Table 1.
Two Approaches to Common Facial Behaviors: Expressions of Internal Emotions Versus Functional Social Tools
| Facial behavior | BET (emotion expressed) | BECV (social-tool use) |
|---|---|---|
| Smiling | Happiness | Influence interactant to play or affiliate |
| Pouting | Sadness | Recruit interactant’s succor, protection, or affirmation |
| Scowling | Anger | Influence interactant to submit |
| Gasping | Fear | Deflect interactant’s attack via one’s own submission or incipient retreat |
| Nose scrunching | Disgust | Reject current interaction trajectory |
| Neutral | Suppressed emotion Poker face, or no emotion |
Lead the interactant nowhere in interaction trajectory |
| Microexpressions or compound expressions |
Leaked or blended emotion |
Conflict between displayer’s interactional tactics |
Note: Adapted from “Facial Displays Are Tools for Social Influence,” by C. Crivelli and A. J. Fridlund, 2018, Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 22(5), p. 394. Copyright 2018 by Elsevier Ltd.
BET = basic emotions theory. BECV = behavioral ecology view (of facial displays). Social-tool use refers to possible usage of common facial behaviors, cast in terms of behavioral consequence. Actual display behaviors and usages in BECV are dependent on interactant identities, histories, and the social context.