Status, Solidarity and Non-Verbal Communications

人类的微笑是一种普遍存在但又不确定的面部动作。人们在愉快的情况下会互相微笑，但在痛苦、紧张甚至敌对的情况下也会微笑。微笑似乎有很多含义，似乎是为了达到各种社会目的而设计的，比如表示善意，肯定社会关系，表达让步或道歉，或表明社会地位。本研究采用多种方法来确定微笑的不同含义是如何实现的，包括元分析、实验研究和现有口头记录的内容分析。有两个过程被认为涉及到区分微笑：他们的身体素质和他们发生的互动环境。这项研究将调查特定的面部特征，除了嘴角向上转动之外，这些特征可能会区分与隶属关系相关的微笑表情和与安抚有关的微笑表情。它还将研究微笑的时间性质，如开始的时间、持续时间和偏移量，这可能会区分与隶属关系相关的微笑表情与与顺从或分歧相关的微笑表情。最后，它将决定不同微笑之间的差异是否也是相互作用的人之间微笑互惠程度的函数。以往对微笑的研究主要集中在其与经验情绪的关系上，而忽视了微笑的社会功能。然而，这个看似很小的社交姿态却促成并改变了许多社交互动的性质。这项研究将对我们理解这些影响做出重要贡献，从而提高我们在微笑可能被误解的情况下改善人际沟通的能力。一个典型的例子是本研究中对微笑的性别差异的检验，这将检验女性比男性笑得多这一观察结果的普遍性，以及对这种差异的各种解释，包括女性更高的交往动机或更低的社会权力。＊＊＊

9319897 LaFrance ABSTRACT The human smile is an ubiquitous yet indeterminate facial gesture. People smile at each other when the situation is pleasurable, but they also smile when the context is painful, tense, or even antagonistic. Smiles appear to possess a number of meanings and seem designed to effect a variety of social purposes, such as showing good will, affirming social connections, conveying concession or apology, or enacting social position. This research employs multiple methodologies to determine how the diverse meanings of smiles are achieved, including meta-analysis, experimental studies, and content analysis of existing verbal records. Two processes are proposed to be involved in differentiating smiles: their physical qualities and the interaction context in which they occur. The research will investigate particular facial features, in addition to upward turning of the corners of the mouth area, that may differentiate smiling expressions associated with affiliation from those associated with appeasement. It will also investigate temporal qualities of smiles, such as time to onset, duration, and offset, that may differentiate smiling expressions associated with affiliation from those associated with deference or dissension. Finally, it will determine whether the differentiation among smiles is also a function of the degree of reciprocity of smiling between people who are interacting with one another. Prior research on smiling has focused primarily on its relationship to experienced emotion, neglecting the social functions of a smile. Yet, this apparently small social gesture contributes to and alters the nature of many social interactions. This research will make an important contribution to our understanding of these effects and thus to our ability to improve interpersonal communication in situations where smiles may be misread. A prime example is the examination of gender differences in smiling in the present research, which will test the generality of the observation that women smile more than men as well as various explanations for this difference, including women's higher affiliation motives or lower social power. ***