Social Judgments are Influenced By Both Facial Expression and Direction of Eye Gaze

Abstract

In the current study we examined how emotional expressions infl uence two social judgments, approachability and trustworthiness, and how the effect of emotional expression is modulated by the direction of the signaller's eye gaze. For both social judgments, happy faces were judged more positively than all other emotions, while neutral faces were judged more favorably than faces displaying negative emotions. Angry and disgusted faces were given the most negative ratings, signifi cantly more so than sad and fearful faces. Direction of eye gaze modulated the degree to which angry, happy, and neutral expressions infl uenced social judgments, which refl ected the manner in which direction of eye gaze infl uenced the perceived intensity of these emotional expressions. The results suggest that the perception of direct threat, coupled with emotional intensity, both play a key role in the process of making social judgments.In our daily lives we continually make judgments about other individuals that infl uence our subsequent social behavior. When individuals are unknown to us, their facial appearance becomes one of the most salient social indicators. In particular, an individual's facial expression signals important information regarding their internal state and behavioral intentions (Ekman, 1997). Utilizing thisWe are grateful to Ralph Adolphs, Tony Atkinson, Sam Baggott, and two anonymous reviewers for their comments on an earlier version of this manuscript. Thanks also to Helen Dodd for helpful discussions about the data.

Evaluating perceived trust from procedurally animated gaze

“…The timing and direction of gaze can indicate subtle characteristics and states such as dominance or submissiveness, where a person's attention is at the moment, flirtation, interest in beginning a conversation (or desire to avoid one), an invitation for one's conversation partner to take a turn in the dialogue, active listening, and pondering a point [Isbister 2006]. [Willis et al 2011] examined how gaze direction along with facial expression impact the approachability and trustworthiness of faces. They found that direct gaze significantly increased perceived trustworthiness for happy and neutral faces, but decreased it for angry ones.…”

“…In this paper, we evaluate the potential for a straightforward gaze model to convey an NPC attitude toward a player, specifically trust. We focus our proof of concept on conveying trust because it is a fundamental aspect of inter-personal relationships which manifests in numerous non-verbal behaviors [Vrij and Mann 2004;Frith and Frith 2007;Willis et al 2011]. Trust intuitively links to the concept of reputation, which is a popular game mechanic in many RPGs, including Star Wars: The Old Republic, World of Warcraft, and EVE Online.…”

The neuropsychology of first impressions: Evidence from Huntington's disease

“…This behaviourally established relationship suggests that facial expression recognition and inferences of trustworthiness may share some of the same neural mechanisms (Mattavelli, Andrews, Asghar, Towler, & Young, 2012;Said, Haxby, & Todorov, 2011). Importantly, trustworthiness ratings of faces by M A N U S C R I P T (Willis, Palermo, & Burke, 2011;Sutherland, Young, & Rhodes, in press). These are emotions whose recognition, as noted above, is often particularly affected in HD.…”

“…This may be of interest because trustworthiness ratings of faces by neurologically normal perceivers are particularly low when the faces show expressions of disgust and anger (Willis et al, 2011;Sutherland et al, in press). …”

Does expression choice affect the analysis of light spectrum and facial emotion recognition?

“…This negativity is recognised by observers; Willis et al 17 found that happy faces were judged more positively than all other emotions, while neutral faces were judged more favourably than faces displaying negative emotions. Angry and disgusted faces were given the most negative ratings, significantly more so than sad and fearful faces.…”