Trustworthiness of a smile as a function of changes in the eye expression / Confianza en una sonrisa en función de los cambios en la expresión de los ojos

Background: Trusting other people is necessary for satisfactory and successful social interaction. A person’s perceived trustworthiness is related to perceived facial happiness. We investigated how trustworthy someone with a smiling face looks depending on changes in eye expression. Method: Video-clips of dynamic expressions were presented, with different combinations of the mouth (smiling vs. neutral) and the eyes (happy, neutral, surprised, sad, fearful, disgusted, or angry). Participants judged how happy (happiness task) or trustworthy (trustworthiness task) the expressers were. Results: Both happiness and trustworthiness judgments and reaction times varied as a function of small changes from happy to non-happy eyes in a smiling face, and depending on the specific nature of the eye expression, with angry eyes being particularly detrimental. Conclusions: Perception of facial happiness is more dependent on the smiling mouth, whereas trustworthiness relies more on eye expression. Judgments of untrustworthiness are especially sensitive to incongruence between the eyes and the mouth (AU)

Antecedentes: confiar en otras personas es necesario para una relación satisfactoria. La percepción de confianza por parte del observador en otra persona aumenta cuando la cara expresa alegría. Investigamos en qué medida la confianza depende de la expresión de los ojos en caras con una sonrisa. Método: presentamos vídeo-clips de expresiones dinámicas, con diferentes combinaciones de la expresión en la boca (sonrisa o neutra) y los ojos (alegres, neutros, de sorpresa, tristeza, miedo, asco y enfado). Los participantes juzgaban cuán contenta o de fiar parecía la persona observada. Resultados: tanto los juicios de alegría como los de confianza, y sus tiempos de reacción, variaron en función de pequeños cambios en los ojos, y de la naturaleza de éstos; los de enfado produjeron las mayores reducciones en alegría y confianza. Conclusiones: la percepción de alegría es más dependiente de una boca sonriente, mientras que la percepción de confianza depende más de la expresión en los ojos. La desconfianza aumenta especialmente por la incongruencia entre ojos y boca (AU)

Trustworthiness of a smile as a function of changes in the eye expression.

BACKGROUND: Trusting other people is necessary for satisfactory and successful social interaction. A person’s perceived trustworthiness is related to perceived facial happiness. We investigated how trustworthy someone with a smiling face looks depending on changes in eye expression. METHOD: Video-clips of dynamic expressions were presented, with different combinations of the mouth (smiling vs. neutral) and the eyes (happy, neutral, surprised, sad, fearful, disgusted, or angry). Participants judged how happy (happiness task) or trustworthy (trustworthiness task) the expressers were. RESULTS: Both happiness and trustworthiness judgments and reaction times varied as a function of small changes from happy to non-happy eyes in a smiling face, and depending on the specific nature of the eye expression, with angry eyes being particularly detrimental. CONCLUSIONS: Perception of facial happiness is more dependent on the smiling mouth, whereas trustworthiness relies more on eye expression. Judgments of untrustworthiness are especially sensitive to incongruence between the eyes and the mouth.