Social messages of crying faces: Their influence on anticipated person perception, emotions and behavioural responses

Abstract

The present study examined the beliefs of people on how they respond to individuals with different kinds of facial expressions, including crying. A total of 104 participants viewed photographs of individuals posing crying, neutral, anger, and fear expressions. They indicated how they would judge the person, how they would feel in the presence of the person, and how they would respond to the person. Compared to individuals expressing other emotions, crying individuals were perceived as less emotionally stable and less aggressive. Participants reported more feelings of sadness in response to crying faces. Crying faces also reportedly evoked more emotional support and less avoidance behaviour. Indirect support was found for the idea that crying is an attachment behaviour designed to elicit empathy and support in others.

Notes

¹This assumption was further strengthened by the results that revealed large effect sizes for type of expression. Most probably, our conclusions would not be very different using multilevel analyses.

²Only some effects of the sex of the poser and of the sex of the participant were found to be statistically significant and these effects were very small compared to the effects of type of expression. Apparently, a particular facial expression elicits the same responses in men and in women, and regardless of whether a man or a woman made the expression.