Smiles as Signals of Lower Status in Football Players and Fashion Models: Evidence That Smiles are Associated with Lower Dominance and Lower Prestige

Abstract

Across four studies, the current paper demonstrates that smiles are associated with lower social status. Moreover, the association between smiles and lower status appears in the psychology of observers and generalizes across two forms of status: prestige and dominance. In the first study, faces of fashion models representing less prestigious apparel brands were found to be more similar to a canonical smile display than the faces of models representing more prestigious apparel brands. In a second study, after being experimentally primed with either high or low prestige fashion narratives, participants in the low prestige condition were more likely to perceive smiles in a series of photographs depicting smiling and non-smiling faces. A third study of football player photographs revealed that the faces of less dominant (smaller) football players were more similar to the canonical smile display than the faces of their physically larger counterparts. Using the same football player photographs, a fourth study found that smiling was a more reliable indicator of perceived status-relevant personality traits than perceptions of the football players' physical sizes inferred from the photographs.

The adaptive value associated with expressing and perceiving angry-male and happy-female faces

“…This results in women being more selective of their mates (i.e., intersexual selection), preferring mates who could offer protection and acquire resources during their pregnancy and childcare period. Although long-term mate attributes such as intelligence and health are equally important for both men and women ( Buss, 1989 ), men are also intersexually selected for their dominance and aggression because these attributes are related to abilities in providing protection and acquiring resources for their mates ( Buss, 1989 ; Ellis, 1992 ; Ketelaar et al, 2012 ). This may have led to a tendency for men to express anger which signals dominance and aggression.…”

In the eye (and ears) of the beholder: Receiver psychology and human signal design

“…Another area that has yielded insights into the pressures acting on receivers' perceptions is competitive scenarios. Some types of smiles, for example, have been shown to be judged as indicating lower status and less physical dominance to observers, perhaps as a strategy to avoid aggression in potential conflicts . Conversely, features such as beards appear to heighten the perception of aggressiveness, and people across populations are accurate in their evaluations of physical strength from nonphysical signals like voices …”

“…While explicit applications of receiver psychology to human signals are rare, the literature is rich with evidence that both sensory traps and hidden preferences are present and, in some cases, exploited by other parties. Color provides some clues to how visual hidden preferences can have surprising effects on human behavior.…”

A User Perception--Based Approach to Create Smiling Embodied Conversational Agents

“…The smile social signal is "profoundly influential" [Knapp et al 2013]; a smile expression can have a strong impact on how an individual is perceived by another person. In particular, smiling behavior, that is, when a smile occurs and which type of smile is expressed during an interaction, may determine the perceived interpersonal stances [Deutsch et al 1987;Edinger and Patterson 1983;Lau 1982;Moore 1985;Reis et al 1990;Bernstein et al 2010;Ketelaar et al 2012;Otta et al 1996;ODoherty et al 2003]. An interpersonal stance corresponds to an attitude, spontaneously or strategically expressed, that conveys the relationship of a person to the interlocutor (for example "warm" or "polite") [Kielsing 2009;Scherer 2005].…”

“…Smiling is an important social signal in negotiating interpersonal relationships. Smiling individuals are seen as more relaxed, kind, warm, attractive, successful, sociable, polite, happy, honest, having more of a sense of humor, and being less dominant [Bernstein et al 2010;Ketelaar et al 2012;Otta et al 1996;ODoherty et al 2003]. Smiling-often in combination with laughter-plays an important role in establishing affiliation between conversational partners and establishing social bonds that engage a polite interpersonal environment; this is likely to make an interlocutor more tolerant, more likely to pursue a smooth non-aggressive interaction, and more prepared to repair a conversation when it breaks down [Glenn 2003].…”