Posing and Judging Facial Expressions of Emotion: The Effects of Social Skills

Abstract

Thirty-tour college women nominated by their peers as being either highly socially skilled or markedly lacking in social skills were videotaped while nonverbally portraying six emotions. Senders also rated the realism of their own poses. Fifty-eight female undergraduates labeled each pose and Judged its realism. Socially skilled and unskilled senders did not differ significantly in their portrayal abilities. Poses judged as more realistic were generally also Judged more accurately. Senders' social skill levels and judges' realism ratings interacted significantly in predicting the accuracy of judgment for surprise poses. Judges tended to rate low-skill senders' poses as more realistic than those of high-skill senders. Senders' social skills and senders' ratings of the realism of their own poses interacted significantly in predicting the realism ratings judges assigned to sadness poses. It is suggested that socially unskilled normals, unlike socially deficient patients, may possess basic verbal communication skills, but may fail to respond to the subtle social cues governing the timing of emotional displays.