Strategic use of nonverbal behaviour in the context of romantic attraction

The main objective of this thesis is to demonstrate that individuals strategically change their facial expressions and other emotional behaviour in order to enhance their image in the eyes of a potential romantic partner. In three empirical chapters I report eight studies examining four different effects. The first two of these effects concern female self-presentational behaviour (Chapters 2 and 3), while the second two concern male self-presentational behaviour (Chapter 4). More specifically, in Chapter 2 I provide evidence for the hypothesis that when in a romantic mindset, females show less negative emotion to infants. In Chapter 3, I demonstrate that females motivated to attract a long-term partner present themselves in ways that suggest that they are likely to be faithful. Finally, in Chapter 4, I show that in the presence of an attractive female, males present themselves as fearless in reaction to a horror film and as affectionate towards children. I argue that positive reactions to infants, propensity to be faithful and fearlessness are advertised because they are desired by the opposite sex for various evolutionary reasons. The data I present also show that – with one exception – the presence of a potential romantic partner does not affect participants’ emotional experiences despite affecting their emotional expressions. Thus, for example, when males augment their expression of affection towards infants, their feelings towards the infants do not change. Overall, the work described in this thesis adds to the growing body of research showing that individuals engage in self-presentation in romantic contexts using various social and non-social behaviours (Mori, Chaiken, & Pliner, 1987; Griskevicius, Cialdini, & Kenrick, 2006), by showing that they engage in selfpresentation using nonverbal behaviour associated with emotional states

The influence of dysphoria and depression on mental state decoding

Prior research found conflicting results concerning the relationship between depression and mental state decoding ability as assessed by the ‘Eyes Test’ developed by Baron-Cohen and colleagues. In some studies the relationship is negative, suggesting that depressed persons are worse than controls in decoding mental states on the basis of information from the eye region of others' faces. Other research points to a positive relation between depression and mental state decoding. We report a study of mental state decoding ability in two samples of university students, one a group of students attending the university's counseling service, the other a group of normal college students. The results are consistent in showing a negative relation between depression and mental state decoding ability. Possible reasons for discrepancies in research results are discussed

Strategic Reactions to Infants: Female Self-Presentation in a Romantic Context

Research has demonstrated that humans engage in various self-presentational behaviours in the context of mate attraction. We build and expand on these efforts by showing that female facial behaviour also responds to the manipulation of romantic motivation in ways congruent with the logic of evolutionary theory. Given that childbearing is an important goal of human courtship, we hypothesized that during the initial stages of romantic encounters one way that women can advertize their quality is through their emotional reactions to children. Two studies were conducted to determine whether women would self-present in the context of romance by augmenting positive reactions (e.g., smiling more) or by attenuating negative reactions (e.g., frowning less). In both studies participants were undergraduate psychology students. Study 1 was an online study; it examined reported facial expressions towards and cognitive evaluations of infants. Study 2 was a laboratory study in which participants' spontaneous facial behavior was videotaped while they watched a video of infants (vs. a neutral film). In both studies we found support only for the hypothesis that, when in a romantic context, women attenuate negative reactions. Such attenuation was found for facial expressions, but not for cognitive or affective evaluations of infants

Strategic reactions to unfaithfulness: female self-presentation in the context of mate attraction is linked to uncertainty of paternity

People are motivated to self-present to their potential romantic partners. We hypothesized that due to the uncertainty of paternity, one of the self-presentational behaviors that human females engage in when they are motivated to attract a long-term mate is designed to communicate to prospective partners that they are likely to be faithful. In Study 1, we show that females in a long-term-romance mindset are less likely to agree to going to a concert with another female known to be unfaithful (cheater) than with a female known to have many sexual partners (player) or a non-flirtatious control female (control). Females in the long-term-romance mindset are also less willing to be the unfaithful female's friend and less willing to indicate that she is similar to them. In Study 2, we show that the effect is gender specific. In particular, we show that in the presence of a potential long-term partner, females (but not males) express more rejecting emotions towards a same-sex acquaintance who reveals a predilection to be unfaithful. These studies provide strong support for the role of uncertainty of paternity in the female self-presentational behaviors in the context of mate attraction

Fear attenuated and affection augmented: male self-presentation in a romantic context

We investigated whether males use facial behavior strategically in order to increase their desirability as romantic partners. Participants were led to believe that a female research assistant who was either attractive or unattractive was observing them. Their task was to watch three short films: an excerpt from a horror film, a video of infants, and a neutral film. Males who thought they were being observed by the attractive assistant frowned less (AU4) while watching the horror film and smiled more (AU12, with and without AU6) while watching the infant film. Assistant attractiveness did not affect males’ facial behavior while they were watching the neutral fil

Emotional signals in nonverbal interaction: Dyadic facilitation and convergence in expressions, appraisals, and feelings

We examined social facilitation and emotional convergence in amusement, sadness, and fear in dynamic interactions. Dyads of friends or strangers jointly watched emotion-eliciting films while they either could or could not communicate nonverbally. We assessed three components of each emotion (expressions, appraisals, and feelings), as well as attention to and social motives toward the co-participant. In Study 1, participants interacted through a mute videoconference. In Study 2, they sat next to each other and either were or were not separated by a partition. Results revealed that facilitation and convergence are not uniform across different emotions and emotion components. Particularly strong supporting patterns emerged for the facilitation of and convergence in smiling. When direct interaction was possible (Study 2), friends showed a general tendency for strong convergence, with the exception of fear-related appraisals. This suggests that underlying processes of emotional contagion and social appraisal are differentially relevant for different emotions