Social reactions to the expression of emotion

Abstract

Weeping has traditionally been seen as a sign of weakness, and laughter as a sign of health. In the current study, attitudes and reactions toward emotional expressions were evaluated in a laboratory setting. Subjects (n = 168) viewed a movie with a confederate who cried, laughed, or expressed no emotion; they then engaged in 3 minutes of videotaped interaction. Results indicated that men were liked best when they cried, and women when they did not. Criers were seen as more depressed and emotional than individuals who laughed, but not as more feminine. More personal conversations were initiated in the Control condition, and contagion occurred in the Laugh condition, where moods were most positive. These results are consistent with other research which suggests that gender role expectations of emotional expression, especially crying, may have changed in recent years; they also demonstrate that reactions to others' expressions depend upon the expression and also the expressor.