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Expressive control, expressive consistency, and the correspondence between expressive behavior and personality 1
Author(s) -
Lippa Richard
Publication year - 1978
Publication title -
journal of personality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.082
H-Index - 144
eISSN - 1467-6494
pISSN - 0022-3506
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-6494.1978.tb01011.x
Subject(s) - psychology , extraversion and introversion , personality , neuroticism , anxiety , facial expression , situational ethics , expressive suppression , developmental psychology , big five personality traits , social psychology , communication , cognition , cognitive reappraisal , neuroscience , psychiatry
Does expressive behavior reflect personality? This paper proposes that expressive control is an important “moderating variable” affecting expressive behavior, expressive consistency, and the correspondence between expressive behavior and personality. To demonstrate this, a study was carried out in which 68 subjects were selected, according to a 2×2×2 factorial design, who were low and high on assessed extraversion, neuroticism, and self‐monitoring (a measure of expressive control). Subjects were then videotaped as they role‐played being teachers. A number of specific expressive behaviors were measured (subjects' stride length, graphic expansiveness, percent of forward eye‐contact, and percent of time talking), and also groups of naive judges rated how “extraverted” and “anxious” subjects appeared. The following results supported our hypothesis: (1) Self‐monitoring was significantly related to subjects' expressive behaviors and judged personalities, while assessed extraversion and anxiety were not. (2) Expressive control was used to suppress the “accurate” display of anxiety but not extraversion. (3) Bodily expression was less controlled than facial or vocal expression. And (4), persons low and high on self‐monitoring showed different patterns of cross‐situational and cross‐channel (face, body, voice) expressive consistency.