Lecture 4: Strack Study: Inhibiting and Facilitating Conditions of the Human Smile: A Nonobtrusive Test of the Facial Feedback Hypothesis [test 3]

Question 1

t/f- according to Darwin, the intensity of an emotion will differ depending upon whether an expression is either enhanced or inhibited

Answer 1

true

Question 2

t/f- physiological changes (ie., contorting face to create facial expression) precede the subjective experience of an emotion

Answer 2

true

Question 3

facial feedback hypothesis

Answer 3

causal assertion that feedback from facial expressions affects emotional experience and behavior

Question 4

most research on the facial feedback hypothesis (FFH) has involved examining facial activity with which of these methods?
self-reports
recall measures
autonomic indexes 
all of these

Answer 4

all of these

Question 5

autonomic index (measure of facial activity/emotion)

Answer 5

facial expressions accompanied by measuring autonomic changes (eg. heart rate)

Question 6

2 possible mechanisms by which facial expressions influence emotional reactions (FFH)

Answer 6

1) The effects are attributable to cognitive processes (eg. person recognizes that they are contorting their face such that their face is smiling, and they are making associations w smile to more positive events and attributes)
2) The effects are attributable to physiological mechanisms (physio mechanisms directly linked to change in cognitive expression, w/o cognitive appraisal)

Question 7

the facial stimulation procedure has typically been used in studies of the FFH. Describe this measure and explain the problem with it

Answer 7

Participants simulate particular facial expressions and then their emotional states are measured

problem- facial manipulation might be interpreted as fitting into a particular emotional category- cognitive processes may be eliciting the emotional states - this methodology doesn’t show that physio mechanisms are adequate for FFH to occur

Question 8

the dissimulation/exaggeration paradigm (Darwin) used in FFH studies suggests support for the FFH, and explain the problem with it

Answer 8

Participants are asked to suppress or exaggerate a variety of facial expressions while exposed to emotional stimuli

problem- can’t distinguish whether physiological or cognitive mechanisms were responsible for this effect

Question 9

t/f- Strack wanted paradigm that was more subtle and would minimize likelihood that participants would recognize the emotional expression that they were portraying by virtue of changes in facial musculature, and argued for the use of subtle muscle alterations to minimize possibility that cognitive appraisal processes were driving changes in emotional expression

Answer 9

true

Question 10

contracting the orbicularis oris muscle ____ smiling and contracting the zygomaticus major or the risorius muscle ____ smiling
facilitates, inhibits- choose

Answer 10

inhibits, facilitates

Question 11

which of the following was a hypothesis in the Strack study?

1) Funny stimuli should be rated least funny when in the lips condition
2) Funny stimuli should be rated as most funny when in the teeth condition
3) Both of these

Answer 11

3) Both of these

Question 12

Strack results and inferences/conclusions based on these

Answer 12

people found cartoons funnier when pen was in teeth (smiling condition) vs in lips (non-smiling condition):

Inhibiting muscles used for smiling leads to a lower experience of humor

Facilitating muscles used for smiling leads to a higher experience of humor

= support of FFH AND cognitive processes are NOT necessary for FFH to occur

Question 13

t/f- difficulty of holding the pens in the lips vs teeth was likely to be a major confound in the Strack study

Answer 13

false- tests showed it was not