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The Deliberate Duchenne Smile: Individual Differences in Expressive Control
Abstract
We explored the ability to produce deliberate Duchenne smiles and individual differences in this ability. Participants engaged in both a role-play task, designed to measure quasi-naturalistic usage of the deliberate Duchenne smile, and an imitation task, designed to measure muscular capability. In the role-plays, participants were instructed to smile while enacting scripted scenarios, three representing faked positive (masked negative) affect and three representing genuine positive affect. In the imitation task, they were given photographs of Duchenne and non-Duchenne smiles to imitate. Rates of Duchenne smiling provided further evidence that substantial minorities of people have the ability to produce a Duchenne smile deliberately. Individual differences were evident in the consistency in producing deliberate Duchenne smiles across tasks, and in the relationship between deliberate Duchenne smiling and self-reported ability to put on convincing (false) emotion displays in everyday life.
... Despite many morphological and physical similarities between the two types of expressions, there are subtle differences between them providing cues about the authenticity. For example, symmetry (Ekman et al., 1981), regularity (Hess et al., 1989), intensity (Gunnery et al., 2013;Hess et al., 1995) and presence of physical signs of arousal (Levenson, 2014) have been named as differentiating factors between static displays of genuine and faked expressions, with genuine expressions having more of each than faked ones. ...
... Perceived intensity. Genuine expressions may be perceived as more intense than faked expressions (Gunnery et al., 2013;Gunnery & Ruben, 2016;Hess et al., 1995;Zloteanu et al., 2018). As adaptation aftereffects are dependent upon the strength of the adapting stimulus (Webster, 2011(Webster, , 2015, perceived intensity differences could affect the magnitude of the aftereffects. ...
... We argue that differences in the aftereffects observed in the present study are unlikely to result from any low-level perceptual differences between the fake and genuine stimuli, for the following reasons. (1) Even though genuine and faked expressions of happiness and anger share the main morphological features, such as a U-shaped mouth expressing the smile, genuine expressions are typically more intense than faked expressions (Gunnery et al., 2013;Gunnery & Ruben, 2016;Hess et al., 1995;Zloteanu et al., 2018). We, therefore, controlled for the perceived intensity of the adapting expressions in the calibration procedure. ...
Accurate perception of the emotional signals conveyed by others is crucial for successful social interaction. Such perception is influenced not only by sensory input, but also by knowledge we have about the others' emotions. This study addresses the issue of whether knowing that the other's emotional state is congruent or incongruent with their displayed emotional expression ("genuine" and "fake", respectively) affects the neural mechanisms underpinning the perception of their facial emotional expressions. We used a visual adaptation paradigm to investigate this question in three experiments employing increasing adaptation durations. The adapting stimuli consisted of photographs of emotional facial expressions of joy and anger, purported to reflect (in-)congruency between felt and expressed emotion, displayed by professional actors. A Validity checking procedure ensured participants had the correct knowledge about the (in-)congruency. Significantly smaller adaptation aftereffects were obtained when participants knew that the displayed expression was incongruent with the felt emotion, following all tested adaptation periods. This study shows that knowledge relating to the congruency between felt and expressed emotion modulates face expression aftereffects. We argue that this reflects that the neural substrate responsible for the perception of facial expressions of emotion incorporates the presumed felt emotion underpinning the expression.
... Using a sender-centric perspective, behavioral differences (i.e., morphologic or dynamic) between genuine and non-genuine emotional displays may be nonexistent or imperceptible to the human eye (Namba et al. 2016;Porter et al. 2012). As a result, senders can utilize posed expressions to communicate false affective states (i.e., displays which are [mis-]interpreted by decoders as reflecting genuine affect, when the sender's underlying affect does not match; Gosselin et al. 2010;Gunnery et al. 2013;Krumhuber et al. 2014) or to strengthen affective signaling (e.g., exaggerating genuine emotional states in appropriate social settings; Fridlund 1991). ...
... Ironically, studies exploring perceptual differences between alleged genuine and non-genuine smiles often rely on stimuli produced by actors posing both types of expressions (Bernstein et al. 2008;Calvo et al. 2013;Gosselin et al. 1995), undermining the notion of authenticity. Research has demonstrated that spontaneous and posed smiles, as measured by facial markers, can be easily produced in the absence of an underlying affect (see Gunnery et al. 2013). As a result, some scholars have argued that internal affective states and external displays can and should be treated as two different phenomena (Gunnery and Hall 2014). ...
... The "deceptive" superiority of the external condition expressions may have resulted from senders using a spontaneous, felt reaction as their target expression. This is supported by research on facial mimicry, where the reference expression-spontaneous or posedhas been found to affect the mimicked display (Gunnery et al. 2013;Lundqvist and Dimberg 1995). Conversely, the higher discriminability for the internal condition expressions may be due to the added complexity of the task the senders had to perform, minding both presentation and timing while controlling their nonverbal channels (see Gunnery et al. 2013;Zuckerman et al. 1981). ...
People are accurate at classifying emotions from facial expressions but much poorer at determining if such expressions are spontaneously felt or deliberately posed. We explored if the method used by senders to produce an expression influences the decoder's ability to discriminate authenticity, drawing inspiration from two well-known acting techniques: the Stanislavski (internal) and Mimic method (external). We compared spontaneous surprise expressions in response to a jack-in-the-box (genuine condition), to posed displays of senders who either focused on their past affective state (internal condition) or the outward expression (external condition). Although decoders performed better than chance at discriminating the authenticity of all expressions, their accuracy was lower in classifying external surprise compared to internal surprise. Decoders also found it harder to discriminate external surprise from spontaneous surprise and were less confident in their decisions, perceiving these to be similarly intense but less genuine-looking. The findings suggest that senders are capable of voluntarily producing genuine-looking expressions of emotions with minimal effort, especially by mimicking a genuine expression. Implications for research on emotion recognition are discussed.
... The belief that such clear demarcations between the physiognomy of genuine and deceptive facial displays has led to the belief that there exist clear methods of discriminating emotional authenticity. However, such claims have been called into question, with research demonstrating that even voluntarily produced smiles can contain "reliable muscle" activation, while genuine happiness displays can occur without activating all proposed reliable muscles (Gosselin, Perron, & Beaupré, 2010;Gunnery, Hall, & Ruben, 2013;Krumhuber & Manstead, 2009). ...
... The irony should not be lost on the reader that many studies exploring differences between genuine and deceptive facial expressions perceptions rely of stimuli produced by actors under strict instructions (see Gunnery, Hall, & Ruben, 2013), as such questioning the very notion of emotional authenticity. Indeed, emotion scholars are now proposing that we stop ascribing such a clear 1-to-1 relationship between internal affective states and external displays (Gunnery & Hall, 2014). ...
... Simply put, when asked to pose facial expressions without any prior training, people (i.e. senders) can easily fool decoders with their performances (Gosselin et al., 2010;Gunnery et al., 2013;Krumhuber, Likowski, & Weyers, 2014;Krumhuber & Manstead, 2009). ...
The function of facial expressions of emotions in detecting deception has been a hotly debated topic. One side argues that liars and truth-teller display different facial expressions which can be used as diagnostic cues of deceit. The other argues that such cues are rare, unpredictable, and ambiguous, and as such are unreliable to detecting deception. This chapter overviews facial expression in deception detection, separating their alleged diagnostic value as cues to deception from that of strategic affective signals in human communication. Building upon our current understanding and research in the deception and emotion fields, I elaborate on relevant but underdeveloped concepts, and address how the process of detecting lies can be influenced by facial expressions of emotions. I critically evaluate several assumptions of the emotion-based approach to detecting deception, illustrating the limitations of this view. A strong emphasis is placed on expanding the role of facial expressions in deception, by considering both the encoder-decoder and the affective-signaling perspectives. I propose a careful distinction between genuine cues and deceptive cues, considering the importance of emotional authenticity and sender intent. Finally, I consider the role of facial expressions of emotion in human veracity judgment and future directions for the field of emotion and deception in light of the current propositions. This is done in light of recent propositions to the use of automated lie detection tools on the basis of facial expressions of emotion. I argue that caution must be given to such techniques, elaborating on the flawed underpinnings guiding their decisions, and make considerations for the future of this research.
... Interestingly, by looking at a more sophisticated level of facial movements, the analysis revealed a striking similarity to existing knowledge in psychology, with AU6 and AU12 emerging as the most influential facial muscles in delivering positive emotions (Gunnery et al., 2013). It is worth noting that although AU6, which triggers crow's feet wrinkles, is often seen as a reliable signal of an authentic smile (Ngan and Yu, 2019), interestingly, the findings suggested that its activation actually led to a decrease in user engagement in the case of self-portrait pictures. ...
... Indeed, in cases where there are imperfections in the CGI influencer's expression, the activation of AU6 may indeed be a critical factor that discourages engagement from users. However, AU12, which is associated with the display of a social smile and often involves the showing of teeth (Gunnery et al., 2013), was found to be a salient factor in increasing engagement in pictures related to travel and sightseeing where happiness is expressed. Existing research has shown that people are more likely to perceive a person as happy and approachable when they smile with teeth because it creates a more open and inviting facial expression (Ngan and Yu, 2019), which can foster feelings of connection and positivity. ...
Focusing on the application of artificial intelligence, this study investigates the impact of emotional display on user engagement with computer-generated imagery influencers through the lens of the computers are social actors (CASA) framework. It breaks down emotions into individual muscle movements (i.e., facial action units). By using facial recognition based on 1,028 pictures shared by Lil Miquela, the findings disclose the significance of happiness, sadness, disgust, and surprise in triggering user engagement when promoting diverse products with visually captivating content. The findings highlight the importance of balancing the intensity of muscle movement to streamline the interplay between technology, human behaviour, and digital communication.
... 8,9 Smiling that depicts situations of spontaneous pure enjoyment or laughter are often referred to as the genuine 'Duchenne' smiles, to acknowledge the scientist who first described their features. 10,11 The Duchenne smile prompts a combined activation of the zygomaticus major and the orbicularis oculi muscles. This pattern of muscular activity distinguishes between genuine smiles and 'social' smiles, which are generally expressed during conditions of non-enjoyment. ...
... 36 Though these AU12 intensity values seem comparable during both genuine and posed smiles, previous research pointed out to recognisable differences with respect to AU6 activity during genuine and posed smiles placing an argument that it would be difficult to deliberately fake a genuine smile. 10,37 However, there is also some evidence suggesting that Duchenne smiles are merely traces of smile intensity rather than a reliable and distinct indicator of smile authenticity. 38 Such discrepancies in the reported findings may be ascribed to the different methods to trigger and to measure smiles, the social context, and sociodemographic characteristics of the sample, which may all influence the features of smiling. ...
Background:
Patients seeking restorative and orthodontic treatment expect an improvement in their smiles and oral health-related quality of life. Nonetheless, the qualitative and quantitative characteristics of dynamic smiles are yet to be understood.
Objective:
To develop, validate, and introduce open-access software for automated analysis of smiles in terms of their frequency, genuineness, duration, and intensity.
Materials and methods:
A software script was developed using the Facial Action Coding System (FACS) and artificial intelligence to assess activations of (1) cheek raiser, a marker of smile genuineness; (2) lip corner puller, a marker of smile intensity; and (3) perioral lip muscles, a marker of lips apart. Thirty study participants were asked to view a series of amusing videos. A full-face video was recorded using a webcam. The onset and cessation of smile episodes were identified by two examiners trained with FACS coding. A Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve was then used to assess detection accuracy and optimise thresholding. The videos of participants were then analysed off-line to automatedly assess the features of smiles.
Results:
The area under the ROC curve for smile detection was 0.94, with a sensitivity of 82.9% and a specificity of 89.7%. The software correctly identified 90.0% of smile episodes. While watching the amusing videos, study participants smiled 1.6 (±0.8) times per minute.
Conclusions:
Features of smiles such as frequency, duration, genuineness, and intensity can be automatedly assessed with an acceptable level of accuracy. The software can be used to investigate the impact of oral conditions and their rehabilitation on smiles.
... The presence of supposedly involuntary eye constriction (AU6) has been proposed to signal happiness/enjoyment in smiles, whereas its absence termed as false, social, non-felt, or non-Duchenne smiles . While recent studies have revealed that Duchenne smiles occur not only as a spontaneous sign of positive affect and can be deliberately displayed (Schmidt et al., 2006;Krumhuber and Manstead, 2009;Gunnery et al., 2013), there is consistent evidence that Duchenne smiles contribute to perceptions of greater spontaneity and authenticity (Gunnery and Ruben, 2016). They are perceptually salient and perceived as more affectively intense (Malek et al., 2019;Miller et al., 2020), making the smiling person look happier, more amused, and in better humor (Scherer and Ceschi, 2000;Gosselin et al., 2002;Ambadar et al., 2009). ...
... These data are consistent with results of previous studies demonstrating that Duchenne smiles are perceived differently than non-Duchenne smiles (Hess and Kleck, 1994;Del Giudice and Colle, 2007;Krumhuber and Manstead, 2009;Mehu et al., 2012;Gunnery et al., 2013). Patients in the pre-treatment photographs-consisting almost exclusively of Duchenne smiles-were perceived as feeling more genuine positive emotion in comparison to post-treatment photographs. ...
Smiles that vary in muscular configuration also vary in how they are perceived. Previous research suggests that “Duchenne smiles,” indicated by the combined actions of the orbicularis oculi (cheek raiser) and the zygomaticus major muscles (lip corner puller), signal enjoyment. This research has compared perceptions of Duchenne smiles with non-Duchenne smiles among individuals voluntarily innervating or inhibiting the orbicularis oculi muscle. Here we used a novel set of highly controlled stimuli: photographs of patients taken before and after receiving botulinum toxin treatment for crow’s feet lines that selectively paralyzed the lateral orbicularis oculi muscle and removed visible lateral eye wrinkles, to test perception of smiles. Smiles in which the orbicularis muscle was active (prior to treatment) were rated as more felt, spontaneous, intense, and happier. Post treatment patients looked younger, although not more attractive. We discuss the potential implications of these findings within the context of emotion science and clinical research on botulinum toxin.
... Voluntary control of the orbicularis oculi muscle was said to be much more difficult, making it a better cue for the genuineness of a smile because any cues should be difficult to mimic, to function as an honest signal (Brown et al. 2003;Zahavi 1975). Recent studies, however, have reported that a substantial number of people can deliberately manipulate the orbicularis oculi muscle (e.g., Gunnery et al. 2013), which suggests that its movement cannot be an honest signal. Despite uncertainty surrounding the genuineness of orbicularis oculi muscle activity, it would be a cue for detecting altruists if it correlates with the degree of altruism. ...
... Even if people can detect altruism from the upper part of the face, it does not necessarily mean that movement of the orbicularis oculi muscle is the sole, reliable signal of altruism. In fact, recent studies suggest that a substantial number of people can manipulate the orbicularis oculi muscle deliberately (e.g., Gunnery et al. 2013). To escape the exploitation of such deceptive "smiles", one has to use other signals. ...
In this study, we investigated the cognitive processes and nonverbal cues used to detect altruism in three experiments based on a zero-acquaintance video presentation paradigm. Cognitive mechanisms of altruism detection are thought to have evolved in humans to prevent subtle cheating. Several studies have demonstrated that people can correctly estimate levels of altruism in others. In this study, we asked participants to distinguish altruists from non-altruists in video clips using the Faith game. Participants decided whether they could trust allocation of money to the targets who were videotaped while talking to the experimenter. In our first experiment, we asked the participants to play the Faith game under cognitive load. The accuracy of altruism detection was not reduced when participants simultaneously performed a cognitive task, suggesting that altruist detection is rapid and effortless. In the second experiment, we investigated the effects of affective status on the accuracy of altruism detection. Compared with participants in a positive mood, those in a negative mood were more hesitant to trust videotaped targets. However, the accuracy with which altruism levels were detected did not change when we manipulated participants’ moods. In the third experiment, we investigated the facial cues by which participants detected altruists. Participants could not detect altruists when the upper half of the target’s face was hidden, suggesting that judgment cues exist around the eyes. We also conducted a meta-analysis on the effect size in each experimental condition to verify the robustness of altruism detection ability.
... Krumhuber and Manstead (2009) compared smiles under genuine and enacted conditions, finding that 70% of smiles in genuine conditions were Duchenne smiles, while 83% of smiles in deliberate conditions were Duchenne smiles. Other studies have also found that Duchenne smiles were frequently found in posed conditions: 56% (Ambadar et al., 2009), 60% (Gosselin et al., 2002a), 67% (Schmidt and Cohn, 2001), and 71% (Gunnery et al., 2013). Moreover, this type of smile also appears when watching negative emotional videos (Ekman et al., 1990) and when failing in a game context (Schneider and Josephs, 1991). ...
... Krumhuber and Manstead (2009) compared the strengths of Duchenne and non-Duchenne smiles, finding that Duchenne smiles' intensity rating (from "1" meaning weak to "5" indicating very strong) was 3.11, and non-Duchenne smiles was 0.97; the difference was significant. Such difference was also observed by Gunnery et al. (2013) that Duchenne smiles are typically more intense than non-Duchenne smiles. These findings suggest that Duchenne smiles may only be smiles of a greater intensity, but cannot be equated to spontaneity. ...
Smiles are the most commonly and frequently used facial expressions by human beings. Some scholars claimed that the low accuracy in recognizing genuine smiles is explained by the perceptual-attentional hypothesis, meaning that observers either did not pay attention to responsible cues or were unable to recognize these cues (usually the Duchenne marker or AU6 displaying as contraction of muscles in eye regions). We investigated whether training (instructing participants to pay attention either to the Duchenne mark or to mouth movement) might help improve the recognition of genuine smiles, including accuracy and confidence. Results indicated that attention to mouth movement improves these people’s ability to distinguish between genuine and posed smiles, with nullification of the alternative explanations such as sample distribution and intensity of lip pulling (AU12). The generalization of the conclusion requires further investigations. This study further argues that the perceptual-attentional hypothesis can explain smile genuineness recognition.
... This has been considered a very reliable marker to distinguish authentic from false smiles, though there is still much debate regarding the use of this AU as the barometer for authentic smiles. For instance, several researchers have observed that, on average, between 17% and 30% of individuals can voluntarily control this muscle activation (Gosselin et al., 2002;Gunnery et al., 2013;Schmidt and Cohn, 2001a, b;Schmidt et al., 2006b). Even though a small proportion of people can voluntarily produce the Duchenne marker, a large majority of authentic smiles are still composed of both the lip corner puller and the cheek raiser AUs, and these are therefore assumed to be valid markers of expression genuineness (Ekman, 1993). ...
... We could also speculate that the beginning of a smile is more often mixed with other emotions due to its occurrence in various social contexts, whereas the end phase tends to contain fewer mixed facial expressions and might be seen as a more reliable marker. A third explanation involves the fact that individuals can control the AUs involved in authentic smiles to a certain extent (Gosselin et al., 2002;Gunnery et al., 2013;Schmidt and Cohn, 2001a, b;Schmidt et al., 2006b),. It is possible therefore that humans put more emphasis on controlling the beginning of a facial expression, or are just good at doing it for a small amount of time, again for reasons having to do with limits on cognitive resources. ...
We presented participants with videos of Duchenne smiles that differed in the duration of their onset, offset, or both to determine if this would affect perceived expression authenticity. The duration of onset and offset varied between 0.2 and 1.0 s. Participants were shown one smile at a time and were asked to judge its genuineness on a rating scale. Results indicated the duration of offset had an effect on perceived genuineness when it was manipulated in isolation. Similarly, when both the offset and onset duration were adjusted concomitantly, genuineness ratings were affected. There was no effect of onset duration when it was manipulated in isolation. This is the first demonstration of these effects using photographs of real human faces that are dynamically and morphologically symmetrical, and which have been validated via the Facial Action Coding System.
... The chance may fail and not materialize, due to stupidity or bad luck. Conversely, people sometimes achieve a great deal in their lifetime despite poor opportunities [6][7][8][9][10][11]. ...
Most people find happiness by making money, eating good food, or spending time with friends. Epicurean philosophy provides an explanation of what makes people happy and how to experience joy and pleasure in life. Gossipiboma is a rare complication that can occur due to human negligence. Gossipiboma’s form as a complication of inflammatory reaction to a surgical sponge or a laparotomy pad left mistakenly in the body of the patient after a surgical procedure. The term Gossipiboma is a combination of two words from two different languages; Gossypium a Latin word which mean cotton and boma a Kiswahili word which means plan of concealment. Their incidence is reported to be 1 in 1000 to 1500 surgery. We present here a case of a 67-year-old male who had a history of right-sided Percutaneous Nephrolithotomy (PCNL) five years back. No immediate post procedure complications occurred however the patient presented to the Outpatient Department (OPD) with left flank pain and his Computed Tomography (CT) scan was done which showed an organized Gossipiboma.Most people find happiness by making money, eating good food, or spending time with friends. Epicurean philosophy provides an explanation of what makes people happy and how to experience joy and pleasure in life. It focuses on the absence of pain as the path to happiness and advocates leading a simple lifestyle. There are people in the world who are happy just because they live and they live much longer without cancer, cardiovascular or other social important diseases. The material measurability of the timelessness in which we live does not exist, and the virtues have preserved them above all as human beings. They have the ability to enjoy the simple things in life, which in most cases are not financially commensurate. The connection between the beauty of the smile, positive health and longevity has been consciously sought. All aspects of the life of the Bulgarian population are outlined, which are positive and could lead them out of the black rankings for morbidity and mortality in Europe and the world. Questions are raised related to the health and activity of long-lived and centenarians and what in the modern way of life turn this trend into a negative one.
... Regarding (b), it was found that one particular variant of smiling behavior (the so-called 'Duchenne' smile, Ekman et al., 1990;Gunnery et al., 2013;Gunnery & Ruben, 2016) could only be produced under the genuine experience of joy and recognized as genuine. This variant would contrast with the polite smile, associated with non-genuine happiness. ...
Although emotional displays have long been considered as mere read-outs of the affective state of agents, recent studies and modern evolutionary thinking instead suggest that they should be characterized as proper communicative signals. This implies that emotional displays have evolved to be used strategically, to serve the senders' interests. However, for these signals to be stable, they must also benefit receivers. What guarantees that emotional signals are beneficial for both emitters and observers? In this chapter, we review evidence showing that humans are equipped with mechanisms that evolved to evaluate emotional displays and their sources, so as to minimize the risk of being fooled. We called these mechanisms 'emotional vigilance,' following the 'epistemic vigilance' mechanisms used in ostensive communication. Emotional vigilance, we argue, is part of the human cognitive make-up, and we outline empirical avenues to best elucidate its features.
... Based on an a priori power analysis assuming a standard deviation of 0.72 (Gunnery et al., 2013), with type I error set to 0.05 and type II error set to 0.2 (i.e. 80% power), it was estimated that at least 22 participants per group were needed to detect a 20% clinically relevant difference in smiling intensity as assessed by the activation of the lip puller muscle (Action Unit 12; see below). ...
The Fijian “Bula Smile,” is often described as the world’s friendliest, however its description remains anecdotal. We aim to describe and compare the features of Fijians’ smiles with those of New Zealand Europeans. An observational study was conducted on two ethnic groups, Fijians (FJ; N=23) and New Zealand Europeans (NZ; N=23), age- and gender-matched. All participants were asked to watch amusing videos, and their reactions were video recorded. The videos were analysed by software to assess the frequency, duration, intensity, and genuineness of smiling episodes. Based on the Facial Action Coding System, Action Unit 6 (AU6 - cheek raiser), Action Unit 12 (AU12 - lip corner puller), and Action Unit 25 (AU25 – lips apart) were assessed. Data were analysed by generalised linear models after adjusting for personality traits. Fijians smiled longer than New Zealand Europeans (+19.9%; p=0.027). Mean intensity of AU6 (+1.0; 95%CIs=0.6-1.5; p<0.001), AU12 (+0.5; 95%CIs=0.1-0.9; p=0.008) and AU25 (+22.3%; 95%CIs=7.3-37.3%; p=0.005) were significantly higher in FJ group than the NZ group. Smiling features of Fijians and New Zealanders showed objective differences, the most distinctive being a higher activation of the Duchenne’s marker (AU6) in the Fijian group, which is regarded as a sign of smile genuineness.
... Much like claims about 'authentic' and 'fabricated' non-verbal cues, the observation of so-called 'reliable' muscles to discriminate 'authentic' from 'fabricated' non-verbal cues fails to be supported. Research finds that humans can deliberately activate so-called 'reliable' muscles even when provided with only minimal instruction, while at the same time, when experiencing genuine affect, they do not always spontaneously activate these muscles (Gunnery et al., 2013;Gunnery & Hall, 2014;Krumhuber & Manstead, 2009). In any case, even if there were slight morphologic or temporal differences in facial muscle activations between genuine and non-genuine expressions (e.g. for surprise, Namba et al., 2017Namba et al., , 2021, this does not mean that humans are able to learn them from 'body language experts', and to detect them in face-to-face interactions (e.g. ...
The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals has received and continues to receive much attention from emotion researchers and behavioural scientists. However, the common misconception that Darwin advocated for the universality of emotional reactions has led to a host of unfounded and discredited claims promoted by “body language experts” on both traditional and social media. These “experts” receive unparalleled public attention. Thus, rather than being presented with empirically supported findings on nonverbal behaviour, the public is exposed to “body language analysis” of celebrities, politicians, and defendants in criminal trials. In this perspective piece, we address the misinformation surrounding nonverbal behaviour. We also discuss the nature and scope of statements from body language experts, unpacking the claims of the most viewed YouTube video by a body language expert, comparing these claims to actual research findings, and giving specific attention to the implications for the justice system. We explain how body language experts use (and misuse) Darwin's legacy and conclude with a call for researchers to unite their voices and work toward stopping the spread of misinformation about nonverbal behaviour.
... Some research revealed that genuine smiles include activation of the cheek raiser muscle (AU6) that creates crow's feet around the eyes, while not genuine smiles consist of smiles without cheek raiser activation. However, it has been shown that smiles activating the cheek raiser can be intentionally produced even though people are not reflecting happiness but rather affiliation or submission [15], [16], [30]. Nothing is still known about the expression of the genuineness of other emotions, demonstrating that no facial clue is known to be distinctive for emotional deception so far. ...
... First, the types of smiles considered only represent a small proportion of all smile types. People may smile to signal affiliation or dominance (Martin et al., , 2021Orlowska et al., 2018;Rychlowska et al., 2017), to indicate no pain (Wong & Baker, 2001), to convey the "syntax" of a conversation (Bavelas & Chovil, 2018), or to mask negative affect (Ekman & Friesen, 1982;Gunnery et al., 2013). Clarifying the spatiotemporal properties of these types of smiles is important to improve understanding of facial expressions. ...
Smiles are universal but nuanced facial expressions that are most frequently used in face-to-face communications, typically indicating amusement but sometimes conveying negative emotions such as embarrassment and pain. Although previous studies have suggested that spatial and temporal properties could differ among these various types of smiles, no study has thoroughly analyzed these properties. This study aimed to clarify the spatiotemporal properties of smiles conveying amusement, embarrassment, and pain using a spontaneous facial behavior database. The results regarding spatial patterns revealed that pained smiles showed less eye constriction and more overall facial tension than amused smiles; no spatial differences were identified between embarrassed and amused smiles. Regarding temporal properties, embarrassed and pained smiles remained in a state of higher facial tension than amused smiles. Moreover, embarrassed smiles showed a more gradual change from tension states to the smile state than amused smiles, and pained smiles had lower probabilities of staying in or transitioning to the smile state compared to amused smiles. By comparing the spatiotemporal properties of these three smile types, this study revealed that the probability of transitioning between discrete states could help distinguish amused, embarrassed, and pained smiles.
... Smiles serving this function elicit positive affect in recipients, rewarding them for the behavior that triggered the smile (Shore & Heerey, 2011). Although rewarding smiles often reflect felt positive affect, they do not have to (Gunnery et al., 2013). We define them by their success functioning as a social reward, not by the producer's internal state (Krumhuber & Kappas, 2022). ...
Laughter and smiles co-occur and accomplish similar communicative tasks. Certain smiles and laughter elicit positive affect in the sender and the recipient, serving as social rewards. Other smiles and laughter lack this positivity but retain a message of harmlessness and affiliation that lubricates the interaction. And finally, some smiles and laughter convey disapproval or dominance in a less serious way than more overt displays (e.g., frowns). But work on the social functions of smiles and laughter has progressed independently. We ask whether smiles and laughter are judged as more alike if they are high on the same social functional dimensions. First, online participants’ (N = 244) judged the similarity of a set of validated reward, affiliation, and dominance smiles to each other, resulting in a 2-dimensional semantic smile space. Then we inserted laughter clips (rated on the social functional dimensions in prior work) into the semantic smile space using new participants’ (N = 1089) responses on a smile-laughter similarity task. The laugh samples grouped in the smile space according to their previously determined social function, suggesting participants’ judgments about smile-laughter similarity were partly guided by the reward, affiliation, and dominance values of the displays. Trial-level analyses indicate reward and affiliation smiles were most likely to be matched to reward and affiliation laughs, respectively, but dominance displays were more complicated. This suggests perceivers judge the meaning of smiles and laughs along reward, affiliation, and dominance dimensions even without verbal prompts. It also deepens our understanding of the functional overlap of smiles and laughter.
... However, a sizeable body of empirical evidence accumulated in the past few decades indicates that this is not the case. DSs can beand often are-displayed deliberately and in the absence of positive feelings (Gosselin et al., 2010;Gunnery et al., 2013;Schmidt et al., 2003Schmidt et al., , 2006Schmidt et al., , 2009Smith et al., 1996). In some studies, the majority of smiles could even be classified as DSs when participants felt little or no positive emotion (80%, Girard et al., 2021) or when they were instructed to pose a smile (83%, Krumhuber & Manstead, 2009;67%, Schmidt & Cohn, 2001). ...
We comment on an article by Sheldon et al. from a previous issue of Perspectives (May 2021). They argued that the presence of positive emotion (Hypothesis 1), the intensity of positive emotion (Hypothesis 2), and chronic positive mood (Hypothesis 3) are reliably signaled by the Duchenne smile (DS). We reexamined the cited literature in support of each hypothesis and show that the study findings were mostly inconclusive, irrelevant, incomplete, and/or misread. In fact, there is no single (empirical) article that would unanimously support the idea that DSs function solely as indicators of felt positive affect. Additional evidence is reviewed, suggesting that DSs can be—and often are—displayed deliberately and in the absence of positive feelings. Although DSs may lead to favorable interpersonal perceptions and positive emotional responses in the observer, we propose a functional view that focuses on what facial actions—here specifically DSs—do rather than what they express.
... In addition, a posed smile is more asymmetric than a genuine smile and presents larger variability in the displacement of the mouth corners [8,14]. However, in 20-70% of cases posed smiles simulate the expression seen in genuine smiles [44][45][46][47]. With the present methodology, any variation in facial parts other than the lips, which might derive from the factors described above and affect the outcomes was excluded. ...
The reproducibility of facial expressions has been previously explored, however, there is no detailed information regarding the reproducibility of lip morphology forming a social smile. In this study, we recruited 93 young adults, aged 21–35 years old, who agreed to participate in two consecutive study visits four weeks apart. On each visit, they were asked to perform a social smile, which was captured on a 3D facial image acquired using the 3dMD camera system. Assessments of self-perceived smile attractiveness were also performed using a VAS scale. Lip morphology, including smile shape, was described using 62 landmarks and semi-landmarks. A Procrustes superimposition of each set of smiling configurations (first and second visit) was performed and the Euclidean distance between each landmark set was calculated. A linear regression model was used to test the association between smile consistency and self-perceived smile attractiveness. The results show that the average landmark distance between sessions did not exceed 1.5 mm, indicating high repeatability, and that females presented approximately 15% higher smile consistecy than males (p < 0.05). There was no statistically significant association between smile consistency and self-perceived smile attractiveness (η2 = 0.015; p = 0.252), when controlling for the effect of sex and age.
... These results are in agreement with other published studies reporting that consumers use more positive EMs to describe nutraceutical candies than negative ones [9,88]. It is known that smiling people express happiness; however, a smile can also show disappointment or hide real EMs [97,98]. However, in this study, there was a strong positive correlation between the expression of the EM 'happy' and OA results. ...
The purpose of this research was to develop formulations of chewing candies (CCs) in a sustainable manner by using berry by-products in combination with antimicrobial lactic acid bacteria (LAB) strains. To implement this aim, the optimal quantities of by-products from lyophilised raspberry (Rasp) and blackcurrant (Bcur) from the juice production industry were selected. Prior to use, Lactiplantibacillus plantarum LUHS135, Liquorilactobacillusuvarum LUHS245, Lacticaseibacillusparacasei LUHS244, and Pediococcus acidilactici LUHS29 strains were multiplied in a dairy industry by-product—milk permeate (MP). The antimicrobial activity of the selected ingredients (berry by-products and LAB) was evaluated. Two texture-forming agents were tested for the CC formulations: gelatin (Gl) and agar (Ag). In addition, sugar was replaced with xylitol. The most appropriate formulation of the developed CCs according to the product’s texture, colour, total phenolic compound (TPC) content, antioxidant activity, viable LAB count during storage, overall acceptability (OA), and emotions (EMs) induced in consumers was selected. It was established that the tested LAB inhibited three pathogens out of the 11 tested, while the blackcurrant by-products inhibited all 11 tested pathogens. The highest OA was shown for the CC prepared with gelatin in addition to 5 g of Rasp and 5 g of Bcur by-products. The Rasp and LUHS135 formulation showed the highest TPC content (147.16 mg 100 g−1 d.m.), antioxidant activity (88.2%), and LAB count after 24 days of storage (6.79 log10 CFU g−1). Finally, it was concluded that Gl, Rasp and Bcur by-products, and L. plantarum LUHS135 multiplied in MP are promising ingredients for preparing CCs in a sustainable manner; the best CC formula consisted of Gl, Rasp by-products, and LUHS135 and showed the highest OA (score 9.52) and induced the highest intensity of the EM ‘happy’ (0.231).
... However, a sizeable body of empirical evidence accumulated in the past few decades indicates that this is not the case. DSs can beand often are-displayed deliberately and in the absence of positive feelings (Gosselin et al., 2010;Gunnery et al., 2013;Schmidt et al., 2003Schmidt et al., , 2006Schmidt et al., , 2009Smith et al., 1996). In some studies, the majority of smiles could even be classified as DSs when participants felt little or no positive emotion (80%, Girard et al., 2021) or when they were instructed to pose a smile (83%, Krumhuber & Manstead, 2009;67%, Schmidt & Cohn, 2001). ...
The paper by Sheldon and colleagues is part of the body of literature that tries to disambiguate the function of a particular facial movement regarding emotional and social processes in humans: the concurrent activation of the zygomaticus major and orbicularis oculi muscle. The resulting visible change in facial appearance is often referred to as Duchenne Smile (DS) in honor of Duchenne de Boulogne, who published in 1862 a series of photographs of facial behavior triggered by external electrical stimulation of individual muscles (Duchenne, 1862/1990). Some authors have argued that DS are authentic because they are difficult to produce voluntarily. Indeed, the idea of reliable facial muscles (i.e., the orbicularis oculi muscle as Duchenne marker) unique to genuine emotional experiences that are difficult to deliberately control was reinforced in the late 20th century, particularly via the work of Paul Ekman and his colleagues (e.g., Ekman, 1990; Ekman, Davidson, & Friesen, 1990). A popular notion at the time was the idea of facial affect programs that trigger prototypical facial configurations corresponding to the basic six emotions. In this logic, the DS is a neurobiologically hard-wired (i.e., diagnostic, spontaneous) marker of enjoyment said to activate only during felt affect. By contrast, smiles without the Duchenne marker are thought of as false, fake, or dishonest, and lacking genuine positive affect (Frank, Ekman & Friesen, 1993). We would like to elaborate on some of the points raised by Sheldon et al. (2021) and try to clarify the arguably complicated nature of the DS. For this, it is important to closely examine the literature that has been cited in support of the authors’ hypotheses and make a distinction between the production and perception of DS.
... Future studies could re-examine this finding by directly addressing the hypothesis that happiness expression indeed down-regulates the unpleasant perception of affective processes. We think it would also be interesting to examine whether the expressed smile is spontaneous (Duchenne smile) or work primarily as a cover for genuine emotional experience (Gunnery et al., 2013). ...
Capitalization is an interpersonal process in which individuals (capitalizers) communicate their accomplishments to others (responders). When these attempts to capitalize are met with enthusiastic responses, individuals reap greater personal and social benefits from the accomplishment. This research integrated the interpersonal model of capitalization with moral foundations theory to examine whether accomplishments achieved through immoral (vs. moral) means disrupt the interpersonal processes of capitalization. We hypothesized that an accomplishment achieved through immoral (vs. moral) means would suppress the positive affective response often reaped from capitalizing on good news. We conducted two, mixed-methods experiments in which individuals interacted with a stranger (Study 1) or with their romantic partner (Study 2). We found that responders exhibited greater self-reported negative emotions, avoidance motivation, and arousal when reacting to capitalizers' immoral (vs. moral) accomplishments. In turn, greater negative affect predicted less enthusiastic verbal responses to capitalization attempts. In Study 2 we found that immoral accomplishments increased avoidance motivation, which contrary to our expectations, increased expressions of happiness. These studies reveal that the moral means by which accomplishments are achieved can disrupt the interpersonal process of capitalization. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
... For example, some individuals mimic Duchenne smiles to convey false emotions. These individuals do not experience true enjoyment (Gunnery, Hall, & Ruben, 2013). Therefore, respective doubts about the extent to which emotional expressions from face databases can be representative of certain emotions may still be inherent and affect the generalization of (not only) the current findings. ...
Faces convey a lot of information about a person. However, the usage of face masks occludes important parts of the face. There is already information that face masks alter the processing of variable characteristics such as emotional expressions and the identity of a person. To investigate whether masks influenced the processing of facial information, we compared ratings of full faces and those covered by face masks. 196 participants completed one of two parallel versions of the experiment. The data demonstrated varying effects of face masks on various characteristics. First, we showed that the perceived intensity of emotional expressions was reduced when the face was covered by face masks. This can be regarded as conceptual replication and extension of the impairing effects of face masks on the recognition of emotional expressions. Next, by analyzing valence and arousal ratings, the data illustrated that emotional expressions were regressed toward neutrality for masked faces relative to no-masked faces. This effect was grossly pronounced for happy facial expressions, less for neutral expressions, and absent for sad expressions. The sex of masked faces was also less accurately identified. Finally, masked faces looked older and less attractive. Post hoc correlational analyses revealed correlation coefficient differences between no-masked and masked faces. The differences occurred in some characteristic pairs (e.g., Age and Attractiveness, Age and Trustworthiness) but not in others. This suggested that the ratings for some characteristics could be influenced by the presence of face masks. Similarly, the ratings of some characteristics could also be influenced by other characteristics, irrespective of face masks. We speculate that the amount of information available on a face could drive our perception of others during social communication. Future directions for research were discussed.
... This argument is supported by the literature. Previous research has shown that Duchenne smiles can be produced when individuals are hiding negative emotions (Gunnery, Hall, & Ruben, 2013). Based on these results, I postulate that the high frequency of production of both non-Duchenne and Duchenne smiles might have influenced the perception and, possibly, the assessment of that test-taker during the face-to-face speaking test. ...
This study investigated the role of gestures, smiles, and eye contact on scores assigned to English-as-an-additional-language (EAL) speakers during standardized face-to-face speaking tests. Four English-as-a-first-language examiners and four EAL test-takers participated in simulated IELTS Speaking Tests. Qualitatively, an inductive thematic analysis was conducted. Quantitatively, scores were holistically (overall scores assigned) and analytically (by criterion). Nonverbal cues were examined by the total number of cues produced by all test-takers, the frequency of production by test-taker, the frequency of production of subcategories of nonverbal cues by test-taker, and by production alongside speech or in isolation. Mimicry of nonverbal cues generated by test-takers was investigated. Test-takers’ lexical range was also analyzed vis-à-vis the scores assigned to the criterion lexical resource. Conclusions drawn from the triangulation of data sources indicate that nonverbal cues may have played a role in the assessment of the criteria fluency and coherence and pronunciation. This study adds to the current body of literature on second language assessment, which has suggested that variables other than language proficiency may play a role in scores assigned to test-takers during face-to-face speaking tests.
... At the same time, evidence against the idea that the Duchenne marker is a reliable indicator of felt versus posed enjoyment has been accumulating (e.g., Gunnery et al., 2013;Krumhuber & Manstead, 2009). Gunnery and Hall (2015) reported that in several studies where participants were instructed to produce a Duchenne smile, 30% to 100% of the participants were able to do it. ...
Previous research has shown that White people smile more in interracial interactions compared to same-race interactions. However, the morphological features of smiles in such interactions have not been investigated. We explored the duration and frequency of Duchenne smiling (activation of AU6) among White American college students (N = 92) in brief same-race and interracial dyadic interactions. Results revealed no difference between the conditions in non-Duchenne smiling (activation of AU12 only), however, women (but not men) in same-race interactions displayed Duchenne smiles significantly more frequently and for longer durations compared to those in interracial interactions. The difference was not explained by reduced positive affect or by differential goals (e.g., greater desire to be liked by one’s partner) in same-race versus interracial interactions. However, the desire to be liked (vs. respected) by one’s partner predicted the duration of Duchenne smiles in both types of interaction. Given people’s preference for Duchenne smiles in general, and the sensitivity of racial minorities to Whites’ smiles in particular, these findings suggest yet another way in which interracial interactions may induce discomfort in people of color.
... reflecting positive affective experience, though it is subject to intentional control (can be produced deliberately; e.g., Gunnery et al., 2013;Krumhuber and Manstead, 2009) and has morphological variants not associated with positive affect (e.g., dominance; Martin et al., 2017;Rychlowska et al., 2019); thus smiling, and indeed other overt expressive cues, may not reflect the affective component of hedonic wellbeing. Whereas concurrent overt behavioral displays do not likely track life satisfaction in a distinct manner from positive affective states, it may be the case that consistent overt cues across time and across contexts may indicate the broader, more reflective construct of life satisfaction. ...
What does it mean to be “well” and how might such a state be cultivated? When we speak of wellbeing, it is of ourselves and fellow humans. When it comes to nonhuman animals, consideration turns to welfare. My aim herein is to suggest that theoretical approaches to human wellbeing might be beneficially applied to consideration of animal welfare, and in so doing, introduce new lines of inquiry and practice. I will review current approaches to human wellbeing, adopting a triarchic structure that delineates hedonic wellbeing, eudaimonic wellbeing, and social wellbeing. For each, I present a conceptual definition and a review of how researchers have endeavored to measure the construct. Drawing these three domains of research together, I highlight how these traditionally anthropocentric lines of inquiry might be extended to the question of animal welfare – namely by considering hedonic welfare, eudaimonic welfare, and social welfare as potentially distinguishable and complementary components of the broader construct of animal welfare.
... For events where athletes compete two at a time, i.e., 'knock-out' events, gold and bronze victories were associated with 'Duchenne' smiles, while 'defeats' -silver medallists losing to gold medallists -were linked with sadness, contempt, or no emotions at all. Duchenne smiles purportedly reflect genuine positive emotion due to the activation of specific facial muscles (see Davidson et al., 1990;Ekman et al., 1990;Papa & Bonanno, 2008;Gunnery et al., 2013). Assuming this is true, the result is consistent with Medvec et al.'s (1995) original finding. ...
Most prior research on the relationship between relative attainment and subjective wellbeing focusses on relative income. The direction of this relationship may, however, be positive or negative. Defining the target comparison group can be challenging. This study focusses on a sample where ‘relative others’ are especially salient – Olympic athletes – and investigates relative achievement using a different ‘currency’ – medals. While prior research shows that bronze are happier than silver medallists, we find no difference unless there is a relatively close race at the bottom of the podium in the competition between silver, bronze, and fourth. A nuanced distributional approach can be used to explore marginal rank effects.
... For instance, in the realm of positive emotion, the Duchenne smile, or smiles that use both mouth and eye muscles, was long believed to be a cue to detect true enjoyment (Ekman, 1992). More recent work, however, has shown that these 'real' smiles can be faked (Krumhuber & Manstead, 2009), and that individuals who report higher capacity for displaying insincere emotion are able to generate these fake Duchenne smiles more convincingly (Gunnery, Hall, & Ruben, 2013). So, while we may be able to correctly label emotional displays, we may be no better at knowing whether those displays are sincere than we are at knowing whether someone is telling the truth. ...
In two lines of work, I explore the effects of using compassionate language. In the first line, I examine how social support that is not backed by sincere emotion is perceived, and whether it can be effective for making people feel better. In a between-subjects online study (N = 200) and a lab study with dyads of strangers (N = 144), I show that provider sincerity is less important for effective support than support recipients believe. Since recipients' accuracy is limited and biased with regard to sincerity, being supportive without emotional motivation could in cases be just as effective as the 'real' thing. The second line of work asks whether self-distancing promotes self-compassion. In four online experiments (Ns = 209, 411, 224, 567) where subjects write about a problem for which they blame themselves, those who wrote from a distanced perspective consistently used more compassionate language to discuss it than those who wrote from an immersed perspective. There was evidence that this kind of compassionate language was associated with feeling more self-compassion. Basic science and clinical implications of both lines of work are discussed.
... Additionally, the low degree of shared variance between face memory ability and general cognitive ability suggests face-specific central cognitive processes (Wilmer et al. 2010(Wilmer et al. , 2012. Finally, face specificity in motor-related processes might contribute to individual differences in people's facial emotion processing abilities (Gunnery et al. 2013;Hildebrandt et al. 2015aHildebrandt et al. , 2015b. ...
The study of socio-cognitive abilities emerged from intelligence research, and their specificity remains controversial until today. In recent years, the psychometric structure of face cognition (FC)—a basic facet of socio-cognitive abilities—was extensively studied. In this review, we summarize and discuss the divergent psychometric structures of FC in easy and difficult tasks. While accuracy in difficult tasks was consistently shown to be face-specific, the evidence for easy tasks was inconsistent. The structure of response speed in easy tasks was mostly—but not always—unitary across object categories, including faces. Here, we compare studies to identify characteristics leading to face specificity in easy tasks. The following pattern emerges: in easy tasks, face specificity is found when modeling speed in a single task; however, when modeling speed across multiple, different easy tasks, only a unitary factor structure is reported. In difficult tasks, however, face specificity occurs in both single task approaches and task batteries. This suggests different cognitive mechanisms behind face specificity in easy and difficult tasks. In easy tasks, face specificity relies on isolated cognitive sub-processes such as face identity recognition. In difficult tasks, face-specific and task-independent cognitive processes are employed. We propose a descriptive model and argue for FC to be integrated into common taxonomies of intelligence.
... Smiling, in general, is the expression of happiness [31]. However, according to other authors, a smile can be a signal of embarrassment [32] or disappointment [33] or used deliberately to hide EMs [34]. However, in our study, there was a very strong correlation between OA results using a hedonic scale and expression of the EM "happy". ...
The aim of this study was to develop nutraceutical chewing candy (CCN) formulations based on fermented milk permeate (MP) (source of galactooligosaccharides (GOS) and viable lactic acid bacteria (LAB)), psyllium husk (source of desirable hydrocolloids), and apple by-products (source of phenolic compounds). For CCN preparation, gelatin (Gel) and agar were tested; also, to provide CCN prepared using agar with a desirable hard texture, citric acid (cit) was changed to ascorbic acid. To select the optimal quantities of the ingredients, overall acceptability (OA) and emotions (EMs) induced in consumers by different CCN formulations were evaluated. Furthermore, viable LAB count during storage, texture, colour, and antioxidant characteristics were analysed. The highest OA (score 8.5) was shown for samples consisting of MP, psyllium husk (Ph), apple by-products (App), cit and xylitol (Xy); a very strong correlation was found between OA and the EM “happy” (r = 0.907**). After 14 days of storage, Gel+MP+Ph+App+cit samples showed a LAB count higher than 6.0 log10 CFU g−1; however, better antioxidant properties were found for the CCN prepared with agar. Finally, it can be stated that fermented MP, Ph, and App can be used for preparation of added-value CCN in a sustainable manner, and the recommended formulation is Gel+ MP+Ph+App+cit+Xy.
... Although people can often distinguish real from feigned cooperative cues, such as smiles (Gunnery & Ruben, 2016) and laughter (Bryant & Aktipis, 2014;Bryant et al., 2018), these cues can be faked (Gunnery, Hall, & Ruben, 2013), and therefore have the potential to be false signals. For example, Danvers and Shiota (2018) found that partners who displayed dynamically engaged smiles --smiling that occurs in response to a partner's smiling --tended to evoke higher rates of partner cooperation in a subsequent prisoner's dilemma task, even though dynamically engaged smiles did not significantly predict one's own cooperative behavior. ...
For humans, sociality is inextricably linked to cooperation. The human life history, characterized by an extended altricial period during early childhood, required cooperation in the form of pair-bonding, alloparenting, intergenerational transfers of calories, and extensive cooperative food sharing among kin and non-kin. Cooperating to achieve mutual goals often led to better outcomes compared to uncoordinated individual efforts. However, avoiding exploitation was critical to managing challenges of sociality. Building on a socio-functional perspective, we summarize evidence showcasing the role emotion plays in guiding proximate mechanisms that facilitate cooperation or hinder competition through their effect on partner choice and relationship management. We further organize these emotions (e.g., compassion, sadness, gratitude, anger, shame, guilt) by their proposed interpersonal ultimate functions based on the ways in which they promote cooperation via 1) Distinguishing high-value from low-value partners, 2) Building and maintaining lasting cooperative relationships with valuable partners; and 3) Identifying when to de-invest from or terminate existing relationships.
... decoders) are not very good at determining if an expression is genuine or deliberate 5,6 . This poor performance may be due to a lack of reliable markers that can distinguish veracity 7 and senders' ability to produce genuine-looking expressions with little effort 8 , enough to fool others 9 . However, while humans may be unable to make accurate emotional authenticity discriminations, it is important to investigate if genuine and deliberate displays do have morphological and dynamic differences that can be measured using more advanced technology-based approaches. ...
The physical properties of genuine and deliberate facial expressions remain elusive. This study focuses on observable dynamic differences between genuine and deliberate expressions of surprise based on the temporal structure of facial parts during emotional expression. Facial expressions of surprise were elicited using multiple methods and video recorded: senders were filmed as they experienced genuine surprise in response to a jack-in-the-box (Genuine), other senders were asked to produce deliberate surprise with no preparation (Improvised), by mimicking the expression of another (External), or by reproducing the surprised face after having first experienced genuine surprise (Rehearsed). A total of 127 videos were analyzed, and moment-to-moment movements of eyelids and eyebrows were annotated with deep learning-based tracking software. Results showed that all surprise displays were mainly composed of raising eyebrows and eyelids movements. Genuine displays included horizontal movement in the left part of the face, but also showed the weakest movement coupling of all conditions. External displays had faster eyebrow and eyelid movement, while Improvised displays showed the strongest coupling of movements. The findings demonstrate the importance of dynamic information in the encoding of genuine and deliberate expressions of surprise and the importance of the production method employed in research.
... Duchenne or genuine smiles are caused by the activation of facial action units 6 and 12 [67], and generally, this is the result of enjoyment and happiness. However, previous studies showed that a smile could be misleading, as many people smile as a sign of embarrassment [68], disappointment [69] or deliberately to hide emotions [70]. This shows that overall liking, explicit emotional responses, and implicit emotional responses vary in the outcome that they have in relationship to hedonic reactions. ...
Emotional responses elicited by foods are of great interest for new product developers and marketing professionals, as consumer acceptance proved to be linked to the emotions generated by the product in the consumers. An emotional measurement is generally considered an appropriate tool to differentiate between the products of similar nutritional value, flavour, liking and packaging. Novel methods used to measure emotions include self-reporting verbal and visual measurements, and facial expression techniques. This study aimed to evaluate the explicit and implicit emotional response elicited during the tasting of two different brands (A and B) of energy drinks. The explicit response of consumers was assessed using liking (nine-point hedonic scale), and emotions (EsSense Profile®—Check-All-That-Apply questionnaire), and implicit emotional responses were evaluated by studying facial expressions using the Affectiva Affdex® software. The familiarity of the product and purchase intent were also assessed during the study. The hedonic rating shows a significant difference in liking between the two brands of energy drink during the tasting session. For the explicit emotional responses, participants elicited more positive emotions than the negative emotions for both energy drinks. However, participants expressed “happy”, “active” and “eager” emotions more frequently for energy drink A. On the other hand, the implicit emotional responses through facial expressions indicated a high level of involvement of the participants with energy drink B as compared to energy drink A. The study showed that overall liking and the explicit and implicit emotional measurements are weakly to moderately correlated.
... Because Duchenne smiles have been held to signal felt positive emotion, the distinction between Duchenne and non-Duchenne smiles is often conflated with a similar approach that separates smiles into those that are true (or genuine) versus false, based on whether or not the smiler is simultaneously experiencing positive emotion (for further discussion, see Martin et al., 2017). It should be noted, however, that these two approaches are not necessarily identical: a smile can be a true indicator of positive feelings without necessarily involving the Duchenne marker, and people are capable of producing Duchenne smiles in the absence of positive affect (Gunnery et al., 2012;Krumhuber & Manstead, 2009). Thus, whereas the Duchenne/non-Duchenne distinction relies on physical features to categorize smiles, the true/false distinction relies on the internal state of the smiler (inferred or selfreported) to categorize smiles. ...
Smiles are nonverbal signals that convey social information and influence the social behavior of recipients, but the precise form and social function of a smile can be variable. In previous work, we have proposed that there are at least three physically distinct types of smiles associated with specific social functions: reward smiles signal positive affect and reinforce desired behavior, affiliation smiles signal non-threat and promote peaceful social interactions, dominance smiles signal feelings of superiority and are used to negotiate status hierarchies. The present work advances the science of the smile by addressing a number of questions that directly arise from this smile typology. What do perceivers think when they see each type of smile (study 1)? How do perceivers behave in response to each type of smile (study 2)? Do people produce three physically distinct smiles in response to contexts related to each of the three social functions of smiles (study 3)? We then use an online machine learning platform to uncover the labels that lay people use to conceptualize the smile of affiliation, which is a smile that serves its social function but lacks a corresponding lay concept. Taken together, the present findings support the conclusion that reward, affiliation, and dominance smiles are distinct signals with specific social functions. These findings challenge the traditional assumption that smiles merely convey whether and to what extent a smiler is happy and demonstrate the utility of a social–functional approach to the study of facial expression.
... There are two negative MSEs, both confronting, that occupy less than 5% of the sequence. The smiles cover nearly the full range of possible styles: from (deliberately) genuine (Gunnery et al. 2012) to social, tense, miserable, and masked. They occur in ambiguous verbal and nonverbal contexts, mixing positive and negative. ...
Two contrasting cases will be presented, one with normative interactions, and one with serious challenges in the coparenting relationship. The cases are part of a longitudinal study of a community sample (N = 50) using the Lausanne Trilogue play (LTP) paradigm. Families were followed from the prenatal period, at 7 months gestation, through infancy, age 5, and now a 15-year follow-up. In keeping with previously developed macroanalytic readings, we propose a microanalytic reading of interactive patterns in the prenatal and adolescent LTPs. Microanalyses of the 3-together Mutual Smiles Episodes as well as of gaze and affect interactions between partners serve to measure triangular focal attention and affect sharing as preconditions for collective intersubjective communication. The aim is both to explore the continuity of intersubjective communication from prenatal coparenting to triangular family intersubjective communication in adolescence, and to document key differences between normative and problematic interactive patterns. Results illustrate the advantages of using macro- and microanalyses of interactions in parallel. They also confirm the continuity of family normative and problematic patterns between pregnancy and adolescence.
... This review concluded that people are more likely to produce Duchenne smiles than non-Duchenne smiles when experiencing positive emotion (e.g., Ekman et al., 1988;Jakobs et al., 1999;Matsumoto & Willingham, 2009;Mehu et al., 2007) and that observers tend to perceive Duchenne smiles as more positive than non-Duchenne smiles (Gunnery & Ruben, 2016). However, it also concluded that Duchenne smiles can be-and often areproduced deliberately and therefore are not reliable signals of genuine positive emotion (e.g., Gosselin et al., 2010;Gunnery et al., 2013;Krumhuber & Manstead, 2009). Finally, it suggested that other smile characteristics (e.g., smile intensity and duration) may be more important than eye constriction in distinguishing positive emotion (Gunnery & Ruben, 2016;Krumhuber & Manstead, 2009). ...
The common view of emotional expressions is that certain configurations of facial-muscle movements reliably reveal certain categories of emotion. The principal exemplar of this view is the Duchenne smile, a configuration of facial-muscle movements (i.e., smiling with eye constriction) that has been argued to reliably reveal genuine positive emotion. In this paper, we formalized a list of hypotheses that have been proposed regarding the Duchenne smile, briefly reviewed the literature weighing on these hypotheses, identified limitations and unanswered questions, and conducted two empirical studies to begin addressing these limitations and answering these questions. Both studies analyzed a database of 751 smiles observed while 136 participants completed experimental tasks designed to elicit amusement, embarrassment, fear, and physical pain. Study 1 focused on participants’ self-reported positive emotion and Study 2 focused on how third-party observers would perceive videos of these smiles. Most of the hypotheses that have been proposed about the Duchenne smile were either contradicted by or only weakly supported by our data. Eye constriction did provide some information about experienced positive emotion, but this information was lacking in specificity, already provided by other smile characteristics, and highly dependent on context. Eye constriction provided more information about perceived positive emotion, including some unique information over other smile characteristics, but context was also important here as well. Overall, our results suggest that accurately inferring positive emotion from a smile requires more sophisticated methods than simply looking for the presence/absence (or even the intensity) of eye constriction.
... It is important to note, though, that the argument for clear differences in expression authenticity (Ekman et al., 1988) is neither consistent with empirical investigations (Barrett et al., 2019) nor reflected in human judgments of facial expressions (Zloteanu et al., , 2018. First, senders seem to possess the ability to produce genuine-looking displays of emotion (Surakka and Hietanen, 1998;Gosselin et al., 2010;Gunnery et al., 2013). Second, when considering facial expressions as social signals, as done in the affect-induction perspective, it is possible to understand why expression authenticity judgments are relatively poor. ...
People dedicate significant attention to others’ facial expressions and to deciphering their meaning. Hence, knowing whether such expressions are genuine or deliberate is important. Early research proposed that authenticity could be discerned based on reliable facial muscle activations unique to genuine emotional experiences that are impossible to produce voluntarily. With an increasing body of research, such claims may no longer hold up to empirical scrutiny. In this article, expression authenticity is considered within the context of senders’ ability to produce convincing facial displays that resemble genuine affect and human decoders’ judgments of expression authenticity. This includes a discussion of spontaneous vs. posed expressions, as well as appearance- vs. elicitation-based approaches for defining emotion recognition accuracy. We further expand on the functional role of facial displays as neurophysiological states and communicative signals, thereby drawing upon the encoding-decoding and affect-induction perspectives of emotion expressions. Theoretical and methodological issues are addressed with the aim to instigate greater conceptual and operational clarity in future investigations of expression authenticity.
... One conclusion of the present research is that one should not attempt to fake a smile for photographs unless one can pull of a Duchenne smile. Some people can do this, but others cannot (Gunnery, Hall, & Ruben, 2013). Another conclusion is that relationship effects should be given more attention in research on interpersonal perception. ...
We investigated determinants of liking at zero-acquaintance, focusing on individual differences in perceivers’ reactions to appearance cues. Perceivers (N = 385) viewed portrait photographs of Targets (N = 146). Perceiver’s Agreeableness and Extraversion were uniquely associated with liking targets. Targets who expressed positive emotions, looked relaxed, were physically attractive, and looked healthy and energetic, were the most liked. There were substantial individual differences in how Perceivers were influenced by appearance cues. For instance, Perceivers generally rated targets who displayed non-Duchenne (fake) smiles less favorably than targets who did not smile or targets who displayed Duchenne (authentic) smiles. However, non-Duchenne smiles elicited especially negative ratings from Perceivers high in Neuroticism or Conscientiousness, but not from Perceivers low in Agreeableness.
... However, smiling is believed to have once been an aggressive gesture involving the bearing of teeth and has over time evolved through an expression of submission and appeasement (Preuschoft, 2010) into a demonstration of a safe message to others. Laughter in comparison is thought to be "a medium for emotional contagion, a mechanism for transmitting positive emotion and playfulness" (Gervais, 2005) whose origins possibly lie in the pant -like vocalisations of the great apes during tickling and chasing (Darwin, 1872;Caron, 2002); and it is perhaps also worth remembering that smiling can be easily faked (Gunnery, 2012) but laughter less so. ...
... There is however a catch: Duchenne smiles are perceived not just as more genuine than non-Duchenne ones but also as more intense (Gunnery, Hall, & Ruben, 2013;Krumhuber & Manstead, 2009;Quadflieg et al., 2013). For this reason, some researchers (Fridlund, 1994;Messinger, 2002;Messinger et al., 2012) have argued the Duchenne marker should be conceptualized as a marker of emotional intensity-in the context of smiles, feeling more happy or more positive emotion-rather than emotional genuineness per se. ...
The Duchenne marker-crow's feet wrinkles at the corner of the eyes-has a reputation for signaling genuine positive emotion in smiles. Here, we test whether this facial action might be better conceptualized as a marker of emotional intensity, rather than genuineness per se, and examine its perceptual outcomes beyond smiling, in sad expressions. For smiles, we found ratings of emotional intensity (how happy a face is) were unable to fully account for the effect of Duchenne status (present vs. absent) on ratings of emotion genuineness. The Duchenne marker made a unique direct contribution to the perceived genuineness of smiles, supporting its reputation for signaling genuine emotion in smiling. In contrast, across 4 experiments, we found Duchenne sad expressions were not rated as any more genuine or sincere than non-Duchenne ones. The Duchenne marker did however make sad expressions look sadder and more negative, just like it made smiles look happier and more positive. Together, these findings argue the Duchenne marker has an important role in sad as well as smiling expressions, but is interpreted differently in sad expressions (contributions to intensity only) compared with smiles (emotion genuineness independently of intensity). (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
Introduction
Human cooperativeness is an important personality trait. However, the mechanism through which people cooperate remains unclear. Previous research suggests that one of the proposed functions of smiling is to advertise altruistic dispositions, leading to successful cooperation. In particular, studies have reported that Duchenne smiles are honest signals of cooperative intent because they are not easy to produce voluntarily. This study aimed to examine the predictive relationships among altruistic cooperativeness traits, Duchenne smiles, and cooperative behavior.
Methods
A total of 90 people were randomly assigned to dyads and filmed while they participated in a ten-minute, unstructured conversation followed by a prisoner’s dilemma game to measure their cooperative behaviors. Their smiles during conversations were classified as Duchenne or non-Duchenne. Participants’ altruistic dispositions were measured before the conversation began using an anonymous prisoner’s dilemma game.
Results
The results of our linear regression analyses support previous findings that individual’s Duchenne smiles and their own cooperative behavior are positively correlated. However, when we controlled for altruistic cooperativeness, Duchenne smiles no longer correlated with cooperative behavior. The results of the mediation analyses showed that Duchenne smiles and smile synchrony did not mediate the predictive relationship between altruistic cooperativeness and cooperative behavior.
Discussion
Our results suggest that human cooperative behavior may be predetermined by altruistic cooperativeness. This calls for the reconsideration of the Duchenne smile as an underlying behavioral mechanism that is effective for signaling altruistic cooperative intent.
Previous studies have differentiated between implicit and explicit processing in emotion recognition using facial expressions and utterances. Implicit processing relates to observed cues, and explicit processing to inference of the expressed emotion. However, the relationships between implicit and explicit processing, and between emotion recognition from facial expressions and from utterances, have not yet been empirically determined. To investigate this issue, the present study examined the more important cues in judging the emotion of the expressor by presenting facial expressions that expressed different emotions in the eyes and mouth, and utterances that expressed different emotions in prosody and lexical content. Additionally, the study examined the cues the participants were more likely to focus their attention on. The results indicated no relationship between implicit and explicit processing. However, an association between the explicit processing of facial expressions and that of utterances was observed, suggesting that explicit processing is independent of implicit processing, and influenced by social conventions. These findings expand our knowledge regarding the processes involved in emotion recognition.
Introduction:
This observational study investigated the relationship between malocclusion and smiling.
Methods:
Adolescents and young adults (n = 72; aged 16-25 years) were identified according to their Dental Aesthetic Index (DAI) and allocated to 3 groups: (1) malocclusion group (n = 24; DAI ≥31), (2) retention group (n = 24; pretreatment DAI ≥31) with a prior malocclusion that had been corrected by orthodontic treatment, (3) control group with no-to-minor malocclusion (n = 24; DAI ≤25). Participants were requested to watch an amusing video. Based on the Facial Action Coding System, automated pattern recognition was used to detect smile episodes and assess their frequency, duration, genuineness, intensity, and extent of tooth show. Demographics, Big Five personality dimensions, and self-perceived smile esthetics-related quality of life were collected from all participants via questionnaires. Data were analyzed by mixed-model analysis and adjusted for possible confounders.
Results:
Patients from the malocclusion and retention groups smiled significantly less than participants from the control group, with the duration of smiles and smiling time being around half those of control subjects. Smile genuineness, smile intensity, and teeth shown did not differ across groups. Personality traits did not differ significantly among the 3 groups, whereas the malocclusion group scored around 30% less for dental self-confidence than the other 2 groups.
Conclusions:
Patients with severe malocclusion tend to smile less, but the features of their smiles are similar to those without malocclusion. A lower propensity to smile in patients with a corrected malocclusion may persist after orthodontic treatment.
Smile has been conceptualized as a signal of cooperative intent. However, given that smile is easy to fake, how smiling conveys the cooperative intention has long been a question of great interest. Although previous work suggests that people tend to mimic other’s smile and interpersonal synchrony is linked to prosocial behaviors, how synchronized smiling will influence cooperation is yet to be studied. What’s more, the impact of gaze direction during smiling on prosocial outcomes is still unclear. The authors investigated gaze direction and synchronized smiling across the course of 5-min conversation among pairs of same-sex strangers, and cooperation in a one-shot, two-person Prisoner’s Dilemma game occurring directly following the conversation. Consistent with previous works, Duchenne smiling predict their cooperation of the receiver in the Prisoner’s Dilemma game. It was found that greater direct gaze during synchronized Duchenne smiling predicts greater likelihood of cooperation by both the signaler and the receiver in the prisoner’s dilemma game. The results indicate that the Duchenne smiling with direct gaze may be an honest signal of cooperative intent.
KeywordsSmileGazeCooperationCommunicationSynchronization
Emotional expressivity is essential for human interactions, informing both perception and decision-making. Here, we examine whether creating an audio-visual emotional channel mismatch influences decision-making in a cooperative task with a virtual character. We created a virtual character that was either congruent in its emotional expression (smiling in the face and voice) or incongruent (smiling in only one channel). People (N = 98) evaluated the character in terms of valence and arousal in an online study; then, visitors in a museum played the “lunar survival task” with the character over three experiments (N = 597, 78, 101, respectively). Exploratory results suggest that multi-modal expressions are perceived, and reacted upon, differently than unimodal expressions, supporting previous theories of audio-visual integration.
The use of face masks has become ubiquitous. Although mask wearing is a convenient way to reduce the spread of disease, it is important to know how the mask affects our communication via facial expression. For example, when we are wearing the mask and meet a friend, are our facial expressions different compared to when we are not? We investigated the effect of face mask wearing on facial expression, including the area around the eyes. We measured surface electromyography from zygomaticus major, orbicularis oculi, and depressor anguli oris, when people smiled and talked with or without the mask. We found that only orbicularis oculi were facilitated by wearing the mask. We thus concluded that mask wearing increases the use of eye smiling as a form of communication. In other words, we can express joy and happiness even when wearing the mask using eye smiling.
This study examined cross-cultural similarities and differences in antecedents and appraisals of triumph. Participants in the U.S., Serbia, Russia, and Japan provided open-ended descriptions of previous antecedent events that elicited experiences of triumph, and completed a standard appraisal questionnaire about those events. Events that elicited pride were also included for comparison. The open-ended responses were coded using a framework that delineated theoretical characteristics of triumph based on previous research. Findings indicated cross-cultural similarities in the antecedents and appraisals of triumph-eliciting events. Cultural variations were also found, especially between Japan and the other cultural groups and with regard to self-evaluations, which suggested the role of culture in triggering and appraising emotion-eliciting events. These findings extended empirical evidence about these important components of triumph, further contributing to its possibility as a discrete emotion.
Chronic positive mood (CPM) has been shown to confer a wide variety of social, functional, and health benefits. Some researchers have argued that humans evolved to feel CPM, which explains why most people report better than neutral mood (the "positivity offset bias") and why particularly happy people have particularly good outcomes. Here, we argue that the Duchenne smile evolved as an honest signal of high levels of CPM, alerting others to the psychological fitness of the smiler. Duchenne smiles are honest because they express felt positive emotion, making it difficult for unhappy people to produce them. Duchenne smiles enable happy people to signal and cooperate with one another, boosting their advantages. In our literature review, we found (a) that not all Duchenne smiles are "honest," although producing them in the absence of positive emotion is difficult and often detectable, and (b) that the ability to produce and recognize Duchenne smiles may vary somewhat by a person's cultural origin. In the final section of the article, we consider behavioral influences on CPM, reviewing research showing that engaging in eudaimonic activity reliably produces CPM, as posited by the eudaimonic-activity model. This research suggests that frequent Duchenne smiling may ultimately signal eudaimonic personality as well as CPM.
Presentation of synergology; Analysis of the scientificity of synergology, Professional application of synergology.
This essay answers the following question: what contributions can we expect from synergology in psychotherapy?
In addition, it allows to situate synergology in the field of science and non-verbal communication.
The author is a synergologist and psychologist.
http://depot-e.uqtr.ca/id/eprint/9384/
Présentation de la synergologie, Analyse de la scientificité de la synergolgie, Application professionnelle de la synergologie.
Cet essai répons à la question suivante : quels apports peut-on attendre de la synergologie en psychothérapie?
En outre, il permet de bien situer la synergologie dans le champ de la science et de la communication non-verbale.
L'auteur est synergologue et psychologue.
Rencontrer les chercheurs en synergologie pour leur demander quelle est leur méthodologie de recherche. Comparer la méthodologie de recherche synergologique avec la démarche scientifique.
The present study examined sex differences in awareness of smiling behavior during a job interview, along with intended outcomes
of false smiling. Male and female participants were assigned to the interviewee role of a mock job interview and were videotaped.
Results indicate that women were more self-aware of false, but not genuine, smiling. In addition, women reported using false
smiles to mask negative emotion and to appear enthusiastic more than did men. Naïve judges rated women who smiled in an attempt
to mask negative emotion more harshly than men who smiled for this reason. Implications of these findings for the understanding
of sex differences in smiling are discussed.
Children's and adults' knowledge of the distinction between enjoyment and nonenjoyment smiles was investigated by presenting participants with short video excerpts of smiles prepared in accordance with the Facial Action Coding System (Ekman & Friesen, 1978). Enjoyment smiles differed from nonenjoyment smiles by greater symmetry and by appearance changes in the eye region produced by the orbicularis oculi action. The results indicate that 9- and 10-year-old children and adults were sensitive to the appearance changes produced in the eye region, but only when they could view the complete temporal dynamic of the smiles. No evidence of sensitivity was found for the level of asymmetry of the smiles, and no evidence of sensitivity for either of the markers was found in 6- and 7-year-old children.
We tested Ekman's (2003) suggestion that movements of a small number of reliable facial muscles are particularly trustworthy cues to experienced emotion because they tend to be difficult to produce voluntarily. On the basis of theoretical predictions, we identified two subsets of facial action units (AUs): reliable AUs and versatile AUs. A survey on the controllability of facial AUs confirmed that reliable AUs indeed seem more difficult to control than versatile AUs, although the distinction between the two sets of AUs should be understood as a difference in degree of controllability rather than a discrete categorization. Professional actors enacted a series of emotional states using method acting techniques, and their facial expressions were rated by independent judges. The effect of the two subsets of AUs (reliable AUs and versatile AUs) on identification of the emotion conveyed, its perceived authenticity, and perceived intensity was investigated. Activation of the reliable AUs had a stronger effect than that of versatile AUs on the identification, perceived authenticity, and perceived intensity of the emotion expressed. We found little evidence, however, for specific links between individual AUs and particular emotion categories. We conclude that reliable AUs may indeed convey trustworthy information about emotional processes but that most of these AUs are likely to be shared by several emotions rather than providing information about specific emotions. This study also suggests that the issue of reliable facial muscles may generalize beyond the Duchenne smile.
Three experiments were conducted to examine whether the temporal dynamics of Duchenne-smiles influenced the perception of smile authenticity. Realistic computer-generated Duchenne-smiles that varied in their onset- and offset-durations (Experiment 1), or only in their offset-duration (Experiment 2), or in both their onset- and apex-durations (Experiment 3), were created using Poser 4 software. Perceived genuineness varied monotonically with the duration of each manipulated dynamic component. The results are in accordance with Ekman and Friesenrsquos (1982) observations regarding the duration of smiles of enjoyment, which suggest that each dynamic component has a distinct duration range that can influence the perceived genuineness of smiles.
Although previous studies of emotional responding have found that women are more emotionally expressive than men, it remains unclear whether men and women differ in other domains of emotional response. We assessed the expressive, experiential, and physiological emotional responses of men and women in 2 studies. In Study 1, undergraduates viewed emotional films. Compared with men, women were more expressive, did not differ in reports of experienced emotion, and demonstrated different patterns of skin conductance responding. In Study 2, undergraduate men and women viewed emotional films and completed self-report scales of expressivity, gender role characteristics, and family expressiveness. Results replicated those from Study 1, and gender role characteristics and family expressiveness moderated the relationship between sex and expressivity.
We investigated adults' voluntary control of 20 facial action units theoretically associated with 6 basic emotions (happiness, fear, anger, surprise, sadness, and disgust). Twenty young adults were shown video excerpts of facial action units and asked to reproduce them as accurately as possible. Facial Action Coding System (FACS; Ekman & Friesen, 1978a) coding of the facial productions showed that young adults succeeded in activating 18 of the 20 target actions units, although they often coactivated other action units. Voluntary control was clearly better for some action units than for others, with a pattern of differences between action units consistent with previous work in children and adolescents.
We investigated the value of the Duchenne (D) smile as a spontaneous sign of felt enjoyment. Participants either smiled spontaneously in response to amusing material (spontaneous condition) or were instructed to pose a smile (deliberate condition). Similar amounts of D and non-Duchenne (ND) smiles were observed in these 2 conditions (Experiment 1). When subsets of these smiles were presented to other participants, they generally rated spontaneous and deliberate D and ND smiles differently. Moreover, they distinguished between D smiles of varying intensity within the spontaneous condition (Experiment 2). Such a differentiation was also made when seeing the upper or lower face only (Experiment 3), but was impaired for static compared with dynamic displays (Experiment 4). The predictive value of the D smile in these judgment studies was limited compared with other features such as asymmetry, apex duration, and nonpositive facial actions, and was only significant for ratings of the upper face and static displays. These findings raise doubts about the reliability and validity of the D smile and question the usefulness of facial descriptions in identifying true feelings of enjoyment.
Two studies were conducted to assess the influence of emotional context and social context, in terms of gender and status, on speaker expressivity and observer mimicry in a dyadic interactive setting. For Study 1, 96 same sex dyads and for Study 2, 72 mixed sex dyads participated in a social sharing paradigm. The results showed that in both same sex and mixed sex dyads women smile more than men and members of both sexes use Duchenne smiles rather than non-Duchenne smiles to signal social intent. In same sex dyads facial expressivity and facial mimicry were determined by both the emotional and the social context of the situation. However, whereas emotional context effects maintained, social context effects were absent in mixed sex dyads. The study is the first to show evidence for facial mimicry in an interactional setting and supports the notion that mimicry is dependent on social context.
Previous research suggests differences in lip movement between deliberate and spontaneous facial expressions. We investigated within participant differences between deliberately posed and spontaneously occurring smiles during a directed facial action task. Using automated facial image analysis, we quantified lip corner movement during periods of visible Zygomaticus major activity. Onset and offset speed, amplitude of movement, and offset duration were greater in deliberate smiles. In contrast to previous results, however, lip corner movement asymmetry was not greater in deliberate smiles. Observed characteristics of deliberate and spontaneous smiling may be related to differences in the typical context and purpose of the facial signal.
This article addresses the issue of the communication of emotion by actors. In Study 1, the facial behavior of 6 actors portraying emotions as felt or unfelt were analyzed with the Facial Action Coding System. Results indicated that the portrayals of felt emotions were closer to the expression of genuine emotion than the portrayals of unfelt emotions for 3 of the 6 emotions under investigation. Study 2 examined the decoding of actors' portrayals from facial behavior. Decoders were found to be very accurate in recognizing the emotional category but not in judging the encoding condition.
Spontaneous and posed emotional facial expressions in individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD, n = 12) were compared with those of healthy age-matched controls (n = 12). The intensity and amount of facial expression in PD patients were expected to be reduced for spontaneous but not posed expressions. Emotional stimuli were video clips selected from films, 2-5 min in duration, designed to elicit feelings of happiness, sadness, fear, disgust, or anger. Facial movements were coded using Ekman and Friesen's (1978) Facial Action Coding System (FACS). In addition, participants rated their emotional experience on 9-point Likert scales. The PD group showed significantly less overall facial reactivity than did controls when viewing the films. The predicted Group X Condition (spontaneous vs. posed) interaction effect on smile intensity was found when PD participants with more severe disease were compared with those with milder disease and with controls. In contrast, ratings of emotional experience were similar for both groups. Depression was positively associated with emotion rating but not with measures of facial activity. Spontaneous facial expression appears to be selectively affected in PD, whereas posed expression and emotional experience remain relatively intact.
The authors present a meta-analysis of sex differences in smiling based on 448 effect sizes derivedfrom 162 research reports. There was a statistically significant tendency for women and adolescent girls to smile more than men and adolescent boys (d = 0.41). The authors hypothesized that sex differences in smiling would be larger when concerns about gender-appropriate behavior were made more conspicuous, situational constraints were absent or ambiguous, or emotion (especially negative) was salient. It was also predicted that the size of the sex difference in smiling would vary by culture and age. Moderator analysis supported these predictions. Although men tend to smile less than women, the degree to which this is so is contingent on rules and roles.
This study examined the modulatory function of Duchenne and non-Duchenne smiles on subjective and autonomic components of emotion. Participants were asked to hold a pencil in their mouth to either facilitate or inhibit smiles and were not instructed to contract specific muscles. Five conditions--namely lips pressing, low-level non-Duchenne smiling, high-level non-Duchenne smiling, Duchenne smiling, and control--were produced while participants watched videoclips that were evocative of positive or negative affect. Participants who displayed Duchenne smiles reported more positive experience when pleasant scenes and humorous cartoons were presented. Furthermore, they tended to exhibit different patterns of autonomic arousal when viewing positive scenes. These results support thefacial feedback hypothesis and suggest that facial feedback has more powerful effects when facial configurations represent valid analogs of basic emotional expressions.
This study examined hypothesized interpersonal and intrapersonal functions of smiling in positive and negative affective contexts. Smiles were measured during a lab-based monologue task following either happy or sad emotion-evoking films. Psychological adjustment and social integration were measured longitudinally using data obtained in years prior to and after the experimental task. Duchenne (genuine) smiles predicted better long-term adjustment and this effect was mediated independently by both social integration and undoing of negative emotion during the monologue. These effects were observed only in the negative affective context. Non-Duchenne smiles were not related to psychological adjustment. Neither Duchenne nor non-Duchenne smiles during the monologue task were related to personality variables assessed in this study.
We used measures of regional brain electrical activity to show that not all smiles are the same. Only one form of smiling produced the physiological pattern associated with enjoyment. Our finding helps to explain why investigators who treated all smiles as the same found smiles to be ubiquitous, occurring when people are unhappy as well as happy. Also, our finding that voluntarily making two different kinds of smiles generated the same two patterns of regional brain activity as was found when these smiles occur involuntarily suggests that it is possible to generate deliberately some of the physiological change which occurs during spontaneous positive affect.
This experiment tested whether social power and sex affect amount and type of smiling. Participants were assigned to low-, high-, or equal-power positions and interacted in dyads. For high- and equal-power participants, smiling correlated with positive affect, whereas for low- power participants, it did not. Women smiled more than men overall and showed more Duchenne smiling in the equal-power context, but they did not differ in the high-power context or low-power context. Results are interpreted as reflecting the license given to high-power people to smile when they are so inclined and the obligation for low-power people to smile regardless of how positive they feel.
Much theory and research on emotion are based on the facial expressions of amateurs asked to pose for still photographs. The theory of facial affect programs (FAPs; P. Ekman, 1972) was proposed to account for the resulting expressions, most of which are
patterns consisting of distinguishable parts. In the present study, 4 Hollywood films noted for fine acting and realism were examined for the facial expressions that accompany a basic emotion. In keeping with the theory of FAPs, professional actors judged as happy were found smiling in 97% (Duchenne smiling in 74%) of cases. In contrast, actors judged as surprised, afraid, angry, disgusted, or sad rarely showed the predicted pattern (found in 0–31% of cases). Typically, they used 1 or 2 parts from the full pattern. If these films represent real life, these findings favor a theory that assumes separable parts (e.g., components theory) over the older theory of FAPs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The aim of this study is to investigate the facial expressions of emotion. Two fundamental problems are taken up: (a) the elicitation and recording of facial expressions of emotion, and (b) the identification of these facial expressions from the eye region, mouth region, and full face. The subjects, who were photographed in a series of situations designed to elicit actual emotional reactions, consisted of six men and six women. Of the women, two were graduate students in psychology, one was a junior high school teacher, one was an undergraduate student in art, and two were stenographers. Of the men, three were teaching assistants in psychology, one was an undergraduate in engineering, one an undergraduate in business administration, and one was a professional musician. The results shows that the overt responses and introspective reports of the subjects reveal that emotional behavior was elicited in the experimental situation. Different experimental situations elicited differential patterns of response on the part of the most subjects. Marked individual differences in overt responses and introspective reports for each experimental situation were noted. Reactions to the experimental situations did not yield any systematic sex differences either in overt responses or introspective reports. Certain specific facial expressions of emotion were more reliably identified from the eye region, and others were more reliably identified from the mouth region. Acted expressions tended to favor the mouth region. For certain specific facial expressions of emotion the correspondence between judgments based on the eye region and full face was greater than the correspondence between judgments based on the mouth region and full face. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
According to appeasement hypotheses, embarrassment should have a distinct nonverbal display that is more readily perceived when displayed by individuals from lower status groups. The evidence from 5 studies supported these two claims. The nonverbal behavior of embarrassment was distinct from a related emotion (amusement), resembled the temporal pattern of facial expressions of emotion, was uniquely related to self-reports of embarrassment, and was accurately identified by observers who judged the spontaneous displays of various emotions. Across the judgment studies, observers were more accurate and attributed more emotion to the embarrassment displays of female and African-American targets than those of male and Caucasian targets. Discussion focused on the universality and appeasement function of the embarrassment display. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The goal of this study was to examine whether individual differences in the intensity of facial expressions of emotion are associated with individual differences in the voluntary control of facial muscles. Fifty college students completed a facial mimicry task, and were judged on the accuracy and intensity of their facial movements. Self-reported emotional experience was measured after subjects viewed positive and negative affect-eliciting filmclips, and intensity of facial expressiveness was measured from videotapes recorded while the subjects viewed the filmclips. There were significant sex differences in both facial mimicry task performance and responses to the filmclips. Accuracy and intensity scores on the mimicry task, which were not significantly correlated with one another, were both positively correlated with the intensity of facial expressiveness in response to the filmclips, but were not associated with reported experiences.
Theoretically based distinctions linked to measurable differences in appearance are described for three smiles: felt smiles (spontaneous expressions of positive emotion); false smiles (deliberate attempts to appear as if positive emotion is felt when it isn''t); and, miserable smiles (acknowledgements of feeling miserable but not intending to do much about it). Preliminary evidence supports some of the hypotheses about how these three kinds of smile differ.
Subjects ("senders") encoded six emotions twice, first via facial expressions and second via tone of voice. These expressions were recorded and presented for decoding to the senders and an additional group of judges. Results were as follows: (a) the ability to encode and the ability to decode both visual and auditory cues were significantly related; (b) the relationship between encoding and decoding cues of the same emotion appeared low or negative; (c) the ability to decode visual cues was significantly related to the ability to decode auditory cues, but the correlations among encoding (and decoding) scores on different emotions were low; (d) females were slightly better encoders, and significantly better decoders, than males; (e) acquaintance between sender and judge improved decoding scores among males but not among females; (f) auditory decoding scores were higher than visual decoding scores, particularly among males; (g) auditory decoding scores were relatively high if sender and judge were of the same sex, while visual decoding scores were relatively high if sender and judge were of opposite sexes; (h) decoding scores varied according to channel of communication and type of emotion transmitted.
Four experiments were conducted to determine whether voluntarily produced emotional facial configurations are associated with differentiated patterns of autonomic activity, and if so, how this might be mediated. Subjects received muscle-by-muscle instructions and coaching to produce facial configurations for anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise while heart rate, skin conductance, finger temperature, and somatic activity were monitored. Results indicated that voluntary facial activity produced significant levels of subjective experience of the associated emotion, and that autonomic distinctions among emotions: (a) were found both between negative and positive emotions and among negative emotions, (b) were consistent between group and individual subjects' data, (c) were found in both male and female subjects, (d) were found in both specialized (actors, scientists) and nonspecialized populations, (e) were stronger when the voluntary facial configurations most closely resembled actual emotional expressions, and (f) were stronger when experience of the associated emotion was reported. The capacity of voluntary facial activity to generate emotion-specific autonomic activity: (a) did not require subjects to see facial expressions (either in a mirror or on an experimenter's face), and (b) could not be explained by differences in the difficulty of making the expressions or by differences in concomitant somatic activity.
Facial expression, EEG, and self-report of subjective emotional experience were recorded while subjects individually watched both pleasant and unpleasant films. Smiling in which the muscle that orbits the eye is active in addition to the muscle that pulls the lip corners up (the Duchenne smile) was compared with other smiling in which the muscle orbiting the eye was not active. As predicted, the Duchenne smile was related to enjoyment in terms of occurring more often during the pleasant than the unpleasant films, in measures of cerebral asymmetry, and in relation to subjective reports of positive emotions, and other smiling was not.
Ekman and Friesen (1982) predicted that smiles that express enjoyment would be marked by smoother zygomatic major actions of more consistent duration than the zygomatic major actions of nonenjoyment smiles. Study 1 measured the duration and smoothness of smiles shown by female subjects in response to positive emotion films while alone and in a social interaction. Enjoyment smiles in both situations were of more consistent duration and smoother than nonenjoyment smiles. In Study 2 observers who were shown videotapes of enjoyment and nonenjoyment smiles were able to accurately identify enjoyment smiles at rates greater than chance; moreover, accuracy was positively related to increased salience of orbicularis oculi action. In Study 3, another group of observers were asked to record their impressions of the smiling women shown in Study 2. These women were seen as more positive when they showed enjoyment compared with nonenjoyment smiles. These results provide further evidence that enjoyment smiles are entities distinct from smiles in general.
The purpose of the study was to investigate facial and emotional reactions while viewing two different types of smiles and the relation of emotional empathy to these reactions. Facial EMG was recorded from the orbicularis oculi and zygomaticus major muscle regions while subjects individually watched two blocks of stimuli. One block included posed facial expressions of the Duchenne smile (a felt smile) and a neutral face, the other block included expressions of another type of smile called non-Duchenne smile (an unfelt smile) and a neutral face. Emotional experiences were asked after each stimulus block. Finally, a measure of empathy was given. Facial EMG reactions differentiated between the neutral face and the Duchenne smile but not between the neutral face and the non-Duchenne smile. The Duchenne smile block induced experience of pleasure for the subjects who saw it as the first stimulus block. Empathy was correlated to the rated experiences of pleasure and interest after the Duchenne smile block.
This research tested self-regulation and self-presentation as psychological mechanisms that motivate smiling when distressed. In Study 1, participants viewed moderately and intensely distressing, amusing, and neutral videos in social or nonsocial conditions. Smiling when distressed was most prevalent in conditions in which participants reported the greatest emotional distress. Specifically, while viewing distressing videos, men reported experiencing greater overall distress and also smiled more than women, especially in social conditions and while viewing intensely (as opposed to moderately) distressing stimuli. In general, smiling was related to more negative affect while viewing distressing videos but to more positive affect after viewing such stimuli. Study 2 explored raters' social perceptions of participants from Study 1, confirming that people judge distressed smilers as less socially appropriate and less likable than nonsmilers. Findings suggest that although distressed smiling serves a probable self-regulatory function, it may also bear some negative social consequences.
An empirical reflection on the smile
- M H Abel