Cited by 1,898Humor Studies and ApplicationsFace Recognition and PerceptionPsychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction

Inhibiting and facilitating conditions of the human smile: a nonobtrusive test of the facial feedback hypothesis

Strack, Fritz, Martin, Leonard L., Stepper, Sabine·1988·Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Abstract

We investigated the hypothesis that people's facial activity influences their affective responses. Two studies were designed to both eliminate methodological problems of earlier experiments and clarify theoretical ambiguities. This was achieved by having subjects hold a pen in their mouth in ways that either inhibited or facilitated the muscles typically associated with smiling without requiring subjects to pose in a smiling face. Study 1's results demonstrated the effectiveness of the procedure. Subjects reported more intense humor responses when cartoons were presented under facilitating conditions than under inhibiting conditions that precluded labeling of the facial expression in emotion categories. Study 2 served to further validate the methodology and to answer additional theoretical questions. The results replicated Study 1's findings and also showed that facial feedback operates on the affective but not on the cognitive component of the humor response. Finally, the results suggested that both inhibitory and facilitatory mechanisms may have contributed to the observed affective responses.

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Crossref · 10.1037/0022-3514.54.5.768

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36 of 36 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

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  • Facial activity influences emotional responses.

    “A classical study by Strack et al. (1988) supports the facial feedback hypothesis by showing that peoples' facial activity influenced their emotional responses.”
  • Prior work suggests that voluntary reproduction of physiological states associated with emotions, such as breathing patterns or facial expressions, induces subjective feelings of the corresponding emotion.

    “Prior work suggests that voluntary reproduction of physiological states associated with emotions, such as breathing patterns (20) or facial expressions (21), induces subjective feelings of the corresponding emotion.”

    From Bodily maps of emotions (2014) · cites this paper as [21]

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Authors
Strack, F., Martin, L. L., & Stepper, S.
Affiliations
University of Mannheim (DE)
Venue
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
Published
1988
Volume
54
Issue
5
Pages
768-777
ISSN
  • 0022-3514 (ISSN-L)
  • 1939-1315
OpenAlex
W2169284121
Cited by
1,898
References
36
Citations by year
2026: 34 · 2025: 47 · 2024: 40 · 2023: 78 · 2022: 116 · 2021: 67 · 2020: 77 · 2019: 200 · 2018: 91 · 2017: 92 · 2016: 97 · 2015: 98 · 2014: 90 · 2013: 90 · 2012: 67
FWCI
5.84
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • National Institutes of Health (3f32mh009194-01s1)
  • National Institute of Mental Health (F32 MH-09194)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Humor Studies and Applications
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Face Recognition and Perception
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
Keywords
facial feedback hypothesis, smiling, facial expressions, emotional responses, emotion regulation
MeSH terms
Affect, Facial Expression, Facial Muscles, Feedback, Female, Humans, Inhibition, Psychological, Male, Smiling, Wit and Humor as Topic

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