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...
... middle of paper ...
...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
Buck, R. (1980). Nonverbal behavior and the theory of emotion: The facial feedback hypothesis. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 38, 811-824
Izard, C. E. (1990). The Substrates and Functions of Emotion Feelings: William James and Current Emotion Theory. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 16, 626-635
Larsen, R. J. (1992). Facilitating the Furrowed Brow: An Unobtrusive Test of the Facial Feedback Hypothesis Applied to Unpleasant Affect. Journal of cognition and emotion, 6, 321-338
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
Winton, W. (1986). The role of facial response in self-reports of emotion: A critique of Laird. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 50, 808-812
Izard, C. E. The substrates and functions of emotion feelings: William James and current emotion theory (1990). Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.
Hess, U., & Thibault, P. (2009). Darwin and Emotion Expression. American Psychologist, 2, 120-124. doi:10.1037/a0013386
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...
The presence of nonverbal messages in our communication is very important. Following the text, researchers have estimated it is up to “65 percent of social meaning we convey in face-to-face interactions is a result of nonverbal behavior” (131). The movie “Mrs. Doubtfire” is a typical example about the interactions among characters, also with audience. Several scenes in this movie show us the effects of nonverbal messages in communication, especially through the character Daniel, who disguises himself as a middle-aged British nanny in order to be near his children.
Snyder, M. (1974, October). Self-monitoring of expressive behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 30, 526-537.
Plutchik, Robert (2002), Emotions and Life: Perspectives from Psychology, Biology, and Evolution, Washington, DC: American Psychological Association
Facial expressions play a large role in how we interpret other's moods and give more
Rosen, L. D., Cheever, N. A., Cummings, C., & Felt, J. (2008). The impact of emotionality and
...nverbal Cues Can Increase Persuasion." Psychological Science (Wiley-Blackwell) 19.5 (2008): 415-420. Academic Search Premier. Web. 11 Nov. 2011
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
Facial expression, which is a kind of way of non-verbal communication, is strongly related to the emotion of the characters.
Facial expression of the skin. Tai (2014) states that facial expression is a universal language of human beings in which we can express our feelings, emotions, information, etc. Dabaghi and Najarzadegan (2014) opine that facial expressions reveal the attitudes of a speaker, therefore second language (L2) learners look more at the faces of their interlocutors to use visual information to facilitate comprehension. With the help of facial expression, human being can express their feelings and emotions such as happiness, sorrow, and fear. Wong and Wong (1998, as cited in Kessler, 2007) state that facial expression between teachers and students is one of the most important factors for effective teaching and learning.
Darwin’s thesis, summarized in The Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals, suggested that emotions and their expressions had evolved across species, were evolutionarily adaptive, biologically innate, and universal across all human and even non-human primates. According to Darwin (1872/1998), humans, regardless of race or culture, possess the ability to express emotions in exactly the same ways, primarily through their faces. It was not until the mid-1960s when psychologist Sylvan Tomkins, a pioneer in modern studies of human emotion, joined forces independently with Paul Ekman and Carroll Izard to conduct the first of the “universality studies.” Collectively, these findings demonstrated the existence of six universal expressions- anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise- as judges from around the world agreed on what emotion was portrayed in the faces. Likewise, the emotions portrayed in the universal facial expressions correspond to emotion taxonomies in different languages around the world. There is also cross-cultural similarity in the physiological responses to emotion when these facial expressions are used as markers, in both the autonomic nervous system and brain activity. In addition, there is universality in the antecedents that bring about emotion (Scherer, 1997a, 1997b). Ekman and Friesen (1969) coined the term ‘cultural display rules’ to account for
One scientist, Damasio, provided an explanation how emotions can be felt in humans biologically. Damasio suggested, “Various brain structures map both the organism and external objects to create what he calls a second order representation. This mapping of the organism and the object most likely occurs in the thalamus and cingulate cortices. A sense of self in the act of knowing is created, and the individual knows “to whom this is happening.” The “seer” and the “seen,” the “thought” and the “thinker” are one in the same.” By mapping the brain scientists can have a better understandi...
R. J. Dolan, Emotion, Cognition, and Behavior, Science 8 November 2002: 298 (5596), 1191-1194. [DOI:10.1126/science.1076358]