Dear BERGers,
This is a quick reminder we have a BERG meeting today (16:00) with Francesca Valdez (University of Stirling) talking about her MSc project on sex differences in emotional expressions. Please find the abstract below this email.
I hope to see you all later today!
The link to the seminar is also below this email.
Best wishes,
Pawel
Abstract:
Sex Differences in Emotional Expressions: An Evolutionary
Adaptation
Francesca Valdez
Division of Psychology, University of Stirling
A substantial amount of research has gone into discovering
sex differences between male and females. Particularly in non verbal communication and emotional expressions. Previous research in this field supports the claim that females are perceived as smiling more often than males and also that males rate women who
smile more as more attractive on average. However, the explanations for this phenomenon are unclear. It is the objective of this paper to determine if smiling during early courtship interactions can effect the perceived desirability of a potential partner.
This could have implications relating smiling behavior as a mating adaptation that could be used to signal mate value and potentiality as a long term partner. Here we show that there are strong correlations between the number of times a female smiled during
the course of a first date and their perceived: likeability, motherhood abilities, attractiveness, abilities as a long term partner, agreeableness, and interest from the opposite sex. These variables were also analyzed for the male dater as well. The data
was also analyzed for sex differences in perception between male and female responses. It was found that the number of smiles from both males and females were strongly correlated to perceptions of: how well the date went, if there would be a second date, likeability,
interest from the opposite sex, parenting abilities, agreeableness, and long term partner abilities. Attractiveness was also correlated to the number of smiles but only moderately. These findings show that the emotional expression, smiling, is highly correlated
to the perceived outcome of a first date.
Link to the meetings: