Facial mimicry, empathy, and emotion recognition: a meta-analysis of correlations

Garret O’Connell,Alison C Holland,Isabel Dziobek

doi:10.1080/02699931.2020.1815655

Garret O’Connell, Alison C Holland + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2020.1815655

Copy DOI

Abstract

ABSTRACT A number of prominent theories have linked tendencies to mimick others’ facial movements to empathy and facial emotion recognition, but evidence for such links is uneven. We conducted a meta-analysis of correlations of facial mimicry with empathy and facial emotion recognition skills. Other factors were also examined for moderating influence, e.g. facets of empathy measured, facial muscles recorded, and facial emotions being mimicked. Summary effects were estimated with a random-effects model and a meta-regression analysis was used to identify factors moderating these effects. 162 effects from 28 studies were submitted. The summary effect size indicated a significant weak positive relationship between facial mimicry and empathy, but not facial emotion recognition. The moderator analysis revealed that stronger correlations between facial mimicry and empathy were observed for static vs. dynamic facial stimuli, and for implicit vs. explicit instances of facial emotion processing. No differences were seen between facial emotions, facial muscles, emotional and cognitive facets of empathy, or state and trait measures of empathy. The results support the claim that stronger facial mimicry responses are positively related to higher dispositions for empathy, but the weakness and variability of this effect suggest that this relationship is conditional on not-fully understood factors.

Highlights

A number of prominent theories have linked tendencies to mimick others’ facial movements to empathy and facial emotion recognition, but evidence for such links is uneven
Its important to point out that researchers have tested links between facial mimicry and empathy using definitions of empathy that vary in their precision, some referring to specific constructs, others testing more general links
Since operationalisations of empathy widely differ, we considered the possibility that relationships with facial mimicry might be selective among them

Summary

Introduction

A number of prominent theories have linked tendencies to mimick others’ facial movements to empathy and facial emotion recognition, but evidence for such links is uneven. The MNS provides a mechanism for how observing a person’s motor action can lead to the sharing of subjective states between individuals, and in turn, a useful reference for decoding the meaning of another person’s actions This subjective insight into others offers a channel for motor imitation to provide inputs into empathy and FER. Its important to point out that researchers have tested links between facial mimicry and empathy using definitions of empathy that vary in their precision, some referring to specific constructs, others testing more general links To reflect this variability, in this meta-analysis, we aimed to accommodate both broad and granular definitions. We take the recommendation of Hall and Schwartz (2019) and use both measure-focused segmentations (state empathy versus trait empathy), as well as traditional conceptual segments (cognitive empathy versus emotional empathy)

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion