Thursday, May 26, 2011

The Current Journal of Emotion Has Several Things You Should Check Out

I love getting to read about studies like these, because they are not only interesting, but at least a couple of them will be talked about in newspapers, magazines, on the web, and on TV in the coming weeks and months...

Detection of emotional faces is modulated by the direction of eye gaze.
Milders, Maarten; Hietanen, Jari K.; Leppänen, Jukka M.; Braun, Marc
Emotion, May 23, 2011, No Pagination Specified. doi: 10.1037/a0022901

Abstract

  1. Emotionally expressive faces have shown enhanced detectability over neutral faces, but little is known about the effect of eye gaze on detecting the presence of emotional faces. Emotional expressions and gaze direction are both cues to the intentions of another person, and gaze direction has been shown to affect recognition accuracy and perceived intensity of emotional faces. The current study showed that fearful faces were detected more frequently with an averted gaze than with a direct gaze in an attentional blink task, whereas angry and happy faces were detected more frequently with a direct gaze than with an averted gaze. The results are in line with the shared signal hypothesis and appraisal theory and suggest that selection for awareness was based on a rapid evaluation of the intentions of another person as conveyed by their facial expression and gaze direction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)



Happy guys finish last: The impact of emotion expressions on sexual attraction.
Tracy, Jessica L.; Beall, Alec T.
Emotion, May 23, 2011, No Pagination Specified. doi: 10.1037/a0022902

Abstract

  1. This research examined the relative sexual attractiveness of individuals showing emotion expressions of happiness, pride, and shame compared with a neutral control. Across two studies using different images and samples ranging broadly in age (total N = 1041), a large gender difference emerged in the sexual attractiveness of happy displays: happiness was the most attractive female emotion expression, and one of the least attractive in males. In contrast, pride showed the reverse pattern; it was the most attractive male expression, and one of the least attractive in women. Shame displays were relatively attractive in both genders, and, among younger adult women viewers, male shame was more attractive than male happiness, and not substantially less than male pride. Effects were largely consistent with evolutionary and socio-cultural-norm accounts. Overall, this research provides the first evidence that distinct emotion expressions have divergent effects on sexual attractiveness, which vary by gender but largely hold across age. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)


Compatibility between tones, head movements, and facial expressions.
Horstmann, Gernot; Ansorge, Ulrich
Emotion, May 23, 2011, No Pagination Specified. doi: 10.1037/a0023468

Abstract

  1. The study tests the hypothesis of an embodied associative triangle among relative tone pitch (i.e., high or low tones), vertical movement, and facial emotion. In particular, it is tested whether relative pitch automatically activates facial expressions of happiness and anger as well as vertical head movements. Results show robust congruency effects: happiness expressions and upward head tilts are imitated faster when paired with high rather than low tones, while anger expressions and downward head tilts are imitated faster when paired with low rather than high tones. The results add to the growing evidence favoring an embodiment account that emphasizes multimodal representations as the basis of cognition, emotion, and action. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)



Seeing yourself helps you see others.
Li, Yuan Hang; Tottenham, Nim
Emotion, May 23, 2011, No Pagination Specified. doi: 10.1037/a0023469

Abstract

  1. It has been proposed that self-face representations are involved in interpreting facial emotions of others. We experimentally primed participants' self-face representations. In Study 1, we assessed eye tracking patterns and performance on a facial emotion discrimination task, and in Study 2, we assessed emotion ratings between self and nonself groups. Results show that experimental priming of self-face representations increases visual exploration of faces, facilitates the speed of facial expression processing, and increases the emotional distance between expressions. These findings suggest that the ability to interpret facial expressions of others is intimately associated with the representations we have of our own faces. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)

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1 comments:

Michael said...

1-don't directly into the face of fearful people.

2-Chicks DO dig jerks.

3-if you're happy, you sound it. If your angry, you sound it.

4-It takes one to know one.