Emotions are perceived differently from posed and spontaneous facial expressions

What is it about?

People often rely on facial expressions to understand emotions, both in everyday interactions and in research settings. Psychological studies commonly use actors posing emotional expressions, assuming they closely reflect real emotions. However, our research challenges this assumption by directly comparing how people perceive posed versus genuine emotional expressions. Across three large-scale studies involving over 2,400 participants from diverse cultural backgrounds, we found clear differences between posed and genuine emotions. Participants were consistently better at recognizing emotions when the expressions were posed rather than spontaneous. Interestingly, we also discovered a "negativity bias" with posed emotions—negative emotions like anger and sadness were easier to identify than positive emotions like joy or love. In contrast, spontaneous (genuine) expressions showed the opposite effect, with positive emotions being easier to recognize. These findings suggest that posed and genuine facial expressions are perceived very differently. This has important implications for psychological research and clinical assessments, where posed expressions are commonly used. Our study indicates researchers and practitioners should carefully consider whether results obtained from posed emotions accurately reflect real-world emotional perception.

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Photo by Austin Pacheco on Unsplash

Photo by Austin Pacheco on Unsplash

Why is it important?

This research highlights a critical distinction between posed facial expressions—commonly used in psychological research and clinical assessments—and genuine expressions that occur naturally. Understanding that these two types of expressions are perceived differently is vital because it suggests that many past findings based on posed expressions might not accurately represent how people interpret real emotions in everyday life. By clarifying these differences, our study helps ensure future research, clinical diagnoses, and interventions related to emotional recognition are more valid and effective.