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Journal ArticleDOI

Electromyographic activity over facial muscle regions can differentiate the valence and intensity of affective reactions.

01 Feb 1986-Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (J Pers Soc Psychol)-Vol. 50, Iss: 2, pp 260-268
TL;DR: In this article, facial electromyographic (EMG) activity was used to distinguish both the valence and intensity of the affective reaction to the visual stimuli, and independent judges were unable to determine from viewing videotapes of the subjects' facial displays whether a positive or negative stimulus had been presented or whether a mildly or moderately intense stimulus was presented.
Abstract: Physiological measures have traditionally been viewed in social psychology as useful only in assessing general arousal and therefore as incapable of distinguishing between positive and negative affective states. This view is challenged in the present report. Sixteen subjects in a pilot study were exposed briefly to slides and tones that were mildly to moderately evocative of positive and negative affect. Facial electromyographic (EMG) activity differentiated both the valence and intensity of the affective reaction. Moreover, independent judges were unable to determine from viewing videotapes of the subjects' facial displays whether a positive or negative stimulus had been presented or whether a mildly or moderately intense stimulus had been presented. In the full experiment, 28 subjects briefly viewed slides of scenes that were mildly to moderately evocative of positive and negative affect. Again, EMG activity over the brow (corrugator supercilia), eye (orbicularis oculi), and cheek (zygomatic major) muscle regions differentiated the pleasantness and intensity of individuals' affective reactions to the visual stimuli even though visual inspection of the videotapes again indicated that expressions of emotion were not apparent. These results suggest that gradients of EMG activity over the muscles of facial expression can provide objective and continuous probes of affective processes that are too subtle or fleeting to evoke expressions observable under normal conditions of social interaction.
Citations
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Book
03 Jul 2010
TL;DR: The Psychology of Learning and Motivation (PLM) series as mentioned in this paper is a collection of contributions in cognitive and experimental psychology, ranging from classical and instrumental conditioning to complex learning and problem solving.
Abstract: Psychology of Learning and Motivation publishes empirical and theoretical contributions in cognitive and experimental psychology, ranging from classical and instrumental conditioning to complex learning and problem solving. Each chapter thoughtfully integrates the writings of leading contributors, who present and discuss significant bodies of research relevant to their discipline. Volume 62 includes chapters on such varied topics as automatic logic and effortful beliefs, complex learning and development, bias detection and heuristics thinking, perceiving scale in real and virtual environments, using multidimensional encoding and retrieval contexts to enhance our understanding of source memory, causes and consequences of forgetting in thinking and remembering and people as contexts in conversation. * Volume 62 of the highly regarded Psychology of Learning and Motivation series* An essential reference for researchers and academics in cognitive science* Relevant to both applied concerns and basic research

3,864 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Responsibility specificity, particularly facial expressiveness, supported the view that specific affects have unique patterns of reactivity, and consistency of the dimensional relationships between evaluative judgments and physiological response emphasizes that emotion is fundamentally organized by these motivational parameters.
Abstract: Colored photographic pictures that varied widely across the affective dimensions of valence (pleasant-unpleasant) and arousal (excited-calm) were each viewed for a 6-s period while facial electromyographic (zygomatic and corrugator muscle activity) and visceral (heart rate and skin conductance) reactions were measured. Judgments relating to pleasure, arousal, interest, and emotional state were measured, as was choice viewing time. Significant covariation was obtained between (a) facial expression and affective valence judgments and (b) skin conductance magnitude and arousal ratings. Interest ratings and viewing time were also associated with arousal. Although differences due to the subject's gender and cognitive style were obtained, affective responses were largely independent of the personality factors investigated. Response specificity, particularly facial expressiveness, supported the view that specific affects have unique patterns of reactivity. The consistency of the dimensional relationships between evaluative judgments (i.e., pleasure and arousal) and physiological response, however, emphasizes that emotion is fundamentally organized by these motivational parameters.

3,089 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The startle response (an aversive reflex) is enhanced during a fear state and is diminished in a pleasant emotional context and the effect is found when affects are prompted by pictures or memory images, changes appropriately with aversive conditioning, and may be dependent on right-hemisphere processing.
Abstract: This theoretical model of emotion is based on research using the startle-probe methodology. It explains inconsistencies in probe studies of attention and fear conditioning and provides a new approach to emotional perception, imagery, and memory. Emotions are organized biphasically, as appetitive or aversive (defensive). Reflexes with the same valence as an ongoing emotional state are augmented; mismatched reflexes are inhibited. Thus, the startle response (an aversive reflex) is enhanced during a fear state and is diminished in a pleasant emotional context. This affect-startle effect is not determined by general arousal, simple attention, or probe modality. The effect is found when affects are prompted by pictures or memory images, changes appropriately with aversive conditioning, and may be dependent on right-hemisphere processing. Implications for clinical, neurophysiological, and basic research in emotion are outlined.

2,134 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a multimethod approach was proposed to assess subjective well-being. But, the authors pointed out that self-reported measures of self-report measures of SWB show adequate validity, reliability, factor invariance, and sensitivity to change.
Abstract: Subjective well-being (SWB) comprises people's longer-term levels of pleasant affect, lack of unpleasant affect, and life satisfaction. It displays moderately high levels of cross-situational consistency and temporal stability. Self-report measures of SWB show adequate validity, reliability, factor invariance, and sensitivity to change. Despite the success of the measures to date, more sophisticated approaches to defining and measuring SWB are now possible. Affect includes facial, physiological, motivational, behavioral, and cognitive components. Self-reports assess primarily the cognitive component of affect, and thus are unlikely to yield a complete picture of respondents' emotional lives. For example, denial may influence self-reports of SWB more than other components. Additionally, emotions are responses which vary on a number of dimensions such as intensity, suggesting that mean levels of affect as captured by existing measures do not give a complete account of SWB. Advances in cognitive psychology indicate that differences in memory retrieval, mood as information, and scaling processes can influence self-reports of SWB. Finally, theories of communication alert us to the types of information that are likely to be given in self-reports of SWB. These advances from psychology suggest that a multimethod approach to assessing SWB will create a more comprehensive depiction of the phenomenon. Not only will a multifaceted test battery yield more credible data, but inconsistencies between various measurement methods and between the various components of well-being will both help us better understand SWB indictors and group differences in well-being. Knowledge of cognition, personality, and emotion will also aid in the development of sophisticated theoretical definitions of subjective well-being. For example, life satisfaction is theorized to be a judgment that respondents construct based on currently salient information. Finally, it is concluded that measuring negative reactions such as depression or anxiety give an incomplete picture of people's well-being, and that it is imperative to measure life satisfaction and positive emotions as well.

2,089 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This work proposes that aesthetic pleasure is a funnction of the perceiver's processing dynamics: the more fluently perceivers can process an object, the more positive their aesthetic response, and reviews variables known to influence aesthetic judgments, and traces their effects to changes in processing fluency.
Abstract: We propose that aesthetic pleasure is a function of the perceiver’s processing dynamics: The more fluently perceivers can process an object, the more positive their aesthetic response. We review variables known to influence aesthetic judgments, such as figural goodness, figure–ground contrast, stimulus repetition, symmetry, and prototypicality, and trace their effects to changes in processing fluency. Other variables that influence processing fluency, like visual or semantic priming, similarly increase judgments of aesthetic pleasure. Our proposal provides an integrative framework for the study of aesthetic pleasure and sheds light on the interplay between early preferences versus cultural influences on taste, preferences for both prototypical and abstracted forms, and the relation between beauty and truth. In contrast to theories that trace aesthetic pleasure to objective stimulus features per se, we propose that beauty is grounded in the processing experiences of the perceiver, which are in part a function of stimulus properties.

2,036 citations

References
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Book
01 Jun 1975

36,032 citations


"Electromyographic activity over fac..." refers background in this paper

  • ...For instance, physiological measures have traditionally been viewed in social psychology as useful only in assessing general arousal and therefore as incapable of distinguishing between positive and negative affective states (eg, Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975, p, 94; Schachter, 1964)—despite long-standing suggestions to the contrary: The low visibility of the affects and the difficulties to be encountered in attempting to identify the primary affects have already been described....

    [...]

Book
B. J. Winer1
01 Jan 1962
TL;DR: In this article, the authors introduce the principles of estimation and inference: means and variance, means and variations, and means and variance of estimators and inferors, and the analysis of factorial experiments having repeated measures on the same element.
Abstract: CHAPTER 1: Introduction to Design CHAPTER 2: Principles of Estimation and Inference: Means and Variance CHAPTER 3: Design and Analysis of Single-Factor Experiments: Completely Randomized Design CHAPTER 4: Single-Factor Experiments Having Repeated Measures on the Same Element CHAPTER 5: Design and Analysis of Factorial Experiments: Completely-Randomized Design CHAPTER 6: Factorial Experiments: Computational Procedures and Numerical Example CHAPTER 7: Multifactor Experiments Having Repeated Measures on the Same Element CHAPTER 8: Factorial Experiments in which Some of the Interactions are Confounded CHAPTER 9: Latin Squares and Related Designs CHAPTER 10: Analysis of Covariance

25,607 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This chapter discusses design and analysis of single-Factor Experiments: Completely Randomized Design and Factorial Experiments in which Some of the Interactions are Confounded.

24,665 citations

Book
01 Jan 1935
TL;DR: In this paper, Neuberg and Heine discuss the notion of belonging, acceptance, belonging, and belonging in the social world, and discuss the relationship between friendship, membership, status, power, and subordination.
Abstract: VOLUME 2. Part III: The Social World. 21. EVOLUTIONARY SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY (Steven L. Neuberg, Douglas T. Kenrick, and Mark Schaller). 22. MORALITY (Jonathan Haidt and Selin Kesebir). 23. AGGRESSION (Brad J. Bushman and L. Rowell Huesmann). 24. AFFILIATION, ACCEPTANCE, AND BELONGING: THE PURSUIT OF INTERPERSONAL CONNECTION (Mark R. Leary). 25. CLOSE RELATIONSHIPS (Margaret S. Clark and Edward P. Lemay, Jr.). 26. INTERPERSONAL STRATIFICATION: STATUS, POWER, AND SUBORDINATION (Susan T. Fiske). 27. SOCIAL CONFLICT: THE EMERGENCE AND CONSEQUENCES OF STRUGGLE AND NEGOTIATION (Carsten K. W. De Dreu). 28. INTERGROUP RELATIONS 1(Vincent Yzerbyt and Stephanie Demoulin). 29. INTERGROUP BIAS (John F. Dovidio and Samuel L. Gaertner). 30. SOCIAL JUSTICE: HISTORY, THEORY, AND RESEARCH (John T. Jost and Aaron C. Kay). 31. INFLUENCE AND LEADERSHIP (Michael A. Hogg). 32. GROUP BEHAVIOR AND PERFORMANCE (J. Richard Hackman and Nancy Katz). 33. ORGANIZATIONAL PREFERENCES AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES (Deborah H. Gruenfeld and Larissa Z. Tiedens). 34. THE PSYCHOLOGICAL UNDERPINNINGS OF POLITICAL BEHAVIOR (Jon A. Krosnick, Penny S. Visser, and Joshua Harder). 35. SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY AND LAW (Margaret Bull Kovera and Eugene Borgida). 36. SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY AND LANGUAGE: WORDS, UTTERANCES, AND CONVERSATIONS (Thomas Holtgraves). 37. CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY (Steven J. Heine). AUTHOR INDEX. SUBJECT INDEX.

13,453 citations

Book
01 Jan 1872
TL;DR: The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals Introduction to the First Edition and Discussion Index, by Phillip Prodger and Paul Ekman.
Abstract: Acknowledgments List of Illustrations Figures Plates Preface to the Anniversary Edition by Paul Ekman Preface to the Third Edition by Paul Ekman Preface to the Second Edition by Francis Darwin Introduction to the Third Edition by Paul Ekman The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals Introduction to the First Edition 1. General Principles of Expression 2. General Principles of Expression -- continued 3. General Principles of Expression -- continued 4. Means of Expression in Animals 5. Special Expressions of Animals 6. Special Expressions of Man: Suffering and Weeping 7. Low Spirits, Anxiety, Grief, Dejection, Despair 8. Joy, High Spirits, Love, Tender Feelings, Devotion 9. Reflection - Meditation - Ill-temper - Sulkiness - Determination 10. Hatred and Anger 11. Disdain - Contempt - Disgust - Guilt - Pride, Etc. - Helplessness - Patience - Affirmation and Negation 12. Surprise - Astonishment - Fear - Horror 13. Self-attention - Shame - Shyness - Modesty: Blushing 14. Concluding Remarks and Summary Afterword, by Paul Ekman APPENDIX I: Charles Darwin's Obituary, by T. H. Huxley APPENDIX II: Changes to the Text, by Paul Ekman APPENDIX III: Photography and The Expression of the Emotions, by Phillip Prodger APPENDIX IV: A Note on the Orientation of the Plates, by Phillip Prodger and Paul Ekman APPENDIX V: Concordance of Illustrations, by Phillip Prodger APPENDIX VI: List of Head Words from the Index to the First Edition NOTES NOTES TO THE COMMENTARIES INDEX

9,342 citations


"Electromyographic activity over fac..." refers background in this paper

  • ...There is now a growing literature on these facial configurations (a) supporting Darwins (1872/1965) notions regarding their evolutionary history and adaptive utility (eg, Ekman, 1972, 1982a; Ekman, Friesen, & Ellsworth, 1982), (b) highlighting their capacity as social stimuli (eg, Englis, Vaughan, & Lanzetta, 1982; Lanzetta & Orr, 1980, 1981; Sorce, Emde, Campos, & Klinnert, 1981), and (c) documenting the associated movements accompanying intrapersonal processes such as silent language processing and emotion (see recent reviews by Ekman & Oster, 1979; Fridlund, Ekman, & Oster, in press; McGuigan, 1978; Zuckerman, DePaulo, & Rosenthal, 1981)....

    [...]