Social presence, facial feedback, and emotion.

This study examined the influence of facial feedback on emotional experience and the influence of anothers presence on facial communication. To test whether facial expressions regulate the expressers emotional experience, subjects smelled pleasant and disgusting odors while reacting to them spontaneously, with a facial pose indicating that the odors were pleasant or with a facial pose indicating that they were disgusting. In a result that supported the facial feedback hypothesis, subjects evaluated the odors consistently with their facial poses (p .001). But the odors themselves had a far greater impact on evaluations than did posing instructions. To test whether both spontaneous and deceptive emotional expressions would be more effective as communication if the expresser were in the presence of another, rather than alone, subjects smelled odors when they were alone or when seated next to another naive subject who could not see them. Contrary to prediction, subjects were less successful facial communicators in the presence of another. In this condition they communicated their evaluations less when they were spontaneously reacting to the odors and leaked their evaluations more when they were trying to hide their expressions (p .07). According to researchers and theorists, a facial expression in response to an emotional stimulus may have three consequences for social interaction or, alternatively, three evolutionary functions: veridical communication, deceptive communication, and emotional regulation through facial feedback. Veridical and Deceptive Communication First and most obviously, senders * emotional expressions provide information to receivers about the senders emotional states, their future behavior, and, indirectly, the environmental conditions that generated thoseemotions. Many writers, from Darwin (1872/1965) to the present day (Andrews,