Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Effects of Dynamic Attributes of Smiles in Human and Synthetic Faces: A Simulated Job Interview Setting

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Nonverbal Behavior Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

We examined the effects of the temporal quality of smile displays on impressions and decisions made in a simulated job interview. We also investigated whether similar judgments were made in response to synthetic (Study 1) and human facial stimuli (Study 2). Participants viewed short video excerpts of female interviewees exhibiting dynamic authentic smiles, dynamic fake smiles, or neutral expressions, and rated them with respect to a number of attributes. In both studies, perceivers’ judgments and employment decisions were significantly shaped by the temporal quality of smiles, with dynamic authentic smiles generally leading to more favorable job, person, and expression ratings than dynamic fake smiles or neutral expressions. Furthermore, authentically smiling interviewees were judged to be more suitable and were more likely to be short-listed and selected for the job. The findings show a high degree of correspondence in the effects created by synthetic and human facial stimuli, suggesting that temporal features of smiles similarly influence perceivers’ judgments and decisions across the two types of stimulus.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. In the context of this paper, the temporal form or quality of smiles refers to the dynamic or moving aspect of facial expressions and is operationalized in terms of its onset, apex, and offset duration.

  2. Clearly, the Duchenne marker as a morphological feature is a perceptible signal in social interaction separate from the effect of temporal features. However, we argue that temporal dynamics may themselves be sufficient to shape perceptions and strategic decisions independent of this morphological marker (see Krumhuber et al. 2007a for a similar approach).

References

  • Ambadar, Z., Schooler, J., & Cohn, J. (2005). Deciphering the enigmatic face: The importance of facial dynamics in interpreting subtle facial expressions. Psychological Science, 16, 403–410.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ambady, N., Bernieri, F., & Richeson, J. (2000). Toward a histology of social behavior: Judgmental accuracy from thin slices of the behavioral stream. In M. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 32, pp. 201–271). Boston: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ambady, N., & Rosenthal, R. (1992). Thin slices of behavior as predictors of interpersonal consequences: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 2, 256–274.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ambady, N., & Rosenthal, R. (1993). Half a minute: Predicting teacher evaluations from thin slices of behavior and physical attractiveness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64, 431–441.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bailenson, J. N., Blascovich, J., Beall, A. C., & Loomis, J. M. (2001). Equilibrium revisited: Mutual gaze and personal space in virtual environments. Presence, 10, 583–598.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bassili, J. N. (1978). Facial motion in the perception of faces and of emotional expression. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 4, 373–379.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bassili, J. N. (1979). Emotion recognition: The role of facial movement and the relative importance of upper and lower areas of the face. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37, 2049–2058.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bente, G., Krämer, N. C., Petersen, A., & de Ruiter, J. (2001). Computer animated movement and person perception: Methodological advances in nonverbal behavior research. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 25, 151–166.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blascovich, J. (2001). Social influences within immersive virtual environments. In R. Schroeder (Ed.), The social life of avatars (pp. 127–145). New York: Springer-Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blens, H., Krämer, C., & Bente, G. (2003). Virtuelle Verkäufer: Die Wirkung von antromporphen Interface Agenten in WWW und e-commerce. In J. Ziegler, et al. (Eds.), Mensch und Computer 2003. Stuttgart: Teubner.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bould, E., & Morris, N. (2008). Role of motion signals in recognizing subtle facial expressions of emotion. British Journal of Psychology, 99, 167–189.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bruce, V., & Valentine, T. (1988). When a nod’s as good as a wink: The role of dynamic information in facial recognition. In M. M. Gruneberg, P. E. Morris, & R. N. Sykes (Eds.), Practical aspects of memory: Current research and issues (Vol. 1, pp. 169–174). New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bugental, D. B. (1986). Unmasking the “polite smile”: Situational and personal determinants of managed affect in adult-child interaction. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 12, 7–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • BusinessWeek. (2006, March 7). On-the-job video gaming. Retrieved on January 9, 2008. http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_13/b3977062.htm.

  • Cosker, D., Paddock, S., Marshall, D., Rosin, P. L., & Rushton, S. (2005). Towards perceptually realistic talking heads: Models, methods and McGurk. ACM Transactions on Applied Perception, 2, 1–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cosker, D., Rosin, P. L., & Marshall, D. (2007). Remapping animation parameters between multiple types of facial model, lecture notes in computer science (LNCS). Proceedings of Mirage, 2007(4418), 365–378.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dehn, D. M., & van Mulken, S. (2000). The impact of animated interface agents: A review of empirical research. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 52, 1–22.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • DePaulo, B. (1992). Nonverbal behavior and self-presentation. Psychological Bulletin, 111, 203–243.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Edinger, J. A., & Patterson, M. L. (1983). Nonverbal involvement and social control. Psychological Bulletin, 93, 30–56.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ekman, P. (1985). Telling lies. New York: W. W. Norton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ekman, P. (1992). Facial expressions of emotions: New finding, new questions. Psychological Science, 3, 34–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ekman, P., Davidson, R., & Friesen, W. V. (1990). The Duchenne smile: Emotional expression and brain physiology II. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58, 342–353.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ekman, P., & Friesen, W. V. (1978). The facial action coding system. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ekman, P., & Friesen, W. V. (1982). Felt, false and miserable smiles. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 6, 238–252.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ekman, P., Friesen, W. V., & O’Sullivan, M. (1988). Smiles when lying. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 414–420.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Forbes, R. J., & Jackson, P. R. (1980). Non-verbal behavior and the outcome of selection interviews. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 53, 65–72.

    Google Scholar 

  • Forgas, J. P. (1985). Interpersonal behaviour: The psychology of social interaction. Sydney, Oxford, New York: Pergamon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hess, U. (2001). The communication of emotion. In A. Kaszniak (Ed.), Emotions, qualia and consciousness (pp. 397–409). Singapore: World Scientific Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hess, U., Adams, R. B., & Kleck, R. E. (2005). Who may frown and who should smile? Dominance, affiliation, and the display of happiness and anger. Cognition and Emotion, 19, 515–536.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hess, U., Blairy, S., & Kleck, R. E. (1998). The relationship between the intensity of emotional facial expressions and observers’ decoding. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 21, 241–257.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hess, U., Blairy, S., & Kleck, R. E. (2000). The influence of facial emotion displays, gender, and ethnicity on judgments of dominance and affiliation. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 24, 265–283.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hess, U., & Kleck, R. E. (1990). Differentiating emotion elicited and deliberate emotional facial expressions. European Journal of Social Psychology, 20, 369–385.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Imada, A. S., & Hakel, M. D. (1977). Influence of nonverbal communication and rater proximity on impressions and decisions in simulated employment interviews. Journal of Applied Psychology, 62, 295–300.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kamachi, M., Bruce, V., Mukaida, S., Gyoba, J., Yoshikawa, S., & Akamatsu, S. (2001). Dynamic properties influence the perception of facial expressions. Perception, 30, 875–887.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kerlow, I. V. (2004). The art of 3D computer animation and effects (3rd ed.). New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.

    Google Scholar 

  • Koda, T., & Maes, P. (1996). Agents with faces: The effects of personification of agents. Proceedings of the 5th IEEE International Workshop on Robot and Human Communication (RO-MAN’96) (pp. 189–194) Japan.

  • Krämer, N. C., Tietz, B., & Bente, G. (2003). Effects of embodied interface agents and their gestural activity. In R. Aylett, D. Ballin, T. Rist, & J. Rickel (Eds.), 4th International Working Conference on Intelligent Virtual Agents. Hamburg: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krumhuber, E., & Kappas, A. (2005). Moving smiles: The role of dynamic components for the perception of the genuineness of smiles. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 29, 3–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krumhuber, E., Manstead, A. S. R., Cosker, D., Marshall, D., Rosin, P. L., & Kappas, A. (2007a). Facial dynamics as indicators of trustworthiness and cooperative behavior. Emotion, 7, 730–735.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Krumhuber, E., Manstead, A. S. R., & Kappas, A. (2007b). Temporal aspects of facial displays in person and expression perception: The effects of smile-dynamics, head-tilt and gender. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 31, 39–56.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lander, K., Christie, F., & Bruce, V. (1999). The role of movement in the recognition of famous faces. Memory and Cognition, 27, 974–985.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rasmussen, K. G. (1984). Nonverbal behavior, verbal behavior, resumé credentials, and selection interview outcomes. Journal of Applied Psychology, 69, 551–556.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Riggio, R. E., & Throckmorton, B. (1988). The relative effects of verbal and nonverbal behavior, appearance, and social skills on evaluations made in hiring interviews. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 18, 331–348.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sato, W., & Yoshikawa, S. (2004). The dynamic aspects of emotional facial expressions. Cognition and Emotion, 18, 701–710.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt, K. L., Ambadar, Z., Cohn, J. F., & Reed, L. I. (2006). Movement differences between deliberate and spontaneous facial expressions: Zygomaticus major action in smiling. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 30, 37–52.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Shrout, P. E., & Fiske, D. W. (1981). Nonverbal behaviors and social evaluation. Journal of Personality, 49, 115–128.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Takács, B., & Kiss, B. (2003). The virtual human interface: A photorealistic digital human. IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, 23, 38–45.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wallraven, C., Breidt, M., Cunningham, D. W., & Bülthoff, H. H. (2005). Psychophysical evaluation of animated facial expressions. Proceedings of the 2nd Symposium on Applied Perception in Graphics and Visualization. (pp 17–24). ACM Press: New York, NY, USA.

  • Wehrle, T., Kaiser, S., Schmidt, S., & Scherer, K. R. (2000). Studying the dynamics of emotional expression using synthesized facial muscle movements. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 105–119.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Weiss, F., Blum, G. S., & Gleberman, L. (1987). Anatomically based measurement of facial expression in simulated versus hypnotically induced affect. Motivation and Emotion, 11, 67–81.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wiberg, C., & Wiberg, M. (2001). Configuring social agents. In Proceedings of Conference of Universal Accessability in Human Computer Interaction, New Orleans.

  • Young, D. M., & Beier, E. G. (1977). The role of applicant nonverbal communication in the employment interview. Journal of Employment Counseling, 14, 154–165.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the three human posers who participated in this research, Geoff Thomas and two anonymous reviewers for comments on previous versions of this paper.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, CISA - University of Geneva, 7 Rue des Battoirs, 1205, Geneva, Switzerland

    Eva Krumhuber

  2. School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK

    Antony S. R. Manstead

  3. Department of Computer Science, University of Bath, Bath, UK

    Darren Cosker

  4. School of Computer Science, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK

    Dave Marshall & Paul L. Rosin

Authors
  1. Eva Krumhuber
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Antony S. R. Manstead
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Darren Cosker
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Dave Marshall
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Paul L. Rosin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Eva Krumhuber.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Krumhuber, E., Manstead, A.S.R., Cosker, D. et al. Effects of Dynamic Attributes of Smiles in Human and Synthetic Faces: A Simulated Job Interview Setting. J Nonverbal Behav 33, 1–15 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-008-0056-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-008-0056-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation