Forming impressions: effects of facial expression and gender stereotypes

Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Covert Versus Overt Processing of Happy, Fearful and Sad Facial Expressions

Behavioral and electrophysiological correlates of the influence of task demands on the processing of happy, sad, and fearful expressions were investigated in a within-subjects study that compared a perceptual distraction condition with task-irrelevant faces (e.g., covert emotion task) to an emotion task-relevant categorization condition (e.g., overt emotion task). A state-of-the-art non-parametric mass univariate analysis method was used to address the limitations of previous studies. Behaviorally, participants responded faster to overtly categorized happy faces and were slower and less accurate to categorize sad and fearful faces; there were no behavioral differences in the covert task. Event-related potential (ERP) responses to the emotional expressions included the N170 (140-180 ms), which was enhanced by emotion irrespective of task, with happy and sad expressions eliciting greater amplitudes than neutral expressions. EPN (200-400 ms) amplitude was modulated by task, with greater voltages in the overt condition, and by emotion, however, there was no interaction of emotion and task. ERP activity was modulated by emotion as a function of task only at a late processing stage, which included the LPP (500-800 ms), with fearful and sad faces showing greater amplitude enhancements than happy faces. This study reveals that affective content does not necessarily require attention in the early stages of face processing, supporting recent evidence that the core and extended parts of the face processing system act in parallel, rather than serially. The role of voluntary attention starts at an intermediate stage, and fully modulates the response to emotional content in the final stage of processing.

Employee emotional displays in the extended service encounter

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of happiness expressed by service firm employees when they are depicted in marketing communications materials, such as printed ads and videos.

Design/methodology/approach

Two experiments were conducted in a fitness service setting, in which employee display of happiness was manipulated (low vs high).

Findings

Both experiments showed that expressions of high levels of happiness produced a more positive attitude toward the service employee than expressions of low levels of happiness. Moreover, the impact of the expression of happiness on the evaluation of the employee was mediated by several variables, which suggests that the influence of depicted employees’ emotional expressions can take several routes.

Practical implications

The results imply that service firms should not only be mindful about which specific employee they select for appearing in marketing communications materials, they should also pay attention to the emotional displays of selected employees.

Originality/value

The present study contributes to previous research by assessing a set of potential mediators to explain why displays of happiness influence consumers, and by examining these effects in a marketing communications setting in which the customer is exposed to still images or video-based representations of the employee. The present study also focuses explicitly on happiness rather than on smiles.

Using selfies to challenge public stereotypes of scientists

In an online Qualtrics panel survey experiment (N = 1620), we found that scientists posting self-portraits (“selfies”) to Instagram from the science lab/field were perceived as significantly warmer and more trustworthy, and no less competent, than scientists posting photos of only their work. Participants who viewed scientist selfies, especially posts containing the face of a female scientist, perceived scientists as significantly warmer than did participants who saw science-only images or control images. Participants who viewed selfies also perceived less symbolic threat from scientists. Most encouragingly, participants viewing selfies, either of male or female scientists, did not perceive scientists as any less competent than did participants viewing science-only or control images. Subjects who viewed female scientist selfies also perceived science as less exclusively male. Our findings suggest that self-portraiture by STEM professionals on social media can mitigate negative attitudes toward scientists.

Effects of Facial Expression and Facial Gender on Judgment of Trustworthiness: The Modulating Effect of Cooperative and Competitive Settings

People often judge trustworthiness based on others’ faces (e.g., facial expression and facial gender). However, it is unclear whether social context plays a moderating role in forming trustworthiness judgments. Based on the emotions as social information (EASI) model, differing contexts may impact the effect of facial expression; however, there is no evidence demonstrating that differing contexts will or will not influence the effect of facial gender. In this study, we used two experiments to examine how facial expression and facial gender affect facial trustworthiness judgments and whether the effects on facial trustworthiness judgments are consistent in cooperative and competitive settings. Twenty-seven undergraduates (14 female; M_age = 21.81 years, SD = 2.66) participated in experiment 1. The results showed significant main effects of facial expression and facial gender as well as the interaction between them. To examine the social context effect, 28 undergraduates (18 female; M_age = 20.93 years, SD = 2.94) participated in experiment 2. The results showed the main effects of facial expression, facial gender, and social context. Moreover, there was a significant interaction between facial gender and facial expression and a marginally significant interaction between social context and facial expression. These results suggest that in the process of judging facial trustworthiness, individuals’ judgments are affected by both facial expression and facial gender. Furthermore, the effect of facial gender on facial trustworthiness judgments presents cross-situational stability, and the role of facial expression is influenced by the settings. These findings support and expand the EASI model.

What a Smile Means: Contextual Beliefs and Facial Emotion Expressions in a Non-verbal Zero-Sum Game

Research into the authenticity of facial emotion expressions often focuses on the physical properties of the face while paying little attention to the role of beliefs in emotion perception. Further, the literature most often investigates how people express a pre-determined emotion rather than what facial emotion expressions people strategically choose to express. To fill these gaps, this paper proposes a non-verbal zero-sum game - the Face X Game - to assess the role of contextual beliefs and strategic displays of facial emotion expression in interpersonal interactions. This new research paradigm was used in a series of three studies, where two participants are asked to play the role of the sender (individual expressing emotional information on his/her face) or the observer (individual interpreting the meaning of that expression). Study 1 examines the outcome of the game with reference to the sex of the pair, where senders won more frequently when the pair was comprised of at least one female. Study 2 examines the strategic display of facial emotion expressions. The outcome of the game was again contingent upon the sex of the pair. Among female pairs, senders won the game more frequently, replicating the pattern of results from study 1. We also demonstrate that senders who strategically express an emotion incongruent with the valence of the event (e.g., smile after seeing a negative event) are able to mislead observers, who tend to hold a congruent belief about the meaning of the emotion expression. If sending an incongruent signal helps to explain why female senders win more frequently, it logically follows that female observers were more prone to hold a congruent, and therefore inaccurate, belief. This prospect implies that while female senders are willing and/or capable of displaying fake smiles, paired-female observers are not taking this into account. Study 3 investigates the role of contextual factors by manipulating female observers' beliefs. When prompted to think in an incongruent manner, these observers significantly improve their performance in the game. These findings emphasize the role that contextual factors play in emotion perception-observers' beliefs do indeed affect their judgments of facial emotion expressions.