Smiling, frowning, and autonomic activity in mildly depressed and nondepressed men in response to emotional imagery of social contexts

The study examined self-reported emotion and facial muscle and autonomic activity of depressed and nondepressed men in response to the social context of emotional situations. 20 university men, assessed on the Beck Depression Inventory, were asked to imagine happy and sad situations with and without visualizing other people. No differences were found between men classified as depressed and nondepressed on self-reported emotion and facial muscle activity. Smiling did not show differences between social contexts although self-reported happiness was increased during happy-social compared to happy-solitary imagery. Adjusting smiling for social context differences in happiness showed less smiling during happy-social than during happy-solitary imagery. In contrast, self-reported sadness and frowning were greater during sad-social compared to sad-solitary imagery. No differences between social contexts were found when frowning was adjusted for social context differences in sadness. Depressed-scoring men showed higher mean heart rate during sad-social than sad-solitary imagery whereas nondepressed-scoring men showed higher mean heart rate during happy social compared to happy-solitary imagery. The results indicate that men may frown more when sad but generally do not smile more during happy-social imagery, independent of depression. Depressed mood may affect heart rate during sad imagery but may not alter facial muscle activity and self:reported emotion in men.