Estimates of Subjective Age Based on the Facial Images of Others: Comparative Studies of Koreans and the Japanese

Abstract

We designed a method for estimating the subjective age of a person. Using this method, one evaluates one's own age by estimating whether a person shown in a facial image looks older or younger than oneself. Thus far, experiments have shown that Japanese and Americans tend to underestimate their subjective ages. In this study, we conducted estimation experiments involving subjects who were racially Japanese—some of whom were from Japan and others who were raised in the Korean culture—and investigated the differences between the two groups' results. Experiments were performed in which Korean participants viewed Korean and Japanese facial images, and the Japanese participants also viewed Korean facial images. Through these experiments, it was confirmed that the bias values of the subjective ages were negative, indicating that a younger self-identity occurs despite differences in Japanese and Korean societies and cultures.