Display rules differ between positive emotions: Not all that feels good looks good

People do not always show how they feel; norms often dictate when to display emotions and to whom. Norms about emotional expressions-known as display rules-are weaker for happiness than for negative emotions, suggesting that expressing positive emotions is generally seen as acceptable. But does it follow that all positive emotions can always be shown to everyone? To answer this question, we mapped out context-specific display rules for 8 positive emotions: gratitude, admiration, interest, relief, amusement, feeling moved, sensory pleasure, and triumph. In four studies with participants from five countries (n = 1,181), two consistent findings emerged. First, display rules differed between positive emotions. Weaker display rules were found for gratitude, interest, and amusement, whereas stronger display rules were found for sensory pleasure, feeling moved, and to some degree triumph. Second, contextual features-such as expresser location and perceiver relationship-both substantially influenced display rules for positive emotions, with perceiver relationship having a greater impact on display rules than expresser location. Our findings demonstrate that some positive emotions are less acceptable to express than others and highlight the central role of context in influencing display rules even for emotions that feel good. In so doing, we provide the first map of expression norms for specific positive emotions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).