Facial Affect Differences in Autistic and Non-Autistic Adults Across Contexts and Their Relationship to First-Impression Formation

Foster, S. J., Jones, D. R., Pinkham, A. E., & Sasson, N. J. (2024). Facial Affect Differences in Autistic and Non-Autistic Adults Across Contexts and Their Relationship to First-Impression Formation. Autism in Adulthood, 7(5), 581-593. https://doi.org/10.1089/aut.2023.0199

Publication date: 30 Apr 2024 Added to AutiHub: 5 Jul 2026 Type: Article Article language: English

This publication is integrated into AutiHub through:

Authors

Publication authors
4
Publication authors identified as autistic
0 / 4 (0.0%)

Abstract

Background: Autistic people often receive unfavorable first impressions from non-autistic people, likely because of stigma related to divergent social presentations and expressive behaviors. Although facial expressivity influences first impressions in the general population, no research has examined whether expressivity differences in autism relate to the formation of first impressions by non-autistic people. It is also unclear whether facial expressivity in autism varies depending upon contextual demands and whether this affects first impressions. Methods: We video-recorded 21 autistic and 21 non-autistic adults in two contexts, interviewing for their ideal job and discussing a personal interest, and quantified the percentage of video frames displaying positive, neutral, and negative facial affect using iMotions software. We also compared facial affect between the autistic and non-autistic groups within and between contexts. Later, 335 non-autistic undergraduates rated participants using the First Impression Scale to assess whether impressions were modulated by context and showed associations with facial expressivity. Results: Findings demonstrated that autistic and non-autistic adults differed in overall emotional expressivity, with non-autistic participants displaying more positive affect at a trend-level than autistic participants. Autistic adults also received less favorable first impressions, and these showed some correspondence with their emotional expressivity. For example, their displays of negative affect were moderately to strongly related to worse impressions in the job interview context, a pattern not found to the same degree for non-autistic participants. Impressions of autistic participants also improved more than for non-autistic ones when talking about a personal interest compared with the job interview context, and when their diagnosis was disclosed to observers. Discussion: Collectively, these findings indicate that autistic people demonstrate divergent facial emotional expressivity that relates to the less favorable impressions they receive from non-autistic observers. Context and diagnostic disclosure also affect how autistic people are perceived. Community Brief: The results may be used to inform non-autistic people of their biases toward the expressive differences of autistic adults in personal and professional contexts to help minimize discrimination and exclusion.

Bibliography cited by this reference

Cited references are imported from external metadata sources when they are available. The list may be partial.

Bibliography inclusion overview

These indicators describe the cited bibliography imported for this publication. Cited-reference metrics use the cited-reference total as denominator. Cited-author metrics state whether they use all cited-author occurrences or only occurrences linked to authors already integrated in the AutiHub database. They use cached links between cited authors and authors integrated in the AutiHub database. Last computed: 16 Aug 2026 11:30.

Cited references
70
Total cited references integrated for this publication.
Cited references with an identified autistic author
4 / 70 (5.7%)
Cited author occurrences identified as autistic
5 / 245 (2.0%)
Among occurrences linked to AutiHub author records: 5 / 61 (8.2%). Distinct cited authors identified as autistic: 4 / 205 (2.0%).
Cited author occurrences linked to AutiHub author records
61 / 245 (24.9%)
Distinct linked cited authors: 42 / 205 (20.5%)
Linked cited-author occurrences not identified as autistic
56 / 61 (91.8%)
Among linked cited-author occurrences only. Across all cited-author occurrences: 56 / 245 (22.9%). Distinct linked cited authors not identified as autistic: 38 / 42 (90.5%).
4 cited bibliography entries could not be fully enriched from DOI metadata.
Crossref: not found (2) · DataCite: not found (2)
  1. Alisa J. Snelbaker , Gary S. Wilkinson , Gary J. Robertson , Joseph J. Glutting (2001). Wide Range Achievement Test 3 (wrat3) . In Understanding Psychological Assessment (pp. 259-274). Springer US.
    OpenAlex
  2. Nalini Ambady , Robert Rosenthal (1992). Thin slices of expressive behavior as predictors of interpersonal consequences: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 111(2), 256-274. American Psychological Association (APA).
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  3. Jill Boucher (1977). ALTERNATION AND SEQUENCING BEHAVIOUR, AND RESPONSE TO NOVELTY IN AUTISTIC CHILDREN . Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 18(1), 67-72. Wiley.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  4. Mark A. Williams , Simon A. Moss , John L. Bradshaw , Nicole Rinehart (2002). Brief Report: Random Number Generation in Autism . Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 32(1), 43-47. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  5. Lauren J. Human , Gillian M. Sandstrom , Jeremy C. Biesanz , Elizabeth W. Dunn (2013). Accurate First Impressions Leave a Lasting Impression . Social Psychological and Personality Science, 4(4), 395-402. SAGE Publications.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  6. Elizabeth Sheppard , Dhanya Pillai , Genevieve Tze-Lynn Wong , Danielle Ropar , Peter Mitchell (2016). How Easy is it to Read the Minds of People with Autism Spectrum Disorder? Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 46(4), 1247-1254. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  7. Damian Milton *Autistic author. Learn more… (2012). On the ontological status of autism: the ‘double empathy problem’ . Disability & Society, 27(6), 883-887. Informa UK Limited.
    AutiHub · Autistic Scholars Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  8. Noah J. Sasson , Daniel J. Faso , Jack Nugent , Sarah Lovell , Daniel P. Kennedy , Ruth B. Grossman (2017). Neurotypical Peers are Less Willing to Interact with Those with Autism based on Thin Slice Judgments . Scientific Reports, 7(1), 40700-40700. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  9. Ashley de Marchena , Inge‐Marie Eigsti (2010). Conversational gestures in autism spectrum disorders: Asynchrony but not decreased frequency . Autism Research, 3(6), 311-322. Wiley.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1002/aur.159 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W2130052734
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  10. James A. Russell (1994). Is there universal recognition of emotion from facial expression? A review of the cross-cultural studies. Psychological Bulletin, 115(1), 102-141. American Psychological Association (APA).
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  11. Hope Macdonald , Michael Rutter , Patricia Howlin , Patricia Rios , Ann Le Conteur , Christopher Evered et al. (1989). Recognition and Expression of Emotional Cues by Autistic and Normal Adults . Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 30(6), 865-877. Wiley.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  12. Ruth B. Grossman , Lisa R. Edelson , Helen Tager-Flusberg (2013). Emotional Facial and Vocal Expressions During Story Retelling by Children and Adolescents With High-Functioning Autism . Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 56(3), 1035-1044. American Speech Language Hearing Association.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  13. Daniel J. Faso , Noah J. Sasson , Amy E. Pinkham (2015). Evaluating Posed and Evoked Facial Expressions of Emotion from Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder . Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 45(1), 75-89. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  14. John T. Hazer , Karen V. Bedell (2000). Effects of Seeking Accommodation and Disability on Preemployment Evaluations . Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 30(6), 1201-1223. Wiley.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  15. Shahnaz Koji , Myra Fernandes (2010). Does it matter where we meet? The role of emotional context in evaluative first impressions. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology / Revue canadienne de psychologie expérimentale, 64(2), 107-116. American Psychological Association (APA).
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1037/a0019139 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W1992439209
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  16. (n.d.). B6
    Type: Other DOI: 10.1044/1092-4388(2009/08-0127 Crossref: not found DataCite: not found
    Crossref
  17. Kerrianne E Morrison , Kilee M. DeBrabander , Desiree R. Jones , Daniel J Faso , Robert A. Ackerman , Noah J. Sasson (2020). Outcomes of real-world social interaction for autistic adults paired with autistic compared to typically developing partners . Autism, 24(5), 1067-1080. SAGE Publications.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  18. Daniel P. Kennedy , Ralph Adolphs (2014). Violations of Personal Space by Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder . PLoS ONE, 9(8), e103369. Public Library of Science (PLoS).
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  19. James A. Russell , Jo-Anne Bachorowski , José-Miguel Fernández-Dols (2003). Facial and Vocal Expressions of Emotion . Annual Review of Psychology, 54(1), 329-349. Annual Reviews.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  20. Daryl J. Bem (1992). The Person and the Situation (Book) . Psychological Inquiry, 3(1), 82-84. Informa UK Limited.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  21. Dirk Neumann , Michael L. Spezio , Joseph Piven , Ralph Adolphs (2006). Looking you in the mouth: abnormal gaze in autism resulting from impaired top-down modulation of visual attention . Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 1(3), 194-202. Oxford University Press (OUP).
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  22. William Fleeson , Erik E. Noftle (2009). In favor of the synthetic resolution to the person–situation debate . Journal of Research in Personality, 43(2), 150-154. Elsevier BV.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  23. David Matsumoto , Seung Hee Yoo , Johnny Fontaine (2008). Mapping Expressive Differences Around the World . Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 39(1), 55-74. SAGE Publications.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  24. Martin A. Volker , Christopher Lopata , Donna A. Smith , Marcus L. Thomeer (2009). Facial Encoding of Children with High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorders . Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, 24(4), 195-204. SAGE Publications.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  25. Desiree R. Jones , Kilee M. DeBrabander , Noah J. Sasson (2021). Effects of autism acceptance training on explicit and implicit biases toward autism . Autism, 25(5), 1246-1261. SAGE Publications.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  26. Kerrianne E Morrison , Kilee M. DeBrabander , Daniel J Faso , Noah J. Sasson (2019). Variability in first impressions of autistic adults made by neurotypical raters is driven more by characteristics of the rater than by characteristics of autistic adults . Autism, 23(7), 1817-1829. SAGE Publications.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  27. Francesca Tancini , Yi‐Lin Wu , W. Bernd Schweizer , Jean‐Paul Gisselbrecht , Corinne Boudon , Peter D. Jarowski et al. (2012). 1,1‐Dicyano‐4‐[4‐(diethylamino)phenyl]buta‐1,3‐dienes: Structure–Property Relationships . European Journal of Organic Chemistry, 2012(14), 2756-2765. Wiley.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  28. Rabi Samil Alkhaldi , Elizabeth Sheppard , Emily Burdett , Peter Mitchell (2021). Do Neurotypical People Like or Dislike Autistic People? Autism in Adulthood, 3(3), 275-279. SAGE Publications.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  29. Steven D Stagg , Rachel Slavny , Charlotte Hand , Alice Cardoso , Pamela Smith (2014). Does facial expressivity count? How typically developing children respond initially to children with autism . Autism, 18(6), 704-711. SAGE Publications.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  30. Judith H. Langlois , Lisa Kalakanis , Adam J. Rubenstein , Andrea Larson , Monica Hallam , Monica Smoot (2000). Maxims or myths of beauty? A meta-analytic and theoretical review. Psychological Bulletin, 126(3), 390-423. American Psychological Association (APA).
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  31. James J. Gross (1998). Antecedent- and response-focused emotion regulation: Divergent consequences for experience, expression, and physiology. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74(1), 224-237. American Psychological Association (APA).
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  32. Neil Brewer , Marie Antonia Georgopoulos , Carmen A. Lucas , Robyn L. Young (2023). Autistic adults' perspectives on appropriate empathic responses to others' emotions . Autism Research, 16(8), 1573-1585. Wiley.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1002/aur.2965 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W4381598124
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  33. Simon Baron-Cohen (1992). Out of Sight or Out of Mind? Another Look at Deception in Autism . Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 33(7), 1141-1155. Wiley.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  34. Jörn P.W Scharlemann , Catherine C Eckel , Alex Kacelnik , Rick K Wilson (2001). The value of a smile: Game theory with a human face . Journal of Economic Psychology, 22(5), 617-640. Elsevier BV.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  35. Nicole Rinehart , John L. Bradshaw , Simon A. Moss , Avril V. Brereton , Bruce J. Tonge (2006). Pseudo-random number generation in children with high-functioning autism and Asperger’s disorder . Autism, 10(1), 70-85. SAGE Publications.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  36. Harry T. Reis , Ilona Mcdougal Wilson , Carla Monestere , Stuart Bernstein , Kelly Clark , Edward Seidl et al. (1990). What is smiling is beautiful and good . European Journal of Social Psychology, 20(3), 259-267. Wiley.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  37. Clare M. Gibson , David L. Penn , Mitchell J. Prinstein , Diana O. Perkins , Aysenil Belger (2010). Social skill and social cognition in adolescents at genetic risk for psychosis . Schizophrenia Research, 122(1-3), 179-184. Elsevier BV.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  38. Carroll E. Izard (1990). Facial expressions and the regulation of emotions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58(3), 487-498. American Psychological Association (APA).
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  39. Ryuhei Ueda , Kana Kuraguchi , Hiroshi Ashida (2016). Asymmetric Effect of Expression Intensity on Evaluations of Facial Attractiveness . Sage Open, 6(4). SAGE Publications.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  40. Uta Frith (1972). Cognitive mechanisms in autism: Experiments with color and tone sequence production . Journal of Autism and Childhood Schizophrenia, 2(2), 160-173. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  41. DongWon Oh , Elinor A. Buck , Alexander Todorov (2019). Revealing Hidden Gender Biases in Competence Impressions of Faces . Psychological Science, 30(1), 65-79. SAGE Publications.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  42. Calvin Solomon (2020). Autism and Employment: Implications for Employers and Adults with ASD . Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 50(11), 4209-4217. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  43. Kilee M. DeBrabander , Kerrianne E. Morrison , Desiree R. Jones , Daniel J. Faso , Mike Chmielewski , Noah J. Sasson (2019). Do First Impressions of Autistic Adults Differ Between Autistic and Nonautistic Observers? Autism in Adulthood, 1(4), 250-257. SAGE Publications.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  44. Rosanna Edey , Jennifer Cook , Rebecca Brewer , Mark H. Johnson , Geoffrey Bird , Clare Press (2016). Interaction takes two: Typical adults exhibit mind-blindness towards those with autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 125(7), 879-885. American Psychological Association (APA).
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  45. F. D. Richard , Charles F. Bond , Juli J. Stokes-Zoota (2003). One Hundred Years of Social Psychology Quantitatively Described . Review of General Psychology, 7(4), 331-363. SAGE Publications.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  46. Noah J. Sasson , Kerrianne E Morrison (2019). First impressions of adults with autism improve with diagnostic disclosure and increased autism knowledge of peers . Autism, 23(1), 50-59. SAGE Publications.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  47. Melissa H. Black , Soheil Mahdi , Ben Milbourn , Melissa Scott , Alan H. Gerber , Christopher Esposito et al. (2020). Multi‐informant International Perspectives on the Facilitators and Barriers to Employment for Autistic Adults . Autism Research, 13(7), 1195-1214. Wiley.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1002/aur.2288 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W3011899039
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  48. Bilikis Banire , Dena Al Thani , Marwa Qaraqe (2020). Validation of Emotions as a Measure of Selective Attention in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder . Proceedings of the 2020 9th International Conference on Educational and Information Technology, 205-210. ACM.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  49. David Matsumoto , Andres Olide , Bob Willingham (2009). Is There an Ingroup Advantage in Recognizing Spontaneously Expressed Emotions? Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 33(3), 181-191. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  50. Camilla M. McMahon , Stacey Henry , Meghan Linthicum (2021). Employability in autism spectrum disorder (ASD): Job candidate’s diagnostic disclosure and asd characteristics and employer’s ASD knowledge and social desirability. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 27(1), 142-157. American Psychological Association (APA).
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  51. Aparna Nadig , Iris Lee , Leher Singh , Kyle Bosshart , Sally Ozonoff (2010). How does the topic of conversation affect verbal exchange and eye gaze? A comparison between typical development and high-functioning autism . Neuropsychologia, 48(9), 2730-2739. Elsevier BV.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  52. Pearson V (2003). B28 J Rehab, 69(4), 35.
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  53. Anna Melissa Romualdez , Zachary Walker , Anna Remington (2021). Autistic adults’ experiences of diagnostic disclosure in the workplace: Decision-making and factors associated with outcomes . Autism & Developmental Language Impairments, 6, 23969415211022955-23969415211022955. SAGE Publications.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  54. Rabi Samil Alkhaldi , Elizabeth Sheppard , Peter Mitchell (2019). Is There a Link Between Autistic People Being Perceived Unfavorably and Having a Mind That Is Difficult to Read? Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 49(10), 3973-3982. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  55. Ruth B. Grossman , Rhyannon H. Bemis , Daniela Plesa Skwerer , Helen Tager-Flusberg (2010). Lexical and Affective Prosody in Children With High-Functioning Autism . Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 53(3), 778-793. American Speech Language Hearing Association.
    OpenAlex
  56. Melissa Scott , Andrew Jacob , Delia Hendrie , Richard Parsons , Sonya Girdler , Torbjörn Falkmer et al. (2017). Employers’ perception of the costs and the benefits of hiring individuals with autism spectrum disorder in open employment in Australia . PLOS ONE, 12(5), e0177607. Public Library of Science (PLoS).
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  57. Julie Beadle-Brown , Andrew Whiten (2004). Elicited imitation in children and adults with autism: is there a deficit? Journal of Intellectual & Developmental Disability, 29(2), 147-163. Informa UK Limited.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  58. Catherine Lord , Susan Risi , Linda Lambrecht , Edwin H. Cook , Bennett L. Leventhal , Pamela C. DiLavore et al. (2000). The Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule—Generic: A Standard Measure of Social and Communication Deficits Associated with the Spectrum of Autism . Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 30(3), 205-223. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  59. James A. Russell , José Miguel Fernandez-Dols (1997). What does a facial expression mean? In The Psychology of Facial Expression (pp. 3-30). Cambridge University Press.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  60. Shawn Powell , Roger Plamondon , Paul Retzlaff (2002). Screening Cognitive Abilities in Adults with Developmental Disabilities: Correlations of the K-BIT, PPVT-3, WRAT-3, and CVLT . Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities, 14(3), 239-246. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  61. (n.d.). B39
    Type: Other DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsycholo Crossref: not found DataCite: not found
    Crossref
  62. Dominic A. Trevisan , Marleis Bowering , Elina Birmingham (2016). Alexithymia, but not autism spectrum disorder, may be related to the production of emotional facial expressions . Molecular Autism, 7(1), 46. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  63. Ekman P (1971). Nebr Symp Motiv . Nebr Symp Motiv.
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  64. Vikram K. Jaswal , Nameera Akhtar (2019). Being versus appearing socially uninterested: Challenging assumptions about social motivation in autism . Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 42, Article e82, 1. Cambridge University Press (CUP).
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  65. Luc Lecavalier , James Bodfish , Clare Harrop , Allison Whitten , Desiree R. Jones , Jill Pritchett et al. (2020). Development of the Behavioral Inflexibility Scale for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Other Developmental Disabilities . Autism Research, 13(3), 489-499. Wiley.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1002/aur.2257 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W2999292707
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  66. Wechsler D (1981). Manual for the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale - Revised . Manual for the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale - Revised.
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  67. Wilkinson G (1993). Wide Range Achievement Test WRAT . Wide Range Achievement Test WRAT.
    Type: Other
    Crossref