title: Smiling on the Inside: The Social Benefits of Suppressing Positive Emotions in Outperformance Situations.
abstract: Although expressing positive emotions is typically socially rewarded, in the present work, we predicted that people suppress positive emotions and thereby experience social benefits when outperformed others are present. We tested our predictions in three experimental studies with high school students. In Studies 1 and 2, we manipulated the type of social situation (outperformance vs. non-outperformance) and assessed suppression of positive emotions. In both studies, individuals reported suppressing positive emotions more in outperformance situations than in non-outperformance situations. In Study 3, we manipulated the social situation (outperformance vs. non-outperformance) as well as the videotaped person's expression of positive emotions (suppression vs. expression). The findings showed that when outperforming others, individuals were indeed evaluated more positively when they suppressed rather than expressed their positive emotions, and demonstrate the importance of the specific social situation with respect to the effects of suppression.
authors.affiliation: University of Bamberg, Germany marina.schall@uni-bamberg.de.
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schall
authors.affiliation: UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway.
authors.forename: Sarah E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Martiny
authors.affiliation: University of Konstanz, Germany Thurgau University of Teacher Education, Kreuzlingen, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Goetz
authors.affiliation: McGill University, Montréal, Québec, Canada.
authors.forename: Nathan C
authors.initials: NC
authors.lastname: Hall
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000339:Affect; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D012904:Smiling; D012919:Social Behavior
keywords: emotion expression; emotion regulation; outperformance situations; positive emotions; suppression