Do Facial Movements Express Emotions or Communicate Motives?

Citation Detail

Title:

Do Facial Movements Express Emotions or Communicate Motives?

Authors:

Parkinson, Brian, Department of Experimental Psychology, Oxford University, Oxford, United Kingdom, brian.parkinson@psy.ox.ac.uk

Address:

Parkinson, Brian, Department of Experimental Psychology, Oxford University South Parks Road, Oxford, United Kingdom, OX1 3UD, brian.parkinson@psy.ox.ac.uk

Source:

Personality and Social Psychology Review, Vol 9(4), 2005. pp. 278-311.

Publisher:

US: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Other Publishers:

US: Sage Publications

ISSN:

1088-8683 (Print)
1532-7957 (Electronic)

Language:

English

Keywords:

facial movements; emotion expression; motive communication; social interaction

Abstract:

This article addresses the debate between emotion-expression and motive-communication approaches to facial movements, focusing on Ekman's (1972) and Fridlund's (1994) contrasting models and their historical antecedents. Available evidence suggests that the presence of others either reduces or increases facial responses, depending on the quality and strength of the emotional manipulation and on the nature of the relationship between interactants. Although both display rules and social motives provide viable explanations of audience "inhibition" effects, some audience facilitation effects are less easily accommodated within an emotion-expression perspective. In particular, emotion is not a sufficient condition for a corresponding "expression," even discounting explicit regulation, and, apparently, "spontaneous" facial movements may be facilitated by the presence of others. Further, there is no direct evidence that any particular facial movement provides an unambiguous expression of a specific emotion. However, information communicated by facial movements is not necessarily extrinsic to emotion. Facial movements not only transmit emotion-relevant information but also contribute to ongoing processes of emotional action in accordance with pragmatic theories. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved)

Subjects:

*Emotional Responses; *Emotionality (Personality); *Facial Expressions; *Social Interaction

Classification:

Personality Psychology (3100)

Population:

Human (10)

Format Availablability:

Electronic; Print

Format Covered:

Electronic

Publication Type:

Journal; Peer Reviewed Journal

Document Type:

Journal Article

Release Date:

20051121

Digital Object Identifier:

10.1207/s15327957pspr0904

Accession Number:

2005-12982-001

Number of Citations in Source:

166

Persistent link to this record (Permalink):

Database:

PsycINFO

Full Text Database:

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