Summary: Humans may have evolved complex facial expressions to strengthen social bonds. By analyzing more than 1,500 natural conversations, the study found that expressive individuals were more liked and better at achieving social goals.
Expressive participants were easier to read and more successful in conflict negotiations. This suggests that facial expressiveness plays a key role in human social interactions and relationship building.
Key facts:
- Expressive individuals are more popular and achieve social goals better.
- The study analyzed more than 1,500 natural conversations to assess facial expressiveness.
- The findings suggest that complex facial expressions help people build stronger social bonds.
Source: Nottingham Trent University
An analysis of more than 1,500 natural conversations suggests that humans may have evolved more complex facial muscle movements to help us bond with each other.
In the first part of the study, the researchers posed as participants in semi-structured video calls with 52 people to record natural reactions and expressions during various everyday scenarios.
The interviews were designed to include a range of behaviors including listening, humor, embarrassment, and conflict. To test the ability to suppress facial expression, participants were also asked to maintain a calm face while their partner tried to get them to move.
The same individuals later recorded short video clips of their faces as they attempted to achieve social goals such as appearing friendly, appearing threatening, and disagreeing without being unlikable.
More than 170 people were then shown clips from selected video calls and recordings and asked to rate the emotions and expressions being communicated to see how “readable” the participant was and how much they liked them.
Each participant’s facial expression was calculated using the Facial Action Coding System (FACS), a method of measuring facial muscle activity.
To test the findings on a larger scale, the researchers conducted a follow-up analysis of unscripted video conversations between 1,456 strangers from an existing data set in which the conversation partners rated how much they liked each other.
Likeability ratings were analyzed in relation to FACS scores and other accepted measures, and the researchers found that expressive participants were more liked by both independent raters and their conversation partners.
They were also found to be more readable and better able to adapt their facial behavior to achieve social goals.
In a conflict scenario where participants were offered a poor deal in terms of study reward payment, those who were agreeable and expressive in their dealings were found to perform better.
Dr Eithne Kavanagh, researcher and lead author of the study at NTU’s Faculty of Social Sciences, said: “This is the first large-scale study to examine facial expression in real-world interaction.
“Our evidence shows that facial expressiveness is related to positive social outcomes. It suggests that more expressive people are more successful in acquiring social partners and building relationships. It can also be important in conflict resolution.”
The work is part of a project funded by the European Research Council led by NTU’s Professor Bridget Waller. Individual Differences in Facial Expression: Social Function, Facial Anatomy, and Evolutionary Origins (FACEDIFF) is an interdisciplinary project investigating the development of facial expression and how this results in benefits or costs in an individual’s social engagement.
Professor Waller said: “This research is important from an evolutionary perspective because it may explain why humans have developed more complex facial expressions than any other species – it helps us form stronger bonds and better navigate the social world.”
About these social and evolutionary neuroscience research reports
Author: Helen Breese
Source: Nottingham Trent University
Contact: Helen Breese – Nottingham Trent University
Picture: Image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: Open access.
Eithne Kavanagh et al. Scientific reports
Abstract
Being expressive is socially advantageous
Individuals differ in how they move their faces in everyday social interactions. In the first large-scale study, we measured variation in dynamic facial behavior during social interaction and examined dyadic outcomes and impression formation.
In Study 1, we recorded semi-structured video interviews with 52 participants who interacted with a confederate in a variety of everyday contexts.
The video clips were rated by 176 independent participants. In Study 2, we examined the video calls of 1,315 participants engaged in unstructured video call interactions.
Indices of facial expressiveness were extracted using an automated analysis of the Facial Action Coding Scheme, and measures of personality and partner impression were obtained by self-report.
Facial salience varied considerably across participants but little across context, social partners, or time.
In Study 1, participants with a more expressive face were more likable, more agreeable, and more successful in negotiations (if also more agreeable). Participants who were more facially competent, legible, and perceived as legible were also more liked.
In Study 2, we replicated the finding that facial expressiveness was associated with agreeableness and agreeableness of their social partner, and additionally found that it was associated with extraversion and neuroticism.
The findings suggest that facial behavior is a stable individual difference that offers social benefits, leading to an affiliative, adaptive function.