THE EFFECT OF PEN HOLDING CONDITIONS ON THE HUMOUR RATING OF FUNNY CARTOONS
ABSTRACT
Previous research concerning the facial feedback hypothesis contends that manipulation of facial expression induces emotional arousal. The aim of the experiment was to determine whether holding a pen in the mouth in way that resembles certain facial expression effect humour rating of cartoons rated by participants under one of three conditions. A sample of 60 naïve second year students from Monash University was divided into the three treatment conditions to test the hypothesis. There were two separate hypotheses to be tested.
Results were not statistically significant and alternative hypotheses were not supported however, results did indicate a trend supporting the notions of the hypotheses. Implications of this study show that there are trends to support the facial feedback hypothesis however, inconclusively. Future research should be undertaken to effectively ascertain the validity of the facial feedback hypothesis, an extension of the James – Lange theory of emotion.
The James – Lange theory suggests that there are three stages related to the experience of an emotion. The first stage is the physiological response to the stimuli mediated by the autonomic nervous system and can include increased heart beat, sweat forming on the palms and similar symptoms. Following the physiological response is the emotional or cognitive aspect of actually realising the emotion which is then followed by the behavioural aspect which denotes what is actually done in response to the stimulus, for example running away. (Buck, 1980, p.811)
The facial feedback hypothesis is an extension of the James – Lange theory of emotion and contends that emotions are the result of physiological input rather than physiological reactions being the result of experienced emotions. According to the theory, feedback is taken from muscle activity in the body and is then interpreted by the brain and translated into the feeling of various emotions. For example, rather than a smile being elicited from a feeling of happiness, the facial feedback hypothesis suggests that it is the smile which has caused the feeling of happiness. (Dalton, 2000, p.60)
In the past there has been research carried out to test the validity of the facial feedback hypothesis. Laird (1974, cited in Strack, Martin & Stepper. 198...
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...tional responses. Consequently, it is important that further research be undertaken to replicate past research and improve the ability to generalize results to the given population.
REFERENCES
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Strack, F., Martin, L., Stepper, S. (1988). Inhibiting and Facilitating Conditions of the Human Smile: A Nonobtrusive Test of the Facial Feedback Hypothesis. Journal of personality and social psychology, 54, 768-777
Dalton, T. (2000). The developmental roots of consciousness and emotional experience. Consciousness & Emotion, 1, 55-89
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One famous pioneer in this area is Ekman (1973 in Shiraev & Levy, 2007, 2004) who classified six basic facial expressions as being universal and reflecting most emotional states. They are happy, sad, anger, disgust, surprised and fearful. Ekman (1973) proposed that the universality of emotions allows individuals to empathise with others and enables us to read other’s feelings therefore emotions must serve an adaptive purpose hence supporting the claim that they are universal (Darwin, 1972 in John, Ype, Poortinga, Marshall & Pierre 2002). Moreover, emotions are widely accepted to accompany...
William James analysis of emotion revolves around his theory that an emotion is nothing more than the senses and feelings we experience in our bodies that come about after we perceive something. He says that " … the bodily changes follow directly the perception of the exciting fact, and that our feeling of the same changes as they occur is the emotion". He gives several premises to back up this theory.
Hess, U., & Thibault, P. (2009). Darwin and Emotion Expression. American Psychologist, 2, 120-124. doi:10.1037/a0013386
Ellsworth, P & Carlsmith, J.M (1968). Effects of eye contact and verbal content on affective response to a dyadic interaction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 10, 15-20.
see the first sign of emotions when "Their face did not move and they did not
Emotion is the “feeling” aspect of consciousness that includes physical, behavioral, and subjective (cognitive) elements. Emotion also contains three elements which are physical arousal, a certain behavior that can reveal outer feelings and inner feelings. One key part in the brain, the amygdala which is located within the limbic system on each side of the brain, plays a key role in emotional processing which causes emotions such as fear and pleasure to be involved with the human facial expressions.The common-sense theory of emotion states that an emotion is experienced first, leading to a physical reaction and then to a behavioral reaction.The James-Lange theory states that a stimulus creates a physiological response that then leads to the labeling of the emotion. The Cannon-Bard theory states that the physiological reaction and the emotion both use the thalamus to send sensory information to both the cortex of the brain and the organs of the sympathetic nervous system. The facial feedback hypothesis states that facial expressions provide feedback to the brain about the emotion being expressed on the face, increasing all the emotions. In Schachter and Singer’s cognitive arousal theory, also known as the two-factor theory, states both the physiological arousal and the actual arousal must occur before the emotion itself is experienced, based on cues from the environment. Lastly, in the cognitive-mediational theory
Any communication interaction involves two major components in terms of how people are perceived: verbal, or what words are spoken and nonverbal, the cues such as facial expressions, posture, verbal intonations, and other body gestures. Many people believe it is their words that convey the primary messages but it is really their nonverbal cues. The hypothesis for this research paper was: facial expressions directly impact how a person is perceived. A brief literature search confirmed this hypothesis.
While communicating with another human being, one only has to examine the other’s face in order to comprehend what is being said on a much deeper level. It is said that up to 55 percent of a message’s meaning can be derived from facial expression (Subramani, 2010). These facial manipulations allow thoughts to be expressed in ways that are often difficult to articulate verbally, with the face demonstrating “the thoughts of the mind, and the feelings of the heart” (Singla). Many expressions are said to universal, particularly those showing happiness, sadness, fear, anger, disgust, and...
Snyder, M. (1974, October). Self-monitoring of expressive behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 30, 526-537.
Laughter is an essential human phenomenon. Smiling in response to pleasant physical conditions occurs in early development, usually in the first month of life. As a motor reflex, laughter is usually present by the time a child is 4 months old. By the age of eighteen months, a child smiles once every six minutes, and by four years of age, the rate increases to one smile every one and one-third minutes. The ratio of laughs to smiles increases from one laugh to every ten smiles as eighteen months to one every three smile at four years. The individual differences in the rate of both laughing and smiling become greater as the children grow older. (Stearns, 1972) The instinctual development of smiling and laughing occurs very early in life, suggesting a high level of importance.
Goldman, M. (1980). EFFECT OF EYE CONTACT AND DISTANCE ON THE VERBAL REINFORCEMENT OF ATTITUDE. Journal Of Social Psychology, 111(1), 73.
To conclude, researches propose a number of theories that experience human emotions. The James-Lange theory of emotion and the Cannon-Bard theory of emotion belong to one physiological category of theories. However, chosen theories differ greatly from each other. While the James-Lange theory affirms that different physiological states respond to various experiences of emotion, the Cannon-Bard theory claims that humans react to an inducement and experience that is related to the emotion at that time. Both theories have individuals that criticize them and it is up to the individual to decide which one to
Empathy is intrinsically intertwined with emotions and allows use to “feel” things we’ve never actually experienced. Legendary psychologist Paul Ekman demonstrated in a study in 1965 how facial expressions are universal and that universality permits all people to connect with the emotions felt by the person being presented in the pictures. In Ekman’s study, he used a chart with facials expressions and showed them to subjects from America, Japa...
Facial expression, which is a kind of way of non-verbal communication, is strongly related to the emotion of the characters.
Have you ever wondered why people have certain reactions? I chose chapter eight on emotions for my reflection paper because emotions are something that everyone has and feels, yet cannot always explain or react to in the way you would expect. Personally, I have never been great at responding to emotions in a way that I would not regret in the future. Thus, naturally being drawn to this chapter as a way to expand my knowledge on how to react to things more positively. I also wanted to learn why I feel a certain way after events that would not affect most people and be reassured about my feelings. Opposite to that, it is nice to see that, while not always productive, others have the same reaction habits. Overall, emotions are a complicated