title: The emotion seen in a face can be a methodological artifact: The process of elimination hypothesis.
abstract: The claim that certain facial expressions signal certain specific emotions has been supported by high observer agreement in labeling the emotion predicted for that expression. Our hypothesis was that, with a method common to the field, high observer agreement can be achieved through a process of elimination: As participants move from trial to trial and they encounter a type of expression not previously encountered in the experiment, they tend to eliminate labels they have already associated with expressions seen on previous trials; they then select among labels not previously used. Seven experiments (total N = 1,068) here showed that the amount of agreement can be altered through a process of elimination. One facial expression not previously theorized to signal any emotion was consensually labeled asdisgusted(76%),annoyed(85%),playful(89%), andmischievous(96%). Three quite different facial expressions were labelednonplussed(82%, 93%, and 82%). A prototypical sad expression was labeleddisgusted(55%), and a prototypical fear expression was labeled surprised (55%). A facial expression was labeled with a made-up word (tolen; 53%). Similar results were obtained both in a context focused on demonstrating a process of elimination and in one similar to a commonly used method, with 4 target expressions embedded with other expressions in 24 randomly ordered trials. (PsycINFO Database Record
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Boston College.
authors.forename: Marissa A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: DiGirolamo
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Boston College.
authors.forename: James A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Russell
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D016477:Artifacts; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005149:Facial Expression; D000066499:Facial Recognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D055815:Young Adult