Forming empressions about a person on the basis of facial expressions of emotion

[M. G. Pejičić]

146 listova

Bibliografija: listovi 131-146.

Psychology

The aim of this research was examining the readiness of people to create an impression about an individual by relying on his/her facial expressions of six primary emotions (happiness, sadness, fear, disgust, surprise and anger). Besides this, the role of the observed individual’s gender and the observer's need for a cognitive closure in this process were also examined. The sample consisted of the students (N = 434) of both genders, from 18–25 years of age. In the first part of this research, 334 respondents had the assignment to rank the stimulus individuals’ faces on the Revised Interpersonal Adjective Scales and to fill in the self-evaluation questionnaire – the Need for Closure Scale. In the second part of the research, 100 respondents evaluated the attractiveness of the stimulus individuals’ faces and filled in the Beliefs about men’s and women’s emotional behaviour scale. The results have shown that the observers are ready to draw conclusions about individual’s general interpersonal tendencies based on his/her current emotional reaction. The most dominant individuals were the ones on whose faces respondents recognised anger, then happiness and disgust, next was surprise, then fear, and, in the end, sadness. The highest average value on Affiliation was given to individuals on whose faces the observers recognised happiness. It was followed by sadness, fear and surprise, while disgust and anger were in the end. The respondents saw men as more dominant and less affiliative than women during the manifestation of all emotions, except anger, for which there were no differences on both Dominance and Affiliation, and disgust, on Affiliation. With the increase of the need for cognitive closure in observers, the number of adjectives which were ascribed to an individual on whose face there was fear were reduced. Also, with the increase in this need, there was growth of the number of extreme values on the Revised Interpersonal Adjectives Scales and the tendency to evaluate the stimulus individuals on whose faces they recognised fear as less dominant and less affiliative, and individuals with the observed signs of anger as more dominant. The obtained results were interpreted within the context of the communicative theory of emotions, by the content of gender stereotypes which was acquired through socialisation within a certain culture, and finally, by relying on the cognitive style of individuals with a highly expressed need, which depends on their preferences of certainty, predictability and structure.

emocija, facijalna ekspresija, impresija, Dominacija, Afilijativnost, potreba za kognitivnom zatvorenošću

emotion, facial expression, impression, Dominance, Affiliation, need for cognitive closure

159.925.8:159.923(043.3)

S 260

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