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Do facial movements express emotions or communicate motives?
1Department of Experimental Psychology, Oxford University, United Kingdom. brian.parkinson@psy.ox.ac.uk
Summary
Facial movements serve dual roles in emotion expression and social communication. Evidence suggests social contexts influence facial responses, challenging purely emotion-expression models.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Social Psychology
- Nonverbal Communication
Background:
- The article examines the longstanding debate between emotion-expression and motive-communication theories of facial movements.
- It reviews contrasting models by Ekman (1972) and Fridlund (1994) and their historical context.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze the influence of social presence on facial responses.
- To evaluate the explanatory power of emotion-expression versus motive-communication theories for observed facial behaviors.
Main Methods:
- Review and synthesis of existing empirical evidence on facial behavior in social contexts.
- Theoretical analysis of audience effects on facial responses.
Main Results:
- Facial responses are modulated by the presence of others, showing both inhibition and facilitation.
- Audience effects are partially explained by display rules and social motives, but some facilitation effects challenge emotion-expression models.
- Emotion does not always directly translate to facial expression, and spontaneous movements can be socially facilitated.
Conclusions:
- Facial movements convey emotion-relevant information and are integral to emotional processes, aligning with pragmatic theories.
- The findings suggest a more complex interplay between emotion, facial behavior, and social context than previously proposed by strict emotion-expression models.