ABSTRACT
This research tested self-regulation and self-presentation as psychological mechanisms that motivate smiling when distressed. In Study 1, participants viewed moderately and intensely distressing, amusing, and neutral videos in social or nonsocial conditions. Smiling when distressed was most prevalent in conditions in which participants reported the greatest emotional distress. Specifically, while viewing distressing videos, men reported experiencing greater overall distress and also smiled more than women, especially in social conditions and while viewing intensely (as opposed to moderately) distressing stimuli. In general, smiling was related to more negative affect while viewing distressing videos but to more positive affect after viewing such stimuli. Study 2 explored raters' social perceptions of participants from Study 1, confirming that people judge distressed smilers as less socially appropriate and less likable than nonsmilers. Findings suggest that although distressed smiling serves a probable self-regulatory function, it may also bear some negative social consequences.
Subject(s)
Cognitive Dissonance , Emotions , Inhibition, Psychological , Nonverbal Communication , Smiling , Adult , Deception , Facial Expression , Female , Gender Identity , Humans , Internal-External Control , Male , Motivation , Social Environment , Social PerceptionABSTRACT
Previous studies show that close friends improve at lie detection over time. However, is this improvement due to an increase in the ability to decode the feelings of close friends or a change in how close friends communicate their true and deceptive emotions? In a study of 45 pairs of friends, one friend from each pair (the "sender") was videotaped showing truthful and faked affect in response to pleasant and unpleasant movie clips. The other friend from each pair (the "judge") guessed the true emotions of both the friend and a stranger 1 month and 6 months into the friendship. Judges were better at guessing the true emotions of friends than strangers, and this advantage in judging friends increased among close friends over time. Surprisingly, improvement over time was due mostly to a change in the sender's communication, rather than an increase in judges' ability to decode their friends' feelings.
Subject(s)
Communication , Deception , Emotions , Friends/psychology , Interpersonal Relations , Adult , Female , Humans , Longitudinal Studies , Male , Social Behavior , Video Recording , Young AdultABSTRACT
The present research was initiated to examine the prevalence of forced consumption and its role in subsequent food rejection. A forced consumption episode was defined as a situation where Person(s) A forced or demanded Person B to consume a specific substance against Person B's will. An initial survey of 407 college students revealed that over 69% of them had experienced at least one forced consumption episode. One hundred forty individuals completed a follow-up questionnaire exploring various characteristics of their most memorable forced consumption scenario. Specifically, the most common type of forced consumption (76%) involved an authority figure (e.g. parent, teacher) forcing a child to consume a novel, disliked, or aversive food. In this authority figure scenario, respondents recalled the episode as involving interpersonal conflict and negative affect, and identified the most aversive aspects of this scenario as lack of control and feelings of helplessness. Furthermore, most respondents (72%) reported that they would not willingly eat the target food today. In sum, the forced consumption episode appears to be a unique situation in which distasteful food combines with interpersonal conflict to result in long-lasting food rejection.