Felt emotion and social context determine the intensity of smiles in a competitive video game

摘要

The present study uses automatic facial expression recognition software to examine the relationship between social context and emotional feelings on the expression of emotion, to test claims that facial expressions reflect social motives rather than felt emotion. To vary emotional feelings, participants engaged in a competitive video game. Deception was used to systematically manipulate perceptions of winning or losing. To vary social context, participants played either with friends or strangers. The results support the hypothesis of Hess and colleagues that smiling is determined by both factors. The results further highlight the value of automatic expression recognition technology for psychological research and provide constraints on inferring emotion from facial displays.