Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-6587cd75c8-rlsgg Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-24T09:52:11.477Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

2 - When Two Do the Same, It Might Not Mean the Same: The Perception of Emotional Expressions Shown by Men and Women

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 August 2009

By
Ursula Hess ,
Reginald B. Adams  and
Robert E. Kleck
Edited by
Ursula Hess  and
Pierre Philippot
Ursula Hess
Affiliation:
Professor of Psychology University of Quebec at Montreal
Reginald B. Adams
Affiliation:
The Pennsylvania State University
Robert E. Kleck
Affiliation:
Dartmouth College
Ursula Hess
Affiliation:
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Pierre Philippot
Affiliation:
Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium
Get access

Summary

When he appears as a Ghost he had a countenance more in sorrow than in anger.

(Shakespeare, Hamlet, I.iii.232)

Authors' Note

Ursula Hess, Department of Psychology, University of Quebec at Montreal. Reginald B. Adams, Jr., Department of Psychology, Tufts University. Robert E. Kleck, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College. Preparation of this manuscript was supported by a grant from the Fonds de Formation des Chercheurs et l'Aide à la Recherche to Ursula Hess and Robert E. Kleck. We would like to thank Pierre Philippot for his helpful comments on a previous draft and Francois Labelle for the creation of the “aliens.”

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Ursula Hess, Department of Psychology, University of Quebec at Montreal, CP 8888, Station A, Montreal, QC, H3C 3P8, Canada ([email protected]).

Introduction

Humans are very sensitive to faces. Faces attract attention and have an important impact on our perception of a social interaction. Faces inform us about the gender, ethnicity, age, and state of health of our interaction partners and also convey information about their likely intelligence, maturity, dominance, sociability, and many other characteristics. In addition, human faces are able to communicate information about the emotions of others. Thus, faces provide us with important hints regarding the behaviors and intentions that we may expect from our interaction partners.

It is interesting that an important aspect of emotional expressions is that they also provide social information to the decoder.

Type
Chapter
Information
Group Dynamics and Emotional Expression , pp. 33 - 50
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Book purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Adams, R. B., Jr., Hess, U., & Kleck, R. E. (2006). Emotion in the neutral face: The influence of gender-emotion stereotypes and gender-related facial appearance. Manuscript submitted for publication.
Aronoff, J., Woike, B. A., & Hyman, L. M. (1992). Which are the stimuli in facial displays of anger and happiness? Configurational bases of emotion recognition. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 62, 1050–1066.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Averill, J. R. (1997). The emotions: An integrative approach. In Hogan, R., Johnson, J. A., & Briggs, S. R. (Eds.), Handbook of personality psychology (pp. 513–541). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Bauer, D. J., & Gariépy, J. L. (2001). The functions of freezing in the social interactions of juvenile high- and low-aggressive mice. Aggressive Behavior, 27, 463–475.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berry, D. S., & Brownlow, S. (1989). Were the physiognomists right? Personality correlates of facial babyishness. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 15, 266–279.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berry, D. S., & McArthur, L. Z. (1985). Some components and consequences of a babyface. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 48, 312–323.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berry, D. S., & McArthur, L. Z. (1986). Perceiving character in faces: The impact of age-related craniofacial changes on social perception. Psychological Bulletin, 100, 3–10.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brody, L. R., & Hall, J. A. (2000). Gender, emotion, and expression. In Lewis, M. & Haviland, J. M. (Eds.), Handbook of emotions, 2nd ed. (pp. 447–460). New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Coussi-Korbel, S. (1994). Learning to outwit a competitor in mangabeys (Cercocebus torquatus torquatus). Journal of Comparative Psychology, 108, 164–171.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Darwin, C. (1872/1965). The expression of the emotions in man and animals. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. (Originally published 1872).Google Scholar
Deutsch, F. M. (1990). Status, sex, and smiling: The effect of smiling in men and women. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 16, 531–540.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ding, G. F., & Jersild, A. T. (1932). A study of the laughing and smiling of preschool children. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 40, 452–472.Google Scholar
Dovidio, J. F., Brown, C. E., Heltman, K., Ellyson, S. L., & Keating, C. F. (1988). Power displays between women and men in discussions of gender-linked tasks: A multichannel study. Personality and Social Psychology, 55, 580–587.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eagly, A. H. (1987). Sex differences in social behavior: A social-role interpretation. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Eagly, A. H., & Steffen, V. J. (1984). Gender stereotypes stem from the distribution of women and men into social roles. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 46, 735–754.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fischer, A. H. (1993). Sex differences in emotionality: Fact or stereotype?Feminism & Psychology, 3, 303–318.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frijda, N. (1986). The emotions. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Frijda, N. H., Kuipers, P., & Shure, E. (1989). Relations among emotion appraisal and emotional action readiness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57, 212–228.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Halberstadt, A. G., & Saitta, M. B. (1987). Gender, nonverbal behavior, and perceived dominance: A test of the theory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53, 257–272.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall, J. A., Carney, D. R., & Murphy, N. A. (2002). Gender differences in smiling. In Abel, M. H. (Ed.), An empirical reflection on the smile (pp. 155–185). New York: The Edwin Mellen Press.Google Scholar
Hall, J. A., LeBeau, L. S., Reinoso, J. G., & Thayer, F. (2001). Status, gender, and nonverbal behavior in candid and posed photographs: A study of conversations between university employees. Sex Roles, 44, 677–692.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haugh, S. S., Hoffman, C. D., & Cowan, G. (1980). The eye of the very young beholder: Sex typing of infants by young children. Child Development, 51, 598–600.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hecht, M. A., & LaFrance, M. (1998). License or obligation to smile: The effect of power and sex on amount and type of smiling. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 24, 1332–1342.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Henley, N. M. (1977). Body politics: Power, sex and nonverbal communication. New York: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Henley, N. M. (1995). Body politics revisited: What do we know today? In Kalbfleisch, P. J. & Cody, M. J. (Eds.), Gender, power, and communication in human relationships (pp. 27–61). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Hess, U., Adams, R. B. Jr., & Kleck, R. E. (2004). Facial appearance, gender, and emotion expression. Emotion, 4, 378–388.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hess, U., Adams, R. B. Jr., & Kleck, R. E. (2005). Who may frown and who should smile? Dominance, affiliation, and the display of happiness and anger. Cognition and Emotion, 19, 515–536.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hess, U., Beaupré, M. G., & Cheung, N. (2002). Who to whom and why – cultural differences and similarities in the function of smiles. In Abel, M. (Ed.), An empirical reflection on the smile (pp. 187–216). New York: The Edwin Mellen Press.Google Scholar
Hess, U., Blairy, S., & Kleck, R. E. (1997). The intensity of emotional facial expressions and decoding accuracy. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 21, 241–257.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hess, U., Blairy, S., & Kleck, R. E. (2000). The influence of expression intensity, gender, and ethnicity on judgments of dominance and affiliation. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 24, 265–283.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hess, U., Kappas, A., & Banse, R. (1995). The intensity of facial expressions is determined by underlying affective state and social situation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 280–288.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hess, U., Senécal, S., Kirouac, G., Herrera, P., Philippot, P., & Kleck, R. E. (2000). Emotional expressivity in men and women: Stereotypes and self-perceptions. Cognition and Emotion, 609–642.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keating, C. F. (1985). Human dominance signals: The primate in us. In Ellyson, S. L. & Dovidio, J. F. (Eds.), Power, dominance, and nonverbal communication (pp. 89–108). New York: Springer Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keating, C. F., Mazur, A., & Segall, M. H. (1981). A cross-cultural exploration of physiognomic traits of dominance and happiness. Ethnology and Sociobiology, 2, 41–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knutson, B. (1996). Facial expressions of emotion influence interpersonal trait inferences. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 20, 165–182.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LaFrance, M., & Hecht, M. A. (1999). Option or obligation to smile: The effects of power and gender on facial expression. In Phillipot, P., Feldman, R. S., & Coats, E. J. (Eds.), The social context of nonverbal behavior (pp. 45–70). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
LaFrance, M., & Hecht, M. A. (2000). Gender and smiling: A meta-analysis. In Fischer, A. H. (Ed.), Gender and emotion: Social psychological perspectives (pp. 118–142). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LaFrance, M., & Henley, N. M. (1994). On oppressing hypotheses: Or differences in nonverbal sensitivity revisited. In Radtke, H. L. & Stam, H. J. (Eds.), Power/gender: Social relations in theory and practice. Inquiries in social construction (pp. 287–311). London: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Lewis, K. M. (2000). When leaders display emotion: How followers respond to negative emotional expression of male and female leaders. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 21, 221–234.3.0.CO;2-0>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Malatesta, C. Z., Fiore, M. J., & Messina, J. J. (1987). Affect, personality, and facial expressive characteristics of older people. Psychology and Aging, 2, 64–69.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Malatesta, C. Z., Izard, C. E., Culver, C., & Nicolich, M. (1987). Emotion communication skills in young, middle-aged, and older women. Psychology and Aging, 2, 193–203.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marsh, A. A., Adams, R. B. Jr., & Kleck, R. E. (2005). Why do fear and anger look the way they do? Form and social function in facial expressions. Personality and Social Psychological Bulletin, 31, 73–86.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marsh, A. A., Ambady, N., & Kleck, R. E. (2005). The effects of fear and anger facial expressions on approach- and avoidance-related behaviors. Emotion, 5, 119–124.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Maybury, K. K. (1997). The influence of status and sex on observer judgments of anger displays. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. University of California, Davis.Google Scholar
Menzel, E. W., Jr. (1973). Leadership and communication in young chimpanzees. In Menzel, E. W. Jr. (Ed.), Precultural primate behavior (pp. 192–225). Basel, Switzerland: Karger.Google Scholar
Menzel, E. W., Jr. (1974). A group of young chimpanzees in a one-acre field. In Schrier, A. M. & Stollnitz, F. (Eds.), Behavior of nonhuman primates (pp. 83–153). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Nagashima, K., & Schellenberg, J. A. (1997). Situational differences in intentional smiling: A cross-cultural exploration. Journal of Social Psychology, 137, 297–301.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scherer, K. R. (1999). Appraisal theory. In Dalgleish, T. & Power, M. J. (Eds.), Handbook of cognition and emotion (pp. 637–663). Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Senior, C., Phillips, M. L., Barnes, J., & David, A. S. (1999). An investigation into the perception of dominance from schematic faces: A study using the World-Wide Web. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments and Computers, 31, 341–346.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shields, S. A. (2000). Thinking about gender, thinking about theory: Gender and emotional experience. In Fischer, A. H. (Ed.), Gender and emotion: Social psychological perspectives (pp. 3–23). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shields, S. A. (2002). Speaking from the heart. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Zebrowitz, L. A. (1997). Reading faces: Window to the soul?Boulder, CO: Westview Press.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×