title: Ambivalence over emotional expression and reading emotions in situations and faces.
abstract: Three studies explored the relation of ambivalence over emotional expression (AE) and emotional expressiveness (EE) to reading the emotions of others. In Study 1 (N = 340, 110 men), AE positively correlated and EE negatively correlated with self-reported confusion in reading others' emotions. In Studies 2 and 3, participants wrote descriptions of the emotions likely to be felt by a person in an emotional scenario or in a slide of a universal facial expression. Descriptions were content analyzed for emotion words. Results revealed significant AE x EE interactions. In both studies, inexpressive ambivalent individuals used emotion words of the opposite valence of that implied in the scenes or expressions. Implications for social relationships are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Psychology Department, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas 75275-0442, USA. lking@mail.smu.edu
authors.forename: L A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: King
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D003674:Defense Mechanisms; D004644:Emotions; D019260:Expressed Emotion; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D019545:Intuition; D008297:Male; D009633:Nonverbal Communication; D012938:Social Perception; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology