendliness * Volume of speech * Reliability Research has been conducted to specifically understand how the social salience of people works. One study examined social salience through exploring what categories come to perceiver’s minds when making initial impressions about people. Among participants’ responses, some of the most prevalent categorisations of people included: * Personal characteristics * Personal and social roles * Appearance characteristics * Context of situation * Extended inferences This indicates that the categorising way in which initial impressions are made can be related to the social salience of the person.Moderators of social salience
Positive Moderators of Social Salience
Positive moderators of social salience increase the likelihood of noticing or reacting to socially relevant stimuli.Oxytocin
Self-relevance
Social salience has frequently been linked to self-bias and self-prioritisation, with the suggestion that people are biased towards information relevant to themselves in comparison to information relevant to other people. Data highlights that social association, particularly to self-related items, gives social salience to stimuli. One explanation for this is that social saliency is promoted by a specific neural network in the brain. This network involves the connectivity between self-associated responses and attentional responses in the environment. Another possible explanation is that self-association effects may be similar to the effects of reward. This can also be seen on a neural level, with self-related and reward-related processes evoking similar neutral circuits in the brain. In fact, some research suggests that there may be some overlap in representations of the self and of reward in the brain itself. Research suggests that self-related stimuli carries a higher intrinsic reward than stimuli associated with other people, which may explain why people are so biased to stimuli related to themselves. The importance of social associations with self-relevant stimuli may be linked to human survival. In many contexts, it would be critical to have attention allocated to self-related stimuli, with an example being the awareness of potential dangers to one’s children.Attention
Another factor that plays a role in moderating social salience is attention. Research shows that the prioritisation of social information is dependent on an individual deploying enough attention. This means that social salience effects rely on attention, and that even self-relevant cues won’t automatically capture processing unless there is enough attention available. Hence, whilst social salience is able to boost how strongly a stimulus is processed, it is positively moderated by attention. Such attention can be considered particularly important when understanding how individuals process emotional expressions. Studies have explored the idea that emotional stimuli activate brain regions automatically, by exposing individuals to faces with emotional expressions, and comparing their reactions to faces with neutral expressions. Human faces are considered to contain salient social signals, so can mediate information about the identity, emotional state, and the intentions of oneself or others. It has been found that all brain regions respond to emotional faces, but only if there are enough attentional resources available.Mortality
The salience of mortality is also an active moderator of social salience. Mechanistically, increasing salience of mortality increases fear of isolation and thereby improves the rate of altruistic pro-social behaviour. This spurs awareness of relevant social cues leading to increased social salience.Negative Moderators of Social Salience
Negative moderators of social salience reduce the likelihood of noticing or reacting to socially relevant stimuli.Technology
Machines with multiple channels of communication allow for interpersonal communication among many active parties. Fewer channels lead to a decreased social salience of other members as perceived by any one participant. Compared with direct communication, communication over digital interfaces result in fewer nonverbal cues that provide necessary information as to the relationships between participants (status-specific or otherwise) as well as other social context. As a result, communication over digital interfaces is less personable and less productive than in-person communication.Notes
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