Differential emotions theory and the facial feedback hypothesis of emotion activation: Comments on Tourangeau and Ellsworth's "The role of facial response in the experience of emotion."

1981 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 350-354 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. E. Izard
2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Alvaro Coles ◽  
Jeff T. Larsen ◽  
Heather Lench

The facial feedback hypothesis suggests that an individual’s experience of emotion is influenced by feedback from their facial movements. To evaluate the cumulative evidence for this hypothesis, we conducted a meta-analysis on 286 effect sizes derived from 138 studies that manipulated facial feedback and collected emotion self-reports. Using random effects meta-regression with robust variance estimates, we found that the overall effect of facial feedback was significant, but small. Results also indicated that feedback effects are stronger in some circumstances than others. We examined 12 potential moderators, and three were associated with differences in effect sizes. 1. Type of emotional outcome: Facial feedback influenced emotional experience (e.g., reported amusement) and, to a greater degree, affective judgments of a stimulus (e.g., the objective funniness of a cartoon). Three publication bias detection methods did not reveal evidence of publication bias in studies examining the effects of facial feedback on emotional experience, but all three methods revealed evidence of publication bias in studies examining affective judgments. 2. Presence of emotional stimuli: Facial feedback effects on emotional experience were larger in the absence of emotionally evocative stimuli (e.g., cartoons). 3. Type of stimuli: When participants were presented with emotionally evocative stimuli, facial feedback effects were larger in the presence of some types of stimuli (e.g., emotional sentences) than others (e.g., pictures). The available evidence supports the facial feedback hypothesis’ central claim that facial feedback influences emotional experience, although these effects tend to be small and heterogeneous.


1979 ◽  
Vol 37 (9) ◽  
pp. 1519-1531 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger Tourangeau ◽  
Phoebe C. Ellsworth
Keyword(s):  

2014 ◽  
Vol 141 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vivian Dzokoto ◽  
David S. Wallace ◽  
Laura Peters ◽  
Esi Bentsi-Enchill

2002 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 130-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
JOCELYN M. KEILLOR ◽  
ANNA M. BARRETT ◽  
GREGORY P. CRUCIAN ◽  
SARAH KORTENKAMP, ◽  
KENNETH M. HEILMAN

The facial feedback hypothesis suggests that facial expressions are either necessary or sufficient to produce emotional experience. Researchers have noted that the ideal test of the necessity aspect of this hypothesis would be an evaluation of emotional experience in a patient suffering from a bilateral facial paralysis; however, this condition is rare and no such report has been documented. We examined the role of facial expressions in the determination of emotion by studying a patient (F.P.) suffering from a bilateral facial paralysis. Despite her inability to convey emotions through facial expressions, F.P. reported normal emotional experience. When F.P. viewed emotionally evocative slides her reactions were not dampened relative to the normative sample. F.P. retained her ability to detect, discriminate, and image emotional expressions. These findings are not consistent with theories stating that feedback from an active face is necessary to experience emotion, or to process emotional facial expressions. (JINS, 2002, 8, 130–135.)


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document