The Influence Of Social Evaluation And Target Structure On Expression Recognition

Based on appraisal theory of emotion,our research investigate the effect of social appraisal and goal structure on facial expression recognition. There are three indicators to measure expression recognition:accuracy, subjective intensity of emotion, face attractiveness. Two studies included:in study1,we focus on the influence of social appraisal using mixed design2×3×4. The independent variables are gender (between-group:male, female), social appraisal (within-group:positive, neutral and negative), and target emotion (within-group: happy, neutral, anger, fear). The dependent variables are accuracy and subjective intensity of target emotion,Then we add the variable of goal structure in study2, try to find out their function in facial expression recognition. Again we use3×3×4mixed design, the independent variable are social appraisal (within-group: positive, neutral and negative), the goal structure (between-group:cooperation, competition and independent), and the target emotion (within-group: happy, neutral, anger, fear), the dependent variables are the subjective strength of target emotion and face attractiveness.It turns out:(1) Social appraisal enhance the subjective intensity of facial expression, positive appraisal enhance the subjective intensity of positive emotion, negative appraisal enhance the subjective intensity of negative emotion;(2)Under any social appraisal condition,: Subjective intensity of facial expression:Angry>Happy>Fear>Neutral; Face attractiveness ratings for faces are:Happy> Neutral>Fear>Anger.(3) The influence of social appraisal on subjective intensity of target emotion is consistent with goal structure’s impact。(4) Social appraisal and goal structure have interact effect on face attractiveness: Under any social appraisal:cooperative goal>competitive goal; Under any goal structure:positive appraisal>negative appraisal.