Marianne LaFrance

The Contingent Smile: A Meta-Analysis of Sex Differences in Smiling

The authors present a meta-analysis of sex differences in smiling based on 448 effect sizes derivedfrom 162 research reports. There was a statistically significant tendency for women and adolescent girls to smile more than men and adolescent boys (d = 0.41). The authors hypothesized that sex differences in smiling would be larger when concerns about gender-appropriate behavior were made more conspicuous, situational constraints were absent or ambiguous, or emotion (especially negative) was salient. It was also predicted that the size of the sex difference in smiling would vary by culture and age. Moderator analysis supported these predictions. Although men tend to smile less than women, the degree to which this is so is contingent on rules and roles.

Body Objectification and “Fat Talk”: Effects on Emotion, Motivation, and Cognitive Performance

To evaluate the effects of self-objectification on mood, motivation, and cognitive performance, 80 women either tried on a swimsuit (high objectification) or a sweater (low objectification). In addition, in order to investigate whether “fat talk” exacerbates the negative effects of self-objectification, half of each group overheard a confederate make self-disparaging body comments or neutral comments. Self-objectification, either as an individual difference disposition (trait) or as a situationally induced state, was associated with increased negative feelings, decreased intrinsic motivation, lower self-efficacy, and diminished cognitive functioning. The “fat talk” prime had mixed effects; potential reasons are discussed in detail. Exposure to fat talk was associated with an increase in negative emotion for women in sweaters, but a decrease in negative emotion for women in swimsuits. Fat talk was also associated with improved motivation and cognitive functioning for women low in trait self-objectification but diminished motivation and performance for women high in trait self-objectification.

License or Obligation to Smile: The Effect of Power and Sex on Amount and Type of Smiling

This experiment tested whether social power and sex affect amount and type of smiling. Participants were assigned to low-, high-, or equal-power positions and interacted in dyads. For high- and equal-power participants, smiling correlated with positive affect, whereas for low- power participants, it did not. Women smiled more than men overall and showed more Duchenne smiling in the equal-power context, but they did not differ in the high-power context or low-power context. Results are interpreted as reflecting the license given to high-power people to smile when they are so inclined and the obligation for low-power people to smile regardless of how positive they feel.

Real Versus Imagined Gender Harassment

Sexual harassment studies that use hypothetical situations and retrospective surveys may overestimate the degree to which victims actually confront their harassers. The result is that immediate emotional reactions are little understood and victims are often taken to task for nonconfrontational behavior. To address this neglect, we describe our experimental investigation of immediate reactions to sexually harassing questions encountered during a realistic job interview. Behavioral and emotional responses are compared to those in an imagined harassing interview. Results indicate that interviewees who are actually harassed react very differently than those who only imagine their responses. For example, imagined victims anticipate feeling angry but actual targets report being afraid. Anticipated behavior also did not mesh with actual behavior. Implications of these discrepancies for perceptions of “correct” ways to respond to harassment are examined.

Why Smiles Generate Leniency

The authors investigated the social significance of human smiles, specifically the penchant for transgressors who smile to be judged more leniently than those who do not. Of particular interest was whether different types of smiles generate different degrees of leniency and what mediated the effect. Subjects judged a case of possible academic misconduct. Materials included a photograph of a female target displaying a neutral expression, felt smile, false smile, or miserable smile. Smiling targets received more leniency than nonsmiling targets, although they were not seen as less guilty. The type of smile did not significantly moderate the amount of leniency shown. Of the variables evaluated for mediating the smile-leniency effect, such as perceiving the target as more likable, submissive, or diplomatic, the one that best accounted for the effect was perceiving the target as a trustworthy person. The implication seems to be—if in trouble, smile.

Postural Mirroring and Intergroup Relations

The present study examined the effects of four types of intergroup orientation on interpersonal postural mirroring both within and between groups. One hundred and four female subjects were assigned to quartets, each made up of two dyads in one of four conditions: (1) Control; (2) coacting; (3) cooperating; and (4) competing. As predicted, results showed greater intergroup relative to intragroup mirroring for cooperating dyads than for competing dyads. Unexpectedly, subjects in the coacting condition showed a significantly higher level of intergroup mirroring than any other condition. Both results are interpreted as evidence that postural mirroring is an obvious yet unobtrusive indicator of openness to interpersonal involvement.

The Knowledge Acquisition Grid: a method for training knowledge engineers

This paper describes the Knowledge Acquisition Grid, developed to assist knowledge engineers in the manual transfer of expertise. The Grid is used in a knowledge-acquisition module which itself is part of a larger program designed to train people in knowledge engineering techniques offered by Digital Equipment Corporation. The Grid describes a two-dimensional space in which five forms of expert knowledge and six basic types of interview questions constitute the horizontal and vertical dimensions respectively. Description of the rationale, dimensions, components, and strategy for use of the Grid in the knowledge-acquisition component of building an expert system is provided along with discussion of the need for greater attention in general to the social psychology of expert interviewing.

Gender and emotion: Gender and smiling: A meta-analysis

A smile is the chosen vehicle for all ambiguity Herman Melville The human smile would seem to be among the most straightforward and least ambiguous of emotional expressions, yet it turns out to be one of the most variable and most complex facial displays. This ambiguity has in part contributed to confusion surrounding how best to explain why women appear to smile more than men. A decade ago the first meta-analysis of smiling documented that females smile more than males; moreover this difference was found to be significantly larger in situations involving social tension, and to a lesser extent, when there were variations in the amount of affiliation that was present (Hall & Halberstadt, 1986). As a result, Hall and Halberstadt (1986) concluded that little support was obtained for a dominance-status explanation of the sex difference since no significant correlations were found betweeen the size of the difference and the amount of power or status in the situation. The purpose of the present chapter is to take a second look at these and other potential moderators affecting the gender and smiling relationship by reviewing what is now nearly 20 years later a substantially larger body of research. Like Hall and Halberstadt (1986), we conducted a meta-analysis of the relationship between sex and smiling. Meta-analyses statistically integrate the mathematical findings of independent research studies and are now considered by many to be superior to qualitative reviews (Cooper & Rosenthal, 1980) and vote counting methods (Hedges & Olkin, 1980) for summarizing research results.

Cultural aspects of nonverbal communication

Abstract A review of the literature on cultural aspects of nonverbal communication reveals the existence of both similarities and differences in the display of nonverbal behavior. It is argued that similarities are most manifest when analysis is at the level of the individual and the focus is on the objective, formal properties of the behavior; differences are more likely to become manifest when the analysis is at the level of the relationship between individuals and the focus is on the interpersonal import of the behavior. Material on gaze and eye contact, body motion and gesture, interpersonal distance and touch, facial expression, and paralanguage is surveyed and organized into three primary sections. The sections reflect the major functions nonverbal behavior is presumed to perform: (1) the sending of emotional states; (2) the conveying of interpersonal attitudes, particularly intimacy and status; and (3) the management of conversation. Implications are drawn concerning potential miscommunication in intercultural encounters.

School for Scandal: different educational experiences for females and males

Abstract Some would argue that sex discrimination in educational settings is on the wane. This paper, drawing especially from research undertaken in North American settings will contend however that the announcement of its demise is premature. Research shows that gender inequality in the classroom continues and is manifest in and maintained by a variety of overlearned, non‐conscious, verbal and non‐verbal messages initiated in interactions between teachers and students. This paper reviews four such ‘messages’. They include: (1) how teachers respond to verbal participation by female students; (2) how teachers’ discourse reveals subtle sex bias; (3) how teachers assist female and male students in unequal ways and; (4) how teacher non‐verbal messages feed sex‐based differences in present interests and future goals. The paper concludes with some suggestions for changing these messages and thereby reducing gender inequality in educational settings..