Wide eyes and an open mouth enhance facial threat

Abstract

Two rating experiments were conducted to examine the effect of opening the mouth and widening the eyes on ratings of facial threat. In Experiment 1, 65 participants rated faces for threat, arousal and valence (pleasantness). The faces varied in eyebrow shape (V-shaped, flat), mouth type (closed, open), eye type (wide, normal) and mouth curvature (down-turned, up-turned). In replication of previous research (Lundqvist, Esteves, & Öhman, 1999, 2004), the V-shaped eyebrow was the most important determinant of facial threat. Faces with a V-shaped eyebrow were rated as more aroused and threatening, and less pleasant than faces with a flat eyebrow. Similar, albeit weaker, effects were recorded for mouth and eye type, leading to a new hierarchical ordering of facial features for determining facial threat (eyebrow type > mouth type > eye type > mouth curvature). In Experiment 2 (n=37) the effects and ordering recorded in Experiment 1 were replicated for ratings of face of a woman and, moreover , individual features (except an up-turned mouth) increased ratings of threat compared to an expressionless control condition.