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Abstract
People who are cheerful have better social relationships. This might be the case because happy faces communicate an invitation to interact. Thus, happy faces might have a strong motivational effect on others. We tested this hypothesis in a set of four studies. Study 1 (N = 94) showed that approach reactions to happy faces are faster than other reactions to happy or angry faces. Study 2 (N = 99) found the same effect when comparing reactions to happy faces with reactions to disgusted faces. Supporting the notion that this effect is related to motivation, habitual social approach motivation intensified the motivational effect of happy faces (Study 3, N = 82). Finally, Study 4 (N = 40) showed that the reaction-time asymmetry does not hold for categorization tasks without approach and avoidance movements. These studies demonstrate that happy faces have a strong motivational power. They seem to activate approach reactions more strongly than angry or disgusted faces activate avoidance reactions.
Highlights
People who smile are rated more favorably by others and interactions with them are expected to be rewarding [1]
Approach reactions to happy faces were faster than avoidance reactions to happy faces (t(93) = −9.58, As shown in Figure 2, approach reactions to happy faces were faster than avoidance reactions to happy p < 0.001, d = 1.99), they were faster than avoidance reactions to angry faces (t(93) = −11.12, p < 0.001, faces (t(93) = −9.58, p < 0.001, d = 1.99), they were faster than avoidance reactions to angry faces d = 2.31), and faster than approach reactions to angry faces (t(98) = −9.17, p < 0.001, d = 1.90)
Avoidance reactions to happy faces were slower than avoidance reactions to disgusted faces (t(98) = 5.28, p < 0.001, d = 1.07) and slower than approach reactions to disgusted faces (t(98) = 8.44, p < 0.001, d = 1.71)
Summary
People who smile are rated more favorably by others and interactions with them are expected to be rewarding [1]. According to Tamir and Hughes, this proximal value of positive social signals forms the foundation on which the complexities of human sociality are built. In line with this hypothesis, Yang and Urminsky [11] demonstrated that anticipated positive affective reactions of social partners powerfully shape peoples’ behavior. Participants often chose to forgo satisfaction-maximizing gifts in favor of gifts that maximized anticipated positive emotional reactions in the perceiver These results confirmed the author’s “smile-seeking” hypothesis that peoples’ desire to induce, approach, and enjoy others’ spontaneous displays of affective reactions is innately valuable and rewarding, and a powerful motivator in social contexts (see References [12,13,14,15])
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