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Ursula Hess

Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Psychology, Faculty Member

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Diplom (M.A.):1986 Justus-Liebig Universität Giessen, GermanyPh.D. :1989 Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH,USA1989-1992 Maïtre Assistant Université de Genéve 1992-2011 Université du Québec à Montréal2010 - Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

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Papers by Ursula Hess

Contrast effect in spatial context: Robustness and practical significance

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, Dec 1, 2017

HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific r... more HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific research documents, whether they are published or not. The documents may come from teaching and research institutions in France or abroad, or from public or private research centers. L'archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, émanant des établissements d'enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés.

On the Combined Influence of Attractive and Unattractive Locations on the Surroundings

Environment and Behavior, Jul 27, 2017

Living near an unsafe housing block or a landfill is unattractive because of their negative influ... more Living near an unsafe housing block or a landfill is unattractive because of their negative influence on the environment. The question we ask is "Would a nearby attractive location cancel out this negative influence?" In two studies, participants were shown fictitious neighborhoods that contained an unattractive location (an unsafe housing block or a landfill) located close to an attractive location (one's own home or a park). The participants were asked to evaluate how pleasant it would feel to live at increasing distances from these locations. The results showed that positively evaluated locations can mitigate but not entirely neutralize the effects of negatively evaluated locations. The present research elucidates how people combine the effects of sources of positive and negative influence.

Hotspots and borders interact in people's attitude toward the environment

Journal of Environmental Psychology, Oct 1, 2019

Effects of “hotspots” as a function of intrinsic neighborhood attractiveness

Journal of Environmental Psychology, Aug 1, 2017

Would the positive effect of an urban park differ as a function of whether it is located in Bever... more Would the positive effect of an urban park differ as a function of whether it is located in Beverly Hills or in South-Central? Would the negative effect of a noisy highway in Beverly Hills differ from its effect in South-Central? The present research investigates how changes in intrinsic neighborhood attractiveness modify the effects of intensely valenced locations e i.e., positive or negative "hotspots." In two experiments, participants rated the attractiveness of target locations situated at increasing distance from a positive or a negative hotspot, within a neighborhood that is itself intrinsically attractive or unattractive. The results show that salient intrinsic neighborhood attractiveness mattered irrespective of the distance to a positive hotspot whereas for a negative hotspot it showed an effect only farther away. We conclude that intense negative influence propagates in the same way irrespective of the intrinsic neighborhood attractiveness whereas intense positive influence dissipates quicker with increasing distance in unattractive neighborhoods.

Effectiveness of emotion regulation strategies measured by self-report and EMG as a result of strategy used, negative emotion strength and participants’ baseline HRV

Scientific Reports

We investigated how emotion regulation (ER) effectiveness—on both a self-reported rating as well ... more We investigated how emotion regulation (ER) effectiveness—on both a self-reported rating as well as emotional expression (corrugator supercilii muscle activity) level—is affected by the characteristics of the situation (low vs. high negativity), the strategy used (reinterpretation, distraction, suppression, no regulation control condition) and individual dispositions (low vs. high baseline Heart Rate Variability) as well as their interaction. For this purpose, 54 adult women participated in a laboratory study. All the included factors significantly influenced both corrugator activity and appraisals of pictures’ negativity (in specific experimental conditions). For example, for high HRV participants, (1) distraction, suppression and reinterpretation significantly decreased corrugator activity compared to the control condition, and (2) distraction decreased appraised picture negativity for high negativity photos. For low HRV participants, distraction and suppression were most effectiv...

Effectiveness of Emotion Regulation Strategies in Dealing With Weak and Strong Negative Emotion: Self-report, Heart Rate Variability, and Electromyography Data

We investigated how emotion regulation (ER) effectiveness – both on a level of self-reported rati... more We investigated how emotion regulation (ER) effectiveness – both on a level of self-reported rating as well as emotional expression (corrugator supercilii muscle activity) – is affected by the characteristics of the situation (low vs. high negativity), the strategy used (reappraisal, distraction, suppression, no regulation control condition) and individual dispositions (low vs. high baseline Heart Rate Variability) as well as their interaction. For this 69 adult women participated in a laboratory study. All the included factors significantly influenced both corrugator activity and appraisals of pictures’ negativity (in specific experimental conditions). For example, for high HRV participants, (1) distraction, suppression and reappraisal significantly decreased corrugator activity compared to the control condition, and (2) distraction as well as reappraisal decreased appraised picture negativity for high negativity photos. For low HRV participants, distraction and suppression were mo...

Facial Expressions and Emotion

Springer eBooks, 2017

The Emotion-Based Inferences in Context (EBIC) Model

Springer eBooks, 2019

This introductory chapter presents The Emotion-based Inferences in Context (EBIC) model. The mode... more This introductory chapter presents The Emotion-based Inferences in Context (EBIC) model. The model delineates the main factors and processes that are involved in social perception of emotions in a dyadic context. The EBIC model serves as an organizing structure for the different chapters of this book, each referring to a different aspect of the model.

The Role of Social Context for the Interpretation of Emotional Facial Expressions

Springer eBooks, Oct 11, 2014

The scientific study of emotion expressions is usually traced to Darwin's seminal work "On the ex... more The scientific study of emotion expressions is usually traced to Darwin's seminal work "On the expressions of the emotions in man and animai" (1872/1965). Darwin understood emotion expressions ,as the visible part of an underlying emotional state, which are evolved and (at least at some point in the past) adaptive. > Yet, Darwin's view has been disputed and rejected by those who considered facial expressions as exc1usively or predominantly social or cultural signals. Also, a number of studies in the early years of the twentieth century came to the conc1usion that emotions can only be recognized at chance levels, whereas other studies found good recognition rates. This disparity in findings led Bruner and Tagiuri in their 1954 Handbook 01 Social Psychology artic1e to state that " ... the evidence for the recognizability of emotional expressions is unc1ear" (p. 634). They con-c1uded that, if anything, emotional facial expressions are culturally learned. This view remained basically unchanged until the early 1970s when research by Ekman and colleagues (Ekman 1973; Ekman et a1.1969, 1972; Ekman and Friesen 1971) as weIl as Izard (Izard 1971a, b) vindicated Darwin's idea that at least some basic emotional expressions are universal and directly associated with an underlying

Reliability of surface facial electromyography

Psychophysiology, Dec 20, 2016

Data from two studies were used to estimate the reliability of facial EMG when used to index faci... more Data from two studies were used to estimate the reliability of facial EMG when used to index facial mimicry (Study 1) or affective reactions to pictorial stimuli (Study 2). Results for individual muscle sites varied between muscles and depending on data treatment. For difference scores, acceptable internal consistencies were found only for corrugator supercilii, and test-retest reliabilities were low. For contrast measures describing patterns of reactions to stimuli, such as high zygomaticus major combined with low corrugator supercilii, acceptable internal consistencies were found for facial reactions to smiling faces and positive affective reactions to affiliative images (Study 2). Facial reactions to negative emotions (Study 1) and facial reactions to power and somewhat less to achievement imagery (Study 2) showed unsatisfactory internal consistencies. For contrast measures, good temporal stability over 24 months (Study 1) and 15 months (Study 2), respectively, was obtained. In Study 1, the effect of method factors such as mode of presentation was more reliable than the emotion effect. Overall, people's facial reactions to affective stimuli seem to be influenced by a variety of factors other than the emotion-eliciting element per se, which resulted in biased internal consistency estimates. However, the influence of these factors in turn seemed to be stable over time. Descriptors: Facial EMG, Reliability Electromyography (EMG) is a measure of the electrical activity that is generated during muscle contraction, which is directly related to the force produced by the muscle (Lawrence & DeLuca, 1983). Specifically, striated muscles consist of groups of bundles composed of individual muscle fibers. EMG records the changes in electrical potential that result from the conduction of action potentials along these muscle fibers. Surface facial EMG has been used for the assessment of affective states in a large number of contexts. The use of facial EMG for this purpose can be traced to early research by Schwartz and colleagues (Schwartz, Fair, Salt, Mandel, & Klerman, 1976) who used it to show that nondepressed individuals more consistently react with facial expressions to imagery and specifically show more consistent happy expressions during happiness imagery. Starting with an article by Cacioppo, Petty, Losch, and Kim (1986), who asserted that "facial EMG activity differentiated both valence and intensity of the affective reaction," facial EMG has become a generally accepted index of affective reactions to a variety of visual (e.g.,

Drawing inferences from emotion expressions: The role of situative informativeness and context

Emotion, Mar 1, 2019

How people react emotionally to an event can tell us much about the event itself. However, emotio... more How people react emotionally to an event can tell us much about the event itself. However, emotions vary in their situative informativeness, that is, in how much information about the situation they provide. We predicted that when emotions are shown that are low in situative informativeness participants rely more on context information, then when the emotions shown are high in situative informativeness. This hypothesis was tested in 2 studies in which participants were asked to evaluate the quality of a player's performance based on the emotional reactions of spectators to an unknown ball game. Spectators reacted either with awe (high in situative informativeness), or with happiness or neutrality (low in situative informativeness). Participant also received context information. The findings supported the predictions and illustrate how emotions and context interact to inform us about events.

How Shapes Influence Social Judgments

Social Cognition, Feb 1, 2013

in two studies we investigated the impact of shapes in the environment on social judgments and de... more in two studies we investigated the impact of shapes in the environment on social judgments and decisions. The present research focuses on the notion that early sensorimotor experiences with shapes entrain social judgments that can be applied to people and situations. in early childhood we have different experiences with differently shaped objects, and one pertinent difference is whether an object is round or sharp. Sharp objects have the potential to hurt us and to be used aggressively in a way that round objects do not. Two studies confirmed that people who are exposed to sharp versus round shapes perceive others as more aggressive and are more likely to make an aggressive decision in a task requiring effortful thinking.

On the malleability of the meaning of contexts: the influence of another person’s emotion expressions on situation perception

Cognition & Emotion, Dec 21, 2016

Research on the relationship between context and facial expressions generally assumes a unidirect... more Research on the relationship between context and facial expressions generally assumes a unidirectional effect of context on expressions. However, according to the model of the meaning of emotion expressions in context (MEEC) the effect should be bidirectional. The present research tested the effect of emotion expression on the interpretation of scenes. A total of 380 participants either (a) rated facial expressions with regard to the likely appraisal of the eliciting situation by the emoter, (b) appraised the scenes alone or (c) appraised scenes shown together with the expressions they supposedly elicited. The findings strongly supported the MEEC. When a scene was combined with an expression signalling a situation that is undesirable, or high in locus of control or sudden, the participants appraised the scene correspondingly. Thus, the meaning of scenes is malleable and affected by the way that people are seen to react to them.

The influence of context on emotion recognition in humans

Facial expressions do not typically occur in a social vacuum. Rather, they are seen and understoo... more Facial expressions do not typically occur in a social vacuum. Rather, they are seen and understood in a social context. Specifically, the understanding of the more ambiguous facial expressions shown in everyday interactions tends to be influenced not only by the knowledge we have about the situation in which the emotion eliciting event occurred but also by knowledge of social norms and rules and by the motivations and goals of the perceiver. Finally, the face itself is not an empty canvas and facial morphology interacts with facial expression.

Emotional restraint is good for men only: The influence of emotional restraint on perceptions of competence

Emotion, Mar 1, 2016

The present research investigated the notion that passionate restraint or "manly emotion" is a re... more The present research investigated the notion that passionate restraint or "manly emotion" is a relevant emotion norm not only for men but also for women in modern Western society (MacArthur & Shields, 2015). For this, 2 studies were conducted to assess whether restraint in emotional reactivity is perceived as a sign of both emotional and general competence. Restraint was induced by delaying the onset of the emotional reaction to a purported emotion elicitor. The results show that men were indeed rated as both more emotionally competent and more intelligent in general when they showed restraint, confirming the notion that such restraint fits a positively valued Western ideal of emotional reactivity. For women, however, the opposite pattern emerged in that they were perceived as more emotionally competent and intelligent when they reacted immediately than when restraint was induced. Thus, manly emotions were good for men only.

Pet Dogs Succeed Where Human Companions Fail: The Presence of Pet Dogs Reduces Pain

Authorea (Authorea), Feb 15, 2023

Social support from family and friends, albeit associated with beneficial health effects, does no... more Social support from family and friends, albeit associated with beneficial health effects, does not always help to cope with pain. This may be because humans elicit mixed expectations of social support and evaluative judgment. The present studies aimed to test whether pet dogs are a more beneficial source of support in a painful situation than human companions, because they are not evaluative. For this, 74 and then 50 women completed a cold-pressor task either in the presence of their own or an unfamiliar pet dog, a friend or an unknown human companion, or alone. In both studies, participants reported less pain and exhibited less pain behavior in dogs' compared to human companions' presence. Furthermore, reactions to pain were moderated by attitudes towards dogs in study 2. This suggests that pet dogs may help individuals to cope with painful situations, especially if the individual in pain generally feels affectionate towards dogs.

Empathic reactions of younger and older adults: No age related decline in affective responding

Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 2014

We assessed performance based affective and cognitive empathy in two age groups. • Cognitive empa... more We assessed performance based affective and cognitive empathy in two age groups. • Cognitive empathy for happiness and sadness was reduced for older adults. • Older adults' affective empathy was not reduced in comparison to younger adults. • Older adults outperformed younger adults in the facial mimicry of disgust. • 20 s long dynamic stimuli produced continuous facial muscle reactions.

The Influence of Family Expressiveness, Individuals’ Own Emotionality, and Self-Expressiveness on Perceptions of Others’ Facial Expressions

Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, Oct 21, 2010

To examine individual differences in decoding facial expressions, college students judged type an... more To examine individual differences in decoding facial expressions, college students judged type and emotional intensity of emotional faces at five intensity levels and completed questionnaires on family expressiveness, emotionality, and self-expressiveness. For decoding accuracy, family expressiveness was negatively related, with strongest effects for more prototypical faces, and self-expressiveness was positively related. For perceptions of emotional intensity, family expressiveness was positively related, emotionality tended to be positively related, and self-expressiveness tended to be negatively related; these findings were all qualified by level of ambiguity/clarity of the facial expressions. Decoding accuracy and perceived emotional intensity also related positively with each other. Results suggest that even simple facial judgments are made through an interpretive lens partially created by family expressiveness, individuals' own emotionality, and self-expressiveness. Keywords Nonverbal decoding Á Emotion intensity Á Facial judgments Á Family expressiveness Á Self-expressiveness Interpreting other people's feelings is an important aspect of everyday social interaction. One highly available source of information that is frequently used when interpreting others' feelings are facial expressions (

Facial age affects emotional expression decoding

Frontiers in Psychology, 2014

Facial expressions convey important information on emotional states of our interaction partners. ... more Facial expressions convey important information on emotional states of our interaction partners. However, in interactions between younger and older adults, there is evidence for a reduced ability to accurately decode emotional facial expressions. Previous studies have often followed up this phenomenon by examining the effect of the observers' age. However, decoding emotional faces is also likely to be influenced by stimulus features, and age-related changes in the face such as wrinkles and folds may render facial expressions of older adults harder to decode. In this paper, we review theoretical frameworks and empirical findings on age effects on decoding emotional expressions, with an emphasis on age-of-face effects. We conclude that the age of the face plays an important role for facial expression decoding. Lower expressivity, age-related changes in the face, less elaborated emotion schemas for older faces, negative attitudes toward older adults, and different visual scan patterns and neural processing of older than younger faces may lower decoding accuracy for older faces. Furthermore, age-related stereotypes and age-related changes in the face may bias the attribution of specific emotions such as sadness to older faces.

Bridging the empathy gap: or not? Reactions to ingroup and outgroup facial expressions

Journal of Cultural Cognitive Science, Mar 5, 2022

Prior research suggests that group membership impacts behavioral and self-reported responses to o... more Prior research suggests that group membership impacts behavioral and self-reported responses to others' facial expressions of emotion. In this paper, we examine how the mere labelling of a face as an ingroup or outgroup member affects facial mimicry (Study 1) and judgments of genuineness (Study 2). In addition, we test whether the effects of group membership on facial mimicry and perceived genuineness are moderated by the presence of tears (Study 1) and the motivation to cooperate (Study 2). Results from both studies revealed group-specific biases in facial mimicry and judgments of genuineness. However, introducing cooperative goals abolished differences in judgments of genuineness of facial expressions displayed by ingroup and outgroup members. Together, the findings provide insights into how intergroup biases in emotion perception operate and how they can be reduced by introducing cooperative goals.

Contrast effect in spatial context: Robustness and practical significance

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, Dec 1, 2017

HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific r... more HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific research documents, whether they are published or not. The documents may come from teaching and research institutions in France or abroad, or from public or private research centers. L'archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, émanant des établissements d'enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés.

On the Combined Influence of Attractive and Unattractive Locations on the Surroundings

Environment and Behavior, Jul 27, 2017

Living near an unsafe housing block or a landfill is unattractive because of their negative influ... more Living near an unsafe housing block or a landfill is unattractive because of their negative influence on the environment. The question we ask is "Would a nearby attractive location cancel out this negative influence?" In two studies, participants were shown fictitious neighborhoods that contained an unattractive location (an unsafe housing block or a landfill) located close to an attractive location (one's own home or a park). The participants were asked to evaluate how pleasant it would feel to live at increasing distances from these locations. The results showed that positively evaluated locations can mitigate but not entirely neutralize the effects of negatively evaluated locations. The present research elucidates how people combine the effects of sources of positive and negative influence.

Hotspots and borders interact in people's attitude toward the environment

Journal of Environmental Psychology, Oct 1, 2019

Effects of “hotspots” as a function of intrinsic neighborhood attractiveness

Journal of Environmental Psychology, Aug 1, 2017

Would the positive effect of an urban park differ as a function of whether it is located in Bever... more Would the positive effect of an urban park differ as a function of whether it is located in Beverly Hills or in South-Central? Would the negative effect of a noisy highway in Beverly Hills differ from its effect in South-Central? The present research investigates how changes in intrinsic neighborhood attractiveness modify the effects of intensely valenced locations e i.e., positive or negative "hotspots." In two experiments, participants rated the attractiveness of target locations situated at increasing distance from a positive or a negative hotspot, within a neighborhood that is itself intrinsically attractive or unattractive. The results show that salient intrinsic neighborhood attractiveness mattered irrespective of the distance to a positive hotspot whereas for a negative hotspot it showed an effect only farther away. We conclude that intense negative influence propagates in the same way irrespective of the intrinsic neighborhood attractiveness whereas intense positive influence dissipates quicker with increasing distance in unattractive neighborhoods.

Effectiveness of emotion regulation strategies measured by self-report and EMG as a result of strategy used, negative emotion strength and participants’ baseline HRV

Scientific Reports

We investigated how emotion regulation (ER) effectiveness—on both a self-reported rating as well ... more We investigated how emotion regulation (ER) effectiveness—on both a self-reported rating as well as emotional expression (corrugator supercilii muscle activity) level—is affected by the characteristics of the situation (low vs. high negativity), the strategy used (reinterpretation, distraction, suppression, no regulation control condition) and individual dispositions (low vs. high baseline Heart Rate Variability) as well as their interaction. For this purpose, 54 adult women participated in a laboratory study. All the included factors significantly influenced both corrugator activity and appraisals of pictures’ negativity (in specific experimental conditions). For example, for high HRV participants, (1) distraction, suppression and reinterpretation significantly decreased corrugator activity compared to the control condition, and (2) distraction decreased appraised picture negativity for high negativity photos. For low HRV participants, distraction and suppression were most effectiv...

Effectiveness of Emotion Regulation Strategies in Dealing With Weak and Strong Negative Emotion: Self-report, Heart Rate Variability, and Electromyography Data

We investigated how emotion regulation (ER) effectiveness – both on a level of self-reported rati... more We investigated how emotion regulation (ER) effectiveness – both on a level of self-reported rating as well as emotional expression (corrugator supercilii muscle activity) – is affected by the characteristics of the situation (low vs. high negativity), the strategy used (reappraisal, distraction, suppression, no regulation control condition) and individual dispositions (low vs. high baseline Heart Rate Variability) as well as their interaction. For this 69 adult women participated in a laboratory study. All the included factors significantly influenced both corrugator activity and appraisals of pictures’ negativity (in specific experimental conditions). For example, for high HRV participants, (1) distraction, suppression and reappraisal significantly decreased corrugator activity compared to the control condition, and (2) distraction as well as reappraisal decreased appraised picture negativity for high negativity photos. For low HRV participants, distraction and suppression were mo...

Facial Expressions and Emotion

Springer eBooks, 2017

The Emotion-Based Inferences in Context (EBIC) Model

Springer eBooks, 2019

This introductory chapter presents The Emotion-based Inferences in Context (EBIC) model. The mode... more This introductory chapter presents The Emotion-based Inferences in Context (EBIC) model. The model delineates the main factors and processes that are involved in social perception of emotions in a dyadic context. The EBIC model serves as an organizing structure for the different chapters of this book, each referring to a different aspect of the model.

The Role of Social Context for the Interpretation of Emotional Facial Expressions

Springer eBooks, Oct 11, 2014

The scientific study of emotion expressions is usually traced to Darwin's seminal work "On the ex... more The scientific study of emotion expressions is usually traced to Darwin's seminal work "On the expressions of the emotions in man and animai" (1872/1965). Darwin understood emotion expressions ,as the visible part of an underlying emotional state, which are evolved and (at least at some point in the past) adaptive. > Yet, Darwin's view has been disputed and rejected by those who considered facial expressions as exc1usively or predominantly social or cultural signals. Also, a number of studies in the early years of the twentieth century came to the conc1usion that emotions can only be recognized at chance levels, whereas other studies found good recognition rates. This disparity in findings led Bruner and Tagiuri in their 1954 Handbook 01 Social Psychology artic1e to state that " ... the evidence for the recognizability of emotional expressions is unc1ear" (p. 634). They con-c1uded that, if anything, emotional facial expressions are culturally learned. This view remained basically unchanged until the early 1970s when research by Ekman and colleagues (Ekman 1973; Ekman et a1.1969, 1972; Ekman and Friesen 1971) as weIl as Izard (Izard 1971a, b) vindicated Darwin's idea that at least some basic emotional expressions are universal and directly associated with an underlying

Reliability of surface facial electromyography

Psychophysiology, Dec 20, 2016

Data from two studies were used to estimate the reliability of facial EMG when used to index faci... more Data from two studies were used to estimate the reliability of facial EMG when used to index facial mimicry (Study 1) or affective reactions to pictorial stimuli (Study 2). Results for individual muscle sites varied between muscles and depending on data treatment. For difference scores, acceptable internal consistencies were found only for corrugator supercilii, and test-retest reliabilities were low. For contrast measures describing patterns of reactions to stimuli, such as high zygomaticus major combined with low corrugator supercilii, acceptable internal consistencies were found for facial reactions to smiling faces and positive affective reactions to affiliative images (Study 2). Facial reactions to negative emotions (Study 1) and facial reactions to power and somewhat less to achievement imagery (Study 2) showed unsatisfactory internal consistencies. For contrast measures, good temporal stability over 24 months (Study 1) and 15 months (Study 2), respectively, was obtained. In Study 1, the effect of method factors such as mode of presentation was more reliable than the emotion effect. Overall, people's facial reactions to affective stimuli seem to be influenced by a variety of factors other than the emotion-eliciting element per se, which resulted in biased internal consistency estimates. However, the influence of these factors in turn seemed to be stable over time. Descriptors: Facial EMG, Reliability Electromyography (EMG) is a measure of the electrical activity that is generated during muscle contraction, which is directly related to the force produced by the muscle (Lawrence & DeLuca, 1983). Specifically, striated muscles consist of groups of bundles composed of individual muscle fibers. EMG records the changes in electrical potential that result from the conduction of action potentials along these muscle fibers. Surface facial EMG has been used for the assessment of affective states in a large number of contexts. The use of facial EMG for this purpose can be traced to early research by Schwartz and colleagues (Schwartz, Fair, Salt, Mandel, & Klerman, 1976) who used it to show that nondepressed individuals more consistently react with facial expressions to imagery and specifically show more consistent happy expressions during happiness imagery. Starting with an article by Cacioppo, Petty, Losch, and Kim (1986), who asserted that "facial EMG activity differentiated both valence and intensity of the affective reaction," facial EMG has become a generally accepted index of affective reactions to a variety of visual (e.g.,

Drawing inferences from emotion expressions: The role of situative informativeness and context

Emotion, Mar 1, 2019

How people react emotionally to an event can tell us much about the event itself. However, emotio... more How people react emotionally to an event can tell us much about the event itself. However, emotions vary in their situative informativeness, that is, in how much information about the situation they provide. We predicted that when emotions are shown that are low in situative informativeness participants rely more on context information, then when the emotions shown are high in situative informativeness. This hypothesis was tested in 2 studies in which participants were asked to evaluate the quality of a player's performance based on the emotional reactions of spectators to an unknown ball game. Spectators reacted either with awe (high in situative informativeness), or with happiness or neutrality (low in situative informativeness). Participant also received context information. The findings supported the predictions and illustrate how emotions and context interact to inform us about events.

How Shapes Influence Social Judgments

Social Cognition, Feb 1, 2013

in two studies we investigated the impact of shapes in the environment on social judgments and de... more in two studies we investigated the impact of shapes in the environment on social judgments and decisions. The present research focuses on the notion that early sensorimotor experiences with shapes entrain social judgments that can be applied to people and situations. in early childhood we have different experiences with differently shaped objects, and one pertinent difference is whether an object is round or sharp. Sharp objects have the potential to hurt us and to be used aggressively in a way that round objects do not. Two studies confirmed that people who are exposed to sharp versus round shapes perceive others as more aggressive and are more likely to make an aggressive decision in a task requiring effortful thinking.

On the malleability of the meaning of contexts: the influence of another person’s emotion expressions on situation perception

Cognition & Emotion, Dec 21, 2016

Research on the relationship between context and facial expressions generally assumes a unidirect... more Research on the relationship between context and facial expressions generally assumes a unidirectional effect of context on expressions. However, according to the model of the meaning of emotion expressions in context (MEEC) the effect should be bidirectional. The present research tested the effect of emotion expression on the interpretation of scenes. A total of 380 participants either (a) rated facial expressions with regard to the likely appraisal of the eliciting situation by the emoter, (b) appraised the scenes alone or (c) appraised scenes shown together with the expressions they supposedly elicited. The findings strongly supported the MEEC. When a scene was combined with an expression signalling a situation that is undesirable, or high in locus of control or sudden, the participants appraised the scene correspondingly. Thus, the meaning of scenes is malleable and affected by the way that people are seen to react to them.

The influence of context on emotion recognition in humans

Facial expressions do not typically occur in a social vacuum. Rather, they are seen and understoo... more Facial expressions do not typically occur in a social vacuum. Rather, they are seen and understood in a social context. Specifically, the understanding of the more ambiguous facial expressions shown in everyday interactions tends to be influenced not only by the knowledge we have about the situation in which the emotion eliciting event occurred but also by knowledge of social norms and rules and by the motivations and goals of the perceiver. Finally, the face itself is not an empty canvas and facial morphology interacts with facial expression.

Emotional restraint is good for men only: The influence of emotional restraint on perceptions of competence

Emotion, Mar 1, 2016

The present research investigated the notion that passionate restraint or "manly emotion" is a re... more The present research investigated the notion that passionate restraint or "manly emotion" is a relevant emotion norm not only for men but also for women in modern Western society (MacArthur & Shields, 2015). For this, 2 studies were conducted to assess whether restraint in emotional reactivity is perceived as a sign of both emotional and general competence. Restraint was induced by delaying the onset of the emotional reaction to a purported emotion elicitor. The results show that men were indeed rated as both more emotionally competent and more intelligent in general when they showed restraint, confirming the notion that such restraint fits a positively valued Western ideal of emotional reactivity. For women, however, the opposite pattern emerged in that they were perceived as more emotionally competent and intelligent when they reacted immediately than when restraint was induced. Thus, manly emotions were good for men only.

Pet Dogs Succeed Where Human Companions Fail: The Presence of Pet Dogs Reduces Pain

Authorea (Authorea), Feb 15, 2023

Social support from family and friends, albeit associated with beneficial health effects, does no... more Social support from family and friends, albeit associated with beneficial health effects, does not always help to cope with pain. This may be because humans elicit mixed expectations of social support and evaluative judgment. The present studies aimed to test whether pet dogs are a more beneficial source of support in a painful situation than human companions, because they are not evaluative. For this, 74 and then 50 women completed a cold-pressor task either in the presence of their own or an unfamiliar pet dog, a friend or an unknown human companion, or alone. In both studies, participants reported less pain and exhibited less pain behavior in dogs' compared to human companions' presence. Furthermore, reactions to pain were moderated by attitudes towards dogs in study 2. This suggests that pet dogs may help individuals to cope with painful situations, especially if the individual in pain generally feels affectionate towards dogs.

Empathic reactions of younger and older adults: No age related decline in affective responding

Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 2014

We assessed performance based affective and cognitive empathy in two age groups. • Cognitive empa... more We assessed performance based affective and cognitive empathy in two age groups. • Cognitive empathy for happiness and sadness was reduced for older adults. • Older adults' affective empathy was not reduced in comparison to younger adults. • Older adults outperformed younger adults in the facial mimicry of disgust. • 20 s long dynamic stimuli produced continuous facial muscle reactions.

The Influence of Family Expressiveness, Individuals’ Own Emotionality, and Self-Expressiveness on Perceptions of Others’ Facial Expressions

Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, Oct 21, 2010

To examine individual differences in decoding facial expressions, college students judged type an... more To examine individual differences in decoding facial expressions, college students judged type and emotional intensity of emotional faces at five intensity levels and completed questionnaires on family expressiveness, emotionality, and self-expressiveness. For decoding accuracy, family expressiveness was negatively related, with strongest effects for more prototypical faces, and self-expressiveness was positively related. For perceptions of emotional intensity, family expressiveness was positively related, emotionality tended to be positively related, and self-expressiveness tended to be negatively related; these findings were all qualified by level of ambiguity/clarity of the facial expressions. Decoding accuracy and perceived emotional intensity also related positively with each other. Results suggest that even simple facial judgments are made through an interpretive lens partially created by family expressiveness, individuals' own emotionality, and self-expressiveness. Keywords Nonverbal decoding Á Emotion intensity Á Facial judgments Á Family expressiveness Á Self-expressiveness Interpreting other people's feelings is an important aspect of everyday social interaction. One highly available source of information that is frequently used when interpreting others' feelings are facial expressions (

Facial age affects emotional expression decoding

Frontiers in Psychology, 2014

Facial expressions convey important information on emotional states of our interaction partners. ... more Facial expressions convey important information on emotional states of our interaction partners. However, in interactions between younger and older adults, there is evidence for a reduced ability to accurately decode emotional facial expressions. Previous studies have often followed up this phenomenon by examining the effect of the observers' age. However, decoding emotional faces is also likely to be influenced by stimulus features, and age-related changes in the face such as wrinkles and folds may render facial expressions of older adults harder to decode. In this paper, we review theoretical frameworks and empirical findings on age effects on decoding emotional expressions, with an emphasis on age-of-face effects. We conclude that the age of the face plays an important role for facial expression decoding. Lower expressivity, age-related changes in the face, less elaborated emotion schemas for older faces, negative attitudes toward older adults, and different visual scan patterns and neural processing of older than younger faces may lower decoding accuracy for older faces. Furthermore, age-related stereotypes and age-related changes in the face may bias the attribution of specific emotions such as sadness to older faces.

Bridging the empathy gap: or not? Reactions to ingroup and outgroup facial expressions

Journal of Cultural Cognitive Science, Mar 5, 2022

Prior research suggests that group membership impacts behavioral and self-reported responses to o... more Prior research suggests that group membership impacts behavioral and self-reported responses to others' facial expressions of emotion. In this paper, we examine how the mere labelling of a face as an ingroup or outgroup member affects facial mimicry (Study 1) and judgments of genuineness (Study 2). In addition, we test whether the effects of group membership on facial mimicry and perceived genuineness are moderated by the presence of tears (Study 1) and the motivation to cooperate (Study 2). Results from both studies revealed group-specific biases in facial mimicry and judgments of genuineness. However, introducing cooperative goals abolished differences in judgments of genuineness of facial expressions displayed by ingroup and outgroup members. Together, the findings provide insights into how intergroup biases in emotion perception operate and how they can be reduced by introducing cooperative goals.