Premium
Why are you smiling at me? Social functions of enjoyment and non‐enjoyment smiles
Author(s) -
Johnston Lucy,
Miles Lynden,
Macrae C. Neil
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
british journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.855
H-Index - 98
eISSN - 2044-8309
pISSN - 0144-6665
DOI - 10.1348/014466609x412476
Subject(s) - psychology , social psychology , salient , facial expression , developmental psychology , communication , computer science , artificial intelligence
In three experiments, we investigated the spontaneous attention of perceivers to the nature of targets' facial expressions, specifically whether they were displaying an enjoyment or a non‐enjoyment smile. Further, we investigated the social functions of sensitivity to smile type and the consequences of such sensitivity for subsequent interactions. Results demonstrated that perceivers did indeed spontaneously attend to smile type, especially in situations where issues of trust or cooperation were made salient. Further, this sensitivity had an impact both on the evaluations of the target individuals and the cooperative behaviour of individuals towards those displaying enjoyment and non‐enjoyment smiles. Participants evaluated individuals displaying enjoyment smiles more positively than those displaying non‐enjoyment smiles and had higher rates of cooperation with those displaying enjoyment smiles. These results are discussed in terms of the social functions of facial expressions.