Abstract
Facial expressions aid social transactions and serve as socialization tools, with smiles signaling approval and reward, and angry faces signaling disapproval and punishment. The present study examined whether the subjective experience of positive vs. negative facial expressions differs between children and adults. Specifically, we examined age-related differences in biases toward happy and angry facial expressions. Young children (5–7 years) and young adults (18–29 years) rated the intensity of happy and angry expressions as well as levels of experienced arousal. Results showed that young children—but not young adults—rated happy facial expressions as both more intense and arousing than angry faces. This finding, which we replicated in two independent samples, was not due to differences in the ability to identify facial expressions, and suggests that children are more tuned to information in positive expressions. Together these studies provide evidence that children see unambiguous adult emotional expressions through rose-colored glasses, and suggest that what is emotionally relevant can shift with development.
Highlights
Facial expressions aid social transactions, allowing individuals to nonverbally communicate their emotions and infer those of others
In this analysis we separately examined ratings of facial intensity that were congruent and incongruent with the facial emotion
Planned contrasts revealed that children rated happy faces as more intense than angry faces, p = 0.001, whereas adults’ intensity ratings did not differ between facial expressions, p = 0.16
Summary
Facial expressions aid social transactions, allowing individuals to nonverbally communicate their emotions and infer those of others. Interpretation of such non-verbal signals allows individuals to learn socially acceptable behavior, as well as who and what to approach and avoid [1] In this context, facial expressions are used as tools for socializing others [1] with smiles signaling approval and reward, and eliciting a reflexive tendency to approach, and angry faces signaling disapproval and potential punishment, and eliciting reflexive avoidance [2,3,4]. Distinct from developmental changes in cognitive skill that allows increasing capacity for recognition of facial emotion, there may be developmental shifts in whether expressions of pleasure or anger are more meaningful. Such shifts may in turn be driven by changes in the adaptive benefit of negative vs positive information. It is critical to identify whether there are developmental differences in tuning to the valence and arousal levels of facial expressions
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