Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Temporal Aspects of Facial Displays in Person and Expression Perception: The Effects of Smile Dynamics, Head-tilt, and Gender

  • Published:
Journal of Nonverbal Behavior Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Recent work suggests that temporal aspects of facial displays influence the perception of the perceived authenticity of a smile. In the present research, the impact of temporal aspects of smiles on person and expression perception was explored in combination with head-tilt and gender. One hundred participants were shown different types of smiles (slow versus fast onset) in combination with three forms of head-tilt (none, left, or right) exhibited by six computer-generated male and female encoders. The encoders were rated for perceived attractiveness, trustworthiness, dominance, and the smiles were rated for flirtatiousness and authenticity. Slow onset smiles led to more positive evaluations of the encoder and the smiles. Judgments were also significantly influenced by head-tilt and participant and encoder gender, demonstrating the combined effect of all three variables on expression and person perception.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. For practical reasons the terms ‘dynamic’ and ‘temporal’ will be used interchangeably and both refer to onset duration as manipulated in this research.

  2. Although authenticity and ambiguity may conceptually be two different constructs, as suggested by one of our reviewers, we assumed that they would overlap with respect to the dimension of degree of sexual connotation.

References

  • Abbey, A. (1982). Sex differences in attributions for friendly behavior: Do males misperceive females’ friendliness? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 42, 830–838.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Abbey, A. (1987). Misperceptions of friendly behavior as sexual interest: A survey of naturally occurring incidents. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 11, 173–194.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Abbey, A., & Melby, C. (1986). The effects of nonverbal cues on gender differences in perceptions of sexual intent. Sex Roles, 15, 283–297.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Adams, R., Kleck, R. E., Hess, U., & Wallbott, H. (2004). The influence of perceived gender on the perception of emotional dispositions. In A. Kappas (Eds.), Proceedings of the XIth conference of the international society for research on emotions (pp. 17–20). Amsterdam: University of Amsterdam/International Society for Research on Emotions.

    Google Scholar 

  • Algoe, S. B. (2000). Gender and job status as contextual cues for the interpretation of facial expression of emotion. Sex Roles, 42, 183–208.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ambadar, Z., Schooler, J., & Cohn, J. (2005). Deciphering the enigmatic face: The importance of facial dynamics in interpreting subtle facial expressions. Psychological Science, 16, 403–410.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bassili, J. N. (1978). Facial motion in the perception of faces and of emotional expression. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 4, 373–379.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bente, G., Krämer, N. C., Petersen, A., & de Ruiter, J. P. (2001). Computer animated movement and person perception: Methodological advances in nonverbal behavior research. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 25, 151–166.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Briton, N. J., & Hall, J. A. (1995). Gender-based expectancies and observers’ judgments of smiling. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 19, 49–65.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bruce, V., & Valentine, T. (1988). When a nod’s as good as a wink: The role of dynamic information in facial recognition. In M. M. Gruneberg, P. E. Morris, & R. N. Sykes (Eds.), Practical aspects of memory: Current research and issues (Vol. 1, pp. 169–174). New York, NY: Wiley.

  • Bugental, D. E., Love, L. R., & Gianetto, R. M. (1971). Perfidious feminine faces. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 17, 314–318.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cohn, J. F., & Schmidt, K. S. (2003). The timing of facial motion in posed and spontaneous smiles. In Proc. 2nd international conference on active media technology (ICMAT 2003), Chongqing, China, pp. 57–72.

  • Costa, M., Menzani, M., & Ricci Bitti, P. E. (2001). Head canting in paintings: An historical study. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 25, 63–73.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Costa, M., & Ricci Bitti, P. E. (2000). Face-ism effect and head canting in one’s own and others’ photographs. European Psychologist, 5, 293–301.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Deutsch, F. M., LeBaron, D., & Fryer, M. M. (1987). What is in a smile? Psychology of Women Quarterly, 11, 341–352.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Downs, A. C., & Harrison, S. K. (1985). Embarrassing age spots or just plain ugly? Physical attractiveness stereotyping as an instrument of sexism on American television commercials. Sex Roles, 13, 9–19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eagly, A. H., Ashmore, R. D., Makhijani, M. G., & Longo, L. C. (1991). “What is beautiful is good, but...”: A meta-analytic review of research on the physical attractiveness stereotype. Psychological Bulletin, 110, 109–128.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Edinger, J. A., & Patterson, M. K. (1983). Nonverbal involvement and social control. Psychological Bulletin, 93, 30–56.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ekman, P., & Friesen, W. V. (1978). The facial action coding system. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Field, A. (2000). Discovering statistics using SPSS for windows. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frey, S. (1999). Die macht des bildes. Bern: Huber.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frey, S., Hirsbrunner, H.-P., Florin, A., Daw, W., & Crawford, R. (1983). A unified approach to the investigation of nonverbal and verbal behavior in communication research. In W. Doise, & S. Moscovici (Eds.), Current issues in European social psychology (pp. 143–199). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Halberstadt, A. G., & Hayes, C. W., & Pike, K. M. (1988). Gender and gender role differences in smiling and communication consistency. Sex Roles, 19, 589–604.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Halberstadt, A. G., & Saitta, M. B. (1987). Gender, noverbal behavior, and perceived dominance: A test of the theory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53, 257–272.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hall, J. A. (1984). Nonverbal sex differences: Communication accuracy and expressive style. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hall, J. A., & Briton, N. J. (1993). Gender, nonverbal behavior, and expectations. In P. D. Blanck (Eds.), Interpersonal expectations: Theory, research, and applications (pp. 276–295). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hall, J. A., Carney, D. R., & Murphy, N. A. (2002). Gender differences in smiling. In M. H. Abel (Eds.), An empirical reflection on the smile (pp. 187–216). New York: Edwin Mellen Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hall, J. A., Carter, J. D., & Horgan, T. G. (2000). Gender differences in nonverbal communication of emotion. In A. H. Fischer (Eds.), Gender and emotion: Social psychological perspectives (pp. 97–117). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hecht, M. A., & LaFrance, M. (1998). License or obligation to smile: The effect of power and sex on amount and type of smiling: Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 24, 1332–1342.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Henley, N. M. (1977). Body politics: Power, sex, and nonverbal communications. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hess, U., Adams, R. B., Jr., & Kleck, R. E. (2004). Facial appearance, gender, and emotion expression. Emotion, 4, 378–388.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hess, U., Adams, R. B., Jr., & Kleck, R. E. (2005). Who may frown and who should smile? Dominance, affiliation, and the display of happiness and anger. Cognition and Emotion, 19, 515–536.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hess, U., Beaupré, M. G., & Cheung, N. (2002). Who to whom and why-Cultural differences and similarities in the function of smiles. In M. H. Abel (Eds.), An empirical reflection on the smile (pp. 187–216). New York: Edwin Mellen Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hess, U., Blairy, S., & Kleck, R. E. (2000a). The influence of facial emotion displays, gender, and ethnicity on judgments of dominance and affiliation. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 24, 265–283.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hess, U., Senécal, S., Kirouac, G., Herrera, P., Philippot, P., & Kleck, R. E. (2000b). Emotional expressivity in men and women: Stereotypes and self-perceptions. Cognition and Emotion, 14, 609–642.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hirsbrunner, H.-P., Frey, S., & Crawford, R. (1987). Movement in human interaction. Parameter formation, analysis. In A. W. Siegmann, & S. Feldstein (Eds.), Nonverbal behavior and communication (pp. 99–140). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones, E. E., & Davis, K. E. (1965). From acts to dispositions: The attribution process in person perception. In L. Berkowitz (Eds.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 2, pp. 219–266). New York: Academic Press.

  • Kamachi, M., Bruce, V., Mukaida, S., Gyoba, J., Yoshikawa, S., & Akamatsu, S. (2001). Dynamic properties influence the perception of facial expressions. Perception, 30, 875–887.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Katsikitis, M., Pilowsky, I., & Innes, J. M. (1997). Encoding and decoding of facial expression. Journal of General Psychology, 124, 357–370.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Keating, C. F., Mazur, A., Segall, M. H., Cysneiros, P. G., Divale, W. T., Kilbride, J. E., Komin, S., Leahy, P., Thurman, B., & Wirsing, R. (1981). Culture and the perception of social dominance from facial expression. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 40, 615–626.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knight, B., & Johnston, A. (1997). The role of movement in face recognition. Visual Cognition, 4, 265–273.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kowalski, R. M. (1993). Inferring sexual interest from behavioral cues: Effects of gender and sexually relevant attitudes. Sex Roles, 29, 13–36.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krumhuber, E., & Kappas, A. (2005). Moving smiles: The role of dynamic components for the perception of the genuineness of smiles. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 29, 3–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krumhuber, E., Cosker, D., Manstead, A. S. R., Marshall, D., & Rosin, P. L. (2005). Temporal dynamics of smiling: Human versus synthetic faces. Poster presented at the XIVth Conference of the International Society for Research on Emotions, Bari, Italy.

  • LaFrance, M., & Hecht, M. A. (2000). Gender and smiling: A meta-analysis. In A. H. Fischer (Eds.), Gender and emotion: Social psychological perspectives (pp. 118–142). Paris: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • LaFrance, M., Hecht, M. A., & Levy Paluck, E. (2003). The contingent smile: A meta-analysis of sex differences in smiling. Psychological Bulletin, 129, 305–334.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lander, K., Christie, F., & Bruce, V. (1999). The role of movement in the recognition of famous faces. Memory and Cognition, 27, 974–985.

    Google Scholar 

  • Langlois, J. H., Kalakanis, L., Rubenstein, A. J., Larson, A., Hallam, M., & Smoot, M. (2000). Maxims or myths of beauty? A meta-analytic and theoretical review. Psychological Bulletin, 126, 390–423.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lau, S. (1982). The effect of smiling on person perception. Journal of Social Psychology, 117, 63–67.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leonard, C. M., Voeller, K. K. S., & Kuldau, J. M. (1991). When’s a smile a smile? Or how to detect a message by digitizing the signal. Psychological Science, 2, 166–172.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mehrabian, A. (1969). Some referents and measures of nonverbal behavior. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments and Computers, 1, 203–207.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mignault, A., & Chaudhuri, A. (2003). The many faces of a neutral face: Head tilt and perception of dominance and emotion. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 27, 111–132.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moore, M. M. (1985). Nonverbal courtship patterns in women. Ethology and Sociobiology, 6, 237–247.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Muehlenhard, C. L., Koralewski, M. A., Andrews, S. L., & Burdick, C. A. (1986). Verbal and nonverbal cues that convey interest in dating: Two studies. Behavior Therapy, 17, 404–419.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Otta, E., Abrosio, F. F. E., & Hoshino, R. L. (1996). Reading a smiling face: Messages conveyed by various forms of smiling. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 82, 1111–1121.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Otta, E., Lira, B. B. P., Delevati, N. M., Cesar, O. P., & Pires, C. S. G. (1994). The effect of smiling and of head tilting on person perception. Journal of Psychology, 128, 323–331.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Palmer, M. T., & Simmons, K. B. (1995). Communicating intentions through nonverbal behaviors: Conscious and nonconscious encoding of liking. Human Communication Research, 22, 128–160.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ragan, J. M. (1982). Gender displays in portrait photographs. Sex Roles, 8, 33–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reis, H. T., McDougal Wilson, I., Monestere, C., Bernstein, S., Clark, K., Seidl, E., Franco, M., Giodioso, E., Freeman, L., & Radoane, K. (1990). What is smiling is beautiful and good. European Journal of Social Psychology, 20, 259–267.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sato, W., & Yoshikawa, S. (2004). The dynamic aspects of emotional facial expressions. Cognition and Emotion, 18, 701–710.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schmid Mast, M., & Hall, J. A. (2004a). When is dominance related to smiling? Assigned dominance, dominance preference, trait dominance, and gender as moderators. Sex Roles, 50, 387–399.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schmid Mast, M., & Hall, J. A. (2004b). Who is the boss and who is not? Accuracy of judging status. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 28, 145–165.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt, K. L., Cohn, J. F., & Tian, Y. (2003). Signal characteristics of spontaneous facial expressions: automatic movement in solitary and social smiles. Biological Psychology, 65, 49–66.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Shrout, P. E., & Fiske, D. W. (1981). Nonverbal behaviors and social evaluation. Journal of Personality, 49, 115–128.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wehrle, T., Kaiser, S., Schmidt, S., & Scherer, K. R. (2000). Studying the dynamics of emotional expression using synthesized facial muscle movements. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 105–119.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zebrowitz, L. A., & Collins, M. A. (1997). Accurate social perception at zero acquaintance: The affordances of a Gibsonian approach. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 1, 204–223.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgment

We would like to thank Peter Watson of the MRC Brain and Cognition Unit, University of Cambridge, for his help with the research design and the analyses.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Psychology, Cardiff University, P.O. Box 901, Cardiff, CF10 3AT, UK

    Eva Krumhuber & Antony S. R. Manstead

  2. School of Humanities and Social Sciences, International University Bremen, Bremen, Germany

    Arvid Kappas

Authors
  1. Eva Krumhuber
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Antony S. R. Manstead
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Arvid Kappas
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Eva Krumhuber.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Krumhuber, E., Manstead, A.S.R. & Kappas, A. Temporal Aspects of Facial Displays in Person and Expression Perception: The Effects of Smile Dynamics, Head-tilt, and Gender. J Nonverbal Behav 31, 39–56 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-006-0019-x

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-006-0019-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation