Published on
Updated
Reading 2 min.
Some people are easier to read than others because they are so expressive. And that’s to their advantage! A study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, claims that individuals who have a particularly expressive face would have a social advantage.
A research team affiliated with Nottingham Trent University came to this conclusion after conducting a two-stage experiment. First, the researchers participated in videoconference calls with 52 volunteers. The participants did not know that they were speaking with scientists so that the scientists could record their reactions and facial expressions. They also had to keep a straight face throughout the conversation while their interlocutor tried to get them to react. The goal ? Test their ability to suppress their emotions.
Afterwards, the same volunteers recorded short videos of themselves in which they had to appear friendly, threatening or disapproving. These clips were viewed by more than 170 strangers, who in turn had to guess the emotions conveyed by the participants. They also had to rate how easy to understand and likeable the person on the screen seemed to them.
The study authors found that participants with particularly expressive faces were liked more than those who were more impassive. They were also found to be easier to figure out and more adept at adapting their facial expressions to achieve their goals. For example, it appeared that volunteers who were pleasant and demonstrative were much better negotiators than others.
For Dr Eithne Kavanagh, lead author of the study, this shows that expressiveness has an important social function. “More expressive people are better at attracting social partners and building relationships“, she explains in a statement. For good reason, the face plays a very important role in interpersonal communication because it allows us to express a wide range of emotions, without having to resort to words.
The American psychologist Paul Ekman specialized in the analysis of the facial expressions through which our emotions are expressed. It is to him that we owe the discovery of their universality. Indeed, facial expressions that express primary emotions (anger, fear, joy, sadness, surprise, disgust) are not specific to each culture. They can be decoded by all human beings, regardless of their country of origin.
This study is a continuation of the work of Paul Ekman, even if it goes further by showing the importance of facial expressiveness in our daily interactions. “This research is significant in evolutionary terms because it could explain why humans have evolved more complex facial expressions than any other species“, estimates Bridget Waller, co-signer of the study.
Slide: Emotional hypersensitivity: 10 signs that should make you think about it