The Israeli Face Database (IFD): A Multi-Ethnic Database of Faces with Supporting Social Norming Data

Human faces and their representations play a key role in social interactions. Consequently, face images are widely used as stimuli across psychological research. However, most available face databases primarily represent Western, predominantly White populations, raising concerns about the generalizability of findings derived from such non-diverse stimuli sets. The current work addresses this problem by introducing the Israeli Face Database (IFD): a novel database presenting face images of real individuals from an ethnically diverse population underrepresented in psychological research on face perception—people residing in Israel. The IFD features multiple highly controlled images per face identity, presenting several facial expressions. Additionally, we provide detailed demographic data on the face identities, expression validation data rated by Israeli participants, and social norming data rated by both Israeli and U.S.-based participants. Validation data (Study 1) confirmed that the expression images in the IFD accurately convey their intended expressions. Norming data analysis (Study 2) revealed that judgments of IFD faces were broadly consistent across cultures, with notable variations in perceived typicality and perceived ethnic diversity. These results highlight the IFD's strong psychometric properties and its ability to capture nuanced cultural and individual differences in face perception. We propose that the IFD can serve as a valuable tool for diversifying stimuli in social-psychological research.