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Facial appearance, gender, and emotion expression.
Ursula Hess1, Reginald B Adams, Robert E Kleck
1Department of Psychology, University of Quebec at Montreal, Montreal, Canada. hess.ursula@uqam.ca
Emotion (Washington, D.C.)
|December 2, 2004
Summary
Gender stereotypes suggest women display happiness and men anger. However, this study found women were perceived as angrier and men happier when facial cues for affiliation and dominance were equated, reversing typical perceptions.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Social Psychology
- Perception
Background:
- Traditional Western gender stereotypes associate women with affiliation and happiness, and men with dominance and anger.
- Facial appearance cues related to dominance and affiliation are often conflated with gender.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if gender-stereotypic perceptions of anger and happiness are mediated by facial dominance and affiliation cues.
- To examine how equating these facial cues across genders affects emotion perception.
Main Methods:
- Two studies were conducted where participants rated facial expressions.
- Men's and women's faces were equated for specific markers of dominance and affiliation before perception ratings.
Main Results:
- Contrary to stereotypes, women were perceived as angrier and men as happier when facial cues were standardized.
- Perceptions of sadness were not significantly altered by the manipulation of dominance and affiliation cues.
Conclusions:
- Facial markers of dominance and affiliation, which are confounded with gender, interact with emotional expressions.
- These interactions influence emotion perception, potentially explaining why emotional stereotypes are often gender-based.