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The Communicative Function of Sad Facial Expressions.
Lawrence Ian Reed1, Peter DeScioli2
11 Department of Psychiatry, McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Belmont, MA, USA.
Summary
Sad facial expressions enhance the credibility of loss claims, particularly when losses are uncertain. This research suggests sad expressions signal genuine loss, influencing financial decisions in economic games.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Behavioral Economics
- Social Neuroscience
Background:
- Sadness is often experienced in response to loss.
- The communicative role of sad facial expressions, especially in signaling loss credibility, remains unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if sad facial expressions enhance the credibility of loss claims.
- To test the hypothesis that sad expressions function as credible signals of loss in economic interactions.
Main Methods:
- Utilized economic games with proposers and recipients and real monetary payoffs.
- Proposers observed recipients displaying neutral or sad expressions alongside loss claims.
- Conducted three experiments varying the certainty of loss and the nature of the claim (loss vs. failed gain).
Main Results:
- Participants allocated more money to recipients exhibiting sad expressions compared to neutral ones.
- This effect was significant only when the recipient's losses were uncertain.
- No significant difference was observed when recipients claimed failed gains.
Conclusions:
- Sad facial expressions can increase the perceived credibility of loss claims.
- The signaling function of sad expressions is context-dependent, particularly effective under conditions of uncertainty.
- Findings support the role of sad expressions in communicating verifiable loss to others.
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