Open Access<p>Facing exclusion and smiling through the pain: positive emotion expression during interpersonal ostracism</p>
Author(s) -
Elena Svetieva,
Lisa Zadro,
Daejoong Kim,
Carolyn M. Hurley,
Rani Goodacre
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
psychology research and behavior management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.704
H-Index - 30
ISSN - 1179-1578
DOI - 10.2147/prbm.s195752
Subject(s) - ostracism , psychology , interpersonal communication , expression (computer science) , social psychology , expressed emotion , social exclusion , interpersonal relationship , clinical psychology , developmental psychology , economics , economic growth , computer science , programming language
Background: The present research compares smiling and emotion expression generally to other indicators of negative intra- and interpersonal reactions to ostracism, and in particular negative reactions towards the ostracizers. Methods: A total of N=143 participants (n=55 in Experiment 1 and n=88 in Experiment 2) were ostracized from a web-conference by two other individuals. Facial expressions of participants during the exclusion period were coded using EMFACS and compared to self-reported reactions to ostracism and the sources of the ostracism. Results: Ostracized individuals showed signicant levels of both Duchenne (genuine) and non-Duchenne (social) smiling, despite nding ostracism highly aversive, reporting more negative attitudes towards the ostracizing confederates, and (in Experiment 2) higher levels of negative affect. Experiment 2 showed evidence of a self-regulation and display management function of smiling during ostracism in that participants who exhibited more Duchenne smiling during their exclusion also reported higher levels of positive emotion after the ostracism, and were also rated by a group of judges as experiencing more amusement at their exclusion. Conclusion: The web conferencing paradigm used in this study provides an ecologically valid method to study the management of expressive behavior during aversive interpersonal experiences, adding to the existing evidence of facial display management during other types of distressing experience.