Evidence for strong dissociation between emotion and facial displays: the case of surprise.
Eight experiments examined facial expressions of surprise in adults. Surprise was induced by disconfirming a previously established schema or expectancy. Self-reports and behavioral measures indicated the presence of surprise in most participants, but surprise expressions were observed only in 4%-25%, and most displays consisted of eyebrow raising only; the full, 3-component display was never seen. Experimental variations of surprise intensity, sociality, and duration/complexity of the surprising event did not change these results. Electromyographic measurement failed to detect notably more brow raisings and, in one study, revealed a decrease of frontalis muscle activity in the majority of the participants. Nonetheless, most participants believed that they had shown a strong surprise expression.
Reisenzein
Rainer
R
Institute of Psychology, University of Greifswald, Franz-Mehring-Strasse, Greifswald, Germany. rainer.reisenzein@uni-greifswald.de
Bördgen
Sandra
S
Holtbernd
Thomas
T
Matz
Denise
D
D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011584:Psychology / Q000379:methods; D011930:Reaction Time; D014796:Visual Perception