Cited by 588Face Recognition and PerceptionEvolutionary Psychology and Human BehaviorEmotions and Moral Behavior

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 44 of the 44 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

The effects of fear and anger facial expressions on approach- and avoidance-related behaviors

Marsh, Abigail A., Ambady, Nalini, Kleck, Robert E.·2005·Emotion

Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

The facial expressions of fear and anger are universal social signals in humans. Both expressions have been frequently presumed to signify threat to perceivers and therefore are often used in studies investigating responses to threatening stimuli. Here the authors show that the anger expression facilitates avoidance-related behavior in participants, which supports the notion of this expression being a threatening stimulus. The fear expression, on the other hand, facilitates approach behaviors in perceivers. This contradicts the notion of the fear expression as predominantly threatening or aversive and suggests it may represent an affiliative stimulus. Although the fear expression may signal that a threat is present in the environment, the effect of the expression on conspecifics may be in part to elicit approach.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1037/1528-3542.5.1.119

Cites

44 of 44 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

The expression of the emotions in man and animals.
Darwin, C. D. (1872) · J. Murray eBooks · doi:10.1037/10001-000 · Cited by 12,120
The Logic of Animal Conflict
SMITH, J. M., & PRICE, G. R. (1973) · Nature · doi:10.1038/246015a0 · Cited by 5,089
Fears, phobias, and preparedness: toward an evolved module of fear and fear learning
Öhman, A., & Mineka, S. (2001) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.108.3.483 · Cited by 3,147 · cited 1×
“Although not all aversive stimuli are threatening (some may be, e.g., disgusting or sad instead), threatening stimuli are, by definition, aversive (Öhman & Mineka, 2001).”
Background
Masked Presentations of Emotional Facial Expressions Modulate Amygdala Activity without Explicit Knowledge
Whalen, P. J., Rauch, S. L., Etcoff, N. L., McInerney, S. C., Lee, M. B., & Jenike, M. A. (1998) · The Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.18-01-00411.1998 · Cited by 2,205
A differential neural response in the human amygdala to fearful and happy facial expressions
Morris, J. S., Frith, C. D., Perrett, D. I., Rowland, D., Young, A. W., Calder, A. J., & Dolan, R. J. (1996) · Nature · doi:10.1038/383812a0 · Cited by 2,013
Relationship between attitudes and evaluative space: A critical review, with emphasis on the separability of positive and negative substrates.
Cacioppo, J. T., & Berntson, G. G. (1994) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.115.3.401 · Cited by 1,870
Response and Habituation of the Human Amygdala during Visual Processing of Facial Expression
Breiter, H. C., Etcoff, N. L., Whalen, P. J., Kennedy, W. A., Rauch, S. L., Buckner, R. L., Strauss, M. M., Hyman, S. E., & Rosen, B. R. (1996) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/s0896-6273(00)80219-6 · Cited by 1,711
The Psychology of affiliation
Beech, H. R. (1963) · Journal of Psychosomatic Research · doi:10.1016/0022-3999(63)90032-1 · Cited by 1,679
A cognitive developmental approach to morality: investigating the psychopath
Blair, R. (1995) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/0010-0277(95)00676-p · Cited by 1,529
Motivated attention : affect, activation, and action
Lang, P. J., Bradley, M. M., & Cuthbert, B. N. (1997) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 1,486

Show all 43 references

Research works printed but not linked: 1

Matsumoto, 1988, Japanese and Caucasian facial expressions of emotion (JACFEE)

Sorted by citations

Items 501–588 of 588

Interpretando processos comportamentais básicos em um paradigma neuropsicológico de processamento de expressões faciais de emoção
Zuccolo, P. F., Corchs, F., & Neto, D. M. R. (2017) · Perspectivas em Análise do Comportamento · doi:10.18761/perspectivas.v3i2.229
The Effect of Mood on the Perception of Facial Expressions and Social Interaction in Adults
Yi, C. Y. (2013) · The Research Repository @ WVU (West Virginia University) · doi:10.33915/etd.105
The behavioral and neural basis of emotional face processing in atypically developing children and adolescents
Lozier, L. M. (2014) · DigitalGeorgetown (Georgetown University Library)
The attractiveness of emotion expressions
Beall, A. T. (2012) · cIRcle (University of British Columbia) · doi:10.14288/1.0073005
Emotionsdekodierung bei reaktiv und proaktiv aggressiven Gewaltstraftätern
Maurer, S., Retz‐Junginger, P., Rösler, M., & Retz, W. (2014) · NeuroTransmitter · doi:10.1007/s15016-014-0785-3
BRIEF REPORT Perception of the Color Red Enhances the Force and Velocity of Motor Output
Elliot, A. J., & Aarts, H. (2015)
Infants' & Toddlers' Social Evaluations of Trustworthy and Untrustworthy Faces
Lyons, A. (2021) · Scholarworks (University of Massachusetts Amherst) · doi:10.7275/8409294.0
Facial emotion expression, recognition and production of varying intensity in the typical population and on the autism spectrum.
Wingenbach, T. S. H. (2016) · The University of Bath Online Publications Store (The University of Bath)
Emotional eyes: From sensory evolution to social exaptation
Lee, D. H.-J. (2015) · TSpace (University of Toronto)
How does mixed reality affect quiet stance?Preprint
Kong, G., Wei, K., & Kording, K. P. (2017) · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · doi:10.1101/129239
"Expert in the language of fear": Stigmatized targets' perception of others' emotion-specific prejudice
Neel, R. (2013)
Apparent Motion via Visual Adaptation Influences the Detection of Threat-Related Facial Expressions
Zhu, M. (2011)
Facial Expressions Interact with Facial Structures to Predict Inferences of Trust
Asyabi-Eshghi, B. (2014) · TSpace (University of Toronto)
psychophysiologiques de la couleur rouge sur les processus cognitifs et moteurs
Payen, V. (2012)
It's not just what we say, it's how we move: An examination of postural activity during a disclosure event.
Douglas, H. M., Furst‐Holloway, S., Richardson, M. J., & Kallen, R. W. (2017) · eScholarship (California Digital Library)
Affiliation stress : effects on the relationship between implicit motives and emotion recognition ability
Gan, P. N. H. (2019) · doi:10.32657/10220/47883
Disgust and anger perception of ambiguous facial expressions in obsessive-compulsive disorder
정경운 (2008) · YUHSpace (Yonsei University Medical Library)
The Influence of Aging, Gaze Direction, and Context on Emotion Discrimination Performance
Minton, A. R. (2019) · TopSCHOLAR (Western Kentucky University)
Consolidación de la memoria implícita: efecto de la valencia emocional y el tiempo de exposición mediante el uso de Priming perceptual
Polo-Díaz, J., Castillo, H., Rosa, P. J., & Oliveira, J. (2020) · Cuadernos Hispanoamericanos de Psicología · doi:10.18270/chps..v18i1.2856
Relief: approach behavior and avoidance goals
Kordts-Freudinger, R. (2010) · Alexandria (UniSG) (University of St.Gallen)
Tenderness Expression as a Signal for Trustworthiness
O’Neil, M. J. (2019)
Προσανατολισμός δεσμού και κοινωνική αντίληψη του συναισθήματος: Ο ρόλος των κοινωνικών κινήτρων
Andriopoulou, P., & Kafetsios, K. G. (2020) · Psychology the Journal of the Hellenic Psychological Society · doi:10.12681/psy_hps.23501
Effects and mechanisms of a putative human pheromone
Frey, M. C. M. (2011)
Multidimensional Approach to Implicit Bias and the Underlying Cognitive Mechanism
Rheem, H. (2019)
Involuntary responses to facial cues as an indicator of personality type across age and culture
Kannan, C. (2021) · Cronfa (Swansea University) · doi:10.23889/suthesis.58265
Bibliographie
(2017) · Dunod eBooks · doi:10.3917/dunod.agnol.2017.01.0171
Observers predict actions from facial emotional expressions during real-time social interactionsPreprint
Kroczek, L. O. H., Lingnau, A., Schwind, V., Wolff, C. G., & Mühlberger, A. (2022) · doi:10.31234/osf.io/fzcau
Person perception across group boundaries: a dynamic model of perception across race and gender lines
Xie, S. Y.-J. (2021) · doi:10.32920/ryerson.14660763
Alexithymic traits impact the perception of implied motion in facial displays of affect.Preprint
Senior, C., Hassel, S., Waheed, A., & Ridout, N. (2018) · PsyArXiv (OSF Preprints) · doi:10.31234/osf.io/3zmj7
Person perception across group boundaries: a dynamic model of perception across race and gender lines
Xie, S. Y.-J. (2021) · doi:10.32920/ryerson.14660763.v1
Body Language
Heß, U. (2017) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_647-1
Body Language
Heß, U. (2020) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-24612-3_647
Meeting the therapist
Benedetti, F. (2020) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780198843177.003.0005
Social Avoidance Behavior Modulates Motivational Responses to Social Reward-Threat Conflict: A Preliminary fMRI StudyPreprint
Evans, T. C., Esterman, M. S., & Britton, J. C. (2022) · doi:10.31234/osf.io/nd4aq
Mammals Would Not Exist Without Secondary Emotions: Analysis of the Phenomenon Emotion from the Darwinian Prism
Pérez-Ramos, H. (2022) · Social Sciences · doi:10.11648/j.ss.20221103.12
The Influence of Person Familiarity on Children's Social Information Processing
Cummings, A. J. (2020) · Digital Scholarship - UNLV (University of Nevada Reno) · doi:10.34917/4797995
Social emotional processes during the third wave of COVID ‐19: Results from a close replication study in a Turkish sample
Altaytaş, A. F., Armagan, I. C., Gulpinar, A., Özdemir, Ş., & Karakale, Ö. (2023) · International Journal of Psychology · doi:10.1002/ijop.12921
Individuals with and without child maltreatment experiences are evaluated similarly and do not differ in facial affect display at zero- and first-acquaintance
Hautle, L., Kurath, J., Jellestad, L., Lüönd, A. M., Wingenbach, T. S. H., Frühholz, S., Jansson, B., Niedtfeld, I., & Pfaltz, M. C. (2023) · Borderline Personality Disorder and Emotion Dysregulation · doi:10.1186/s40479-023-00222-3
Copyright Page
Carruthers, P. (2024) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780198906131.002.0003
The Science of Affect
Carruthers, P. (2024) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780198906131.003.0002
Dedication
Carruthers, P. (2024) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780198906131.002.0004
Pain
Carruthers, P. (2024) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780198906131.003.0007
Feelings Versus Representations of Value
Carruthers, P. (2024) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780198906131.003.0005
Indicatives Versus Imperatives
Carruthers, P. (2024) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780198906131.003.0006
Moral Motivation
Carruthers, P. (2024) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780198906131.003.0008
Preface
Carruthers, P. (2024) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780198906131.002.0006
Introduction
Carruthers, P. (2024) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780198906131.003.0001
Traditional Critiques Critiqued
Carruthers, P. (2024) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780198906131.003.0004
Social threat avoidance depends on action-outcome predictabilityPreprint
Sequestro, M., Serfaty, J., Grèzes, J., & Mennella, R. (2024) · doi:10.31234/osf.io/h5kyr
Fear of Childbirth and Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy and Predictors of Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Among Turkish Pregnant Women
Ören, E. D. T., & Kahveci, M. (2024) · European Journal of Therapeutics · doi:10.58600/eurjther1921
Face-to-Face: An Investigation of Social Comparisons of Facial Attractiveness
Saiphoo, A. (2024) · doi:10.32920/25213664.v1
Emotional expressions, but not social context, modulate attention during a discrimination task
Pasqualette, L. B. B. B., & Kulke, L. (2024) · Cognition & Emotion · doi:10.1080/02699931.2024.2429737
Aggression in the Face of Trauma and the Role of Hostile Attention Bias in a Sample of Psychiatric Patients
de Gelder, J. M., van Tilburg, C. A., & van Dam, A. (2025) · Psychology · doi:10.4236/psych.2025.163022
Seen and Unseen: How Anger’s Conscious and Unconscious Detection Relates to Its Subjective ExperiencePreprint
Saraiva, F., Coutinho, J. F. P., Capela, S., Rosa, F., Fagundes, C., Nogueira, M., Pereira, N. D. S. C., Martens, M., Harmer, C. J., Sampaio, A., et al. (2025) · doi:10.31219/osf.io/7gnyk_v1
The Role of Knowledge Tacitness in Security Threat Avoidance
Tang, X. (2025) · International Journal of Knowledge Management · doi:10.4018/ijkm.377173
Dyad Arrangement Affects Perceived Valence Intensity
Barzy, M. M. H., Cook, R., & Gray, K. L. H. (2025) · Affective Science · doi:10.1007/s42761-025-00312-1
Loneliness is related to facial emotion perception in people with HIV
Yoo‐Jeong, M., Easter, R. E., Coughlin, J. M., Dastgheyb, R. M., Langenecker, S. A., Molestina, G., Patel, J., Rucci, S., Shorer, E. F., Thompson, I., et al. (2025) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-025-04237-4 · Cited by 1
Cognition–Emotion Interactions
Armony, J., & Vuilleumier, P. (2025) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781009342919.024
Goals
Brandstätter, V., & Hennecke, M. (2025) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-87947-0_11
Reshaping the happy face advantage with reinforcement learning
van Lent, T., Veling, H., Holland, R. W., Bijleveld, E., & Bijlstra, G. (2025) · Cognition & Emotion · doi:10.1080/02699931.2025.2568553 · Cited by 1
Cultural and individual differences in emotion recognition from masked facial expressions: Evidence from Japan, the U.S., and China
Ikeda, S., Sudo, M., Lian, C., & Cheung, Z. K. P. (2025) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2025.113506
The Fear Superiority Effect in the Visual Periphery
Gong, M., & Li, T. (2025) · International Congress on Image and Signal Processing (CISP) · doi:10.1109/cisp-bmei68103.2025.11259134
A Machine Learning Analysis of Emotional Appeals in Charity CrowdfundingPreprint
Liu, F., Chen, Y., Ho, Y., Dasgupta, S., & Fang, M. (2025) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.5954374
Illness Severity in Psychotic Disorders Amplifies Anterior Insula’s Sensitivity to Unreciprocated Smiles
Jeganathan, J., Campbell, M. E. J., Thienel, R., Koussis, N. C., Paton, B. K., Wellstein, K. V., & Breakspear, M. J. (2025) · Computational Psychiatry · doi:10.5334/cpsy.142
Beyond accuracy: facial emotion perception bias in people with HIV in Uganda
Ridgeway, K., Easter, R. E., Anok, A., Dastgheyb, R. M., Langenecker, S. A., Mannarino, J. A., Nakasujja, N., Saylor, D. R., Shorer, E. F., Tomusange, S., et al. (2026) · Journal of NeuroVirology · doi:10.1007/s13365-025-01290-7
Voluntary modulation of mental effort affects the attentional shift induced by angry faces in women
Ballotta, D., Maramotti, R., Borelli, E., Lui, F., & Pagnoni, G. (2026) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2026.121848
Pain Outweighs Negative Emotions in the Perception of Facial Configuration Sequences
Tessier, M.-H., Marcoux, A., & Jackson, P. L. (2026) · Journal of Nonverbal Behavior · doi:10.1007/s10919-026-00508-4
Effects of acute alcohol consumption on hostile attribution bias towards emotional facial expressions and implicit approach/avoidance tendencies
Eastwood, A., Penton-Voak, I. M., Munafo, M. R., & Attwood, A. S. (2026) · Journal of Psychopharmacology · doi:10.1177/02698811251408743
Traitement cérébral de l’expression faciale de peur : vision périphérique et effet de l’attention
Bayle, D. J. (2009) · theses.fr (ABES) · doi:10.70675/fd3c5887zdbe3z4263zbfe7ze5839a54e404
Reconnaissance et mimétisme des émotions exprimées sur le visage : vers une compréhension des mécanismes à travers le modèle parkinsonien
Argaud, S. (2016) · theses.fr (ABES) · doi:10.70675/485fc9eez8e7cz48dcz9f97zc30514dfad56
Study of postural, physiological and corticospinal responses in empathy for pain and pain anticipation
Bucchioni, G. (2015) · theses.fr (ABES) · doi:10.70675/454d19e0z9428z4cb3zba47z8f18fcb84629
The interplay of action selection and attention allocation in response to social threat
Vilarem, E. (2017) · theses.fr (ABES) · doi:10.70675/3c09a85dz8323z47dazb88bz6d66af348726
Laterality, heart rate and EEG as measurements of animal welfare in dogs and horses
d’Ingeo, S. (2019) · doi:10.70675/6cc01f7cz37c5z4ed9zb6dbz1859009967e1
Vieillissement et cosmétiques : approches psychologiques et physiologiques : évaluation cutanée et psychosociale de l’âge apparent et différences de perceptions intersexes
Vergnaud, H. (2019) · theses.fr (ABES) · doi:10.70675/2b6b7e44z5224z4755z811ezcfc9f8eef4a6
Étude des situations de vulnérabilité à l'égard du dopage en cyclisme de compétition : rôles des buts d'accomplissement, du burnout et implications pour l'éducation antidopage
Filleul, V. (2023) · theses.fr (ABES) · doi:10.70675/fc1e9649z5b78z4710z87f4z8955496a3e6c
Anger Expressions in Structured Decision-Making Groups and the Moderating Role of Recipient Gender: Online and In-Person Evidence from U.S. Samples
Zhang, J. H., & Bottom, W. P. (2026) · Group Decision and Negotiation · doi:10.1007/s10726-026-09989-6
Emotions in motion: How fear and anger differently influence forward single-step initiation
Coudrat, L., Caharel, S., Kop, J., & Heurley, L. P. (2026) · Psychological Research · doi:10.1007/s00426-026-02317-2
Others’ facial and bodily expressions of emotion modulate willingness to engage in joint action – but actions and objects matter too
Lam, M. Y., Clark, L., Chambers, H., Krüger, B., & Keck, J. (2026) · Cognition & Emotion · doi:10.1080/02699931.2026.2682253
Cognitive empathy in autistic children: Differences across social and non-social contexts and emotion types
Zhang, W., Zhang, J., Yang, Z., Zou, L., & Song, S. (2026) · Research in Autism · doi:10.1016/j.reia.2026.202957
The missing link in sustainable change: leveraging displayed perspective-taking for technological transformation
Cieslak, V., González‐Gómez, H. V., & Valor, C. (2026) · Journal of Organizational Change Management · doi:10.1108/jocm-02-2025-0097
Assessing Changes in Teacher Reflections Using Sentence-Level Sentiment Analysis: Challenges and Implications
Chan, W., Liu, L., Dusard, L., Li, C., Yang, M., Eisman, J. I., Kaplan, A., Reisman, A., & Patterson, T. J. (2026) · The Journal of Experimental Education · doi:10.1080/00220973.2026.2707110
Emotional expression differently modulates reward anticipation in gain and loss contexts
Jian, Y., Zhang, Y., & Wei, P. (2026) · Biological Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.biopsycho.2026.109365
The impact of sensory processing sensitivity on subtle dynamic facial expression recognition and metacognitive awareness
Xiao, L., Deroost, N., Ma, N., & Baetens, K. (2026) · Psychological Research · doi:10.1007/s00426-026-02364-9
Co-Occurring Social Reward and Social Threat Elicits Conflict-Related Neural Activation
Solan, S., Truchan, E., Rothlein, D., Jagger-Rickels, A. C., Degutis, J. M., Esterman, M. S., & Evans, T. C. (2026) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2026.122227
Recognition of individual angry versus happy faces in 6- and 9-month-old infants.
Quinn, P., Xiao, N.-Q. G., & Pascalis, O. (2026) · Journal of Experimental Child Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jecp.2026.106644
Cognitive load modulates the effects of emotion and gaze direction on visual-spatial working memory
Li, C.-Y., Li, X.-F., Xia, L.-K., & Ding, J.-H. (2026) · Learning and Motivation · doi:10.1016/j.lmot.2026.102357
Emotion-action incompatibility in an approach-avoidance task: Behavioral costs and ERP dynamics of accuracy vulnerability
Zhang, J., Zhang, X., Li, X., Li, J., Wang, L., Zou, F., & Zhang, M. (2026) · Biological Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.biopsycho.2026.109389
Real versus psychological time : exploring the relationship between temporal and information processing
Allely, C. S. (2011) · Research Explorer (The University of Manchester)

Authors: Marsh, A. A., Ambady, N., & Kleck, R. E.
Affiliations: Harvard University (US)
ORCID: Marsh, Abigail A.
Venue: Emotion
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Published: 2005
Volume: 5
Issue: 1
Pages: 119-124
ISSN: 1528-3542 (ISSN-L)
1931-1516
DOI: 10.1037/1528-3542.5.1.119
OpenAlex: W2151849583
Cited by: 588
References: 43
Citations by year: 2026: 20 · 2025: 28 · 2024: 44 · 2023: 37 · 2022: 36 · 2021: 29 · 2020: 33 · 2019: 45 · 2018: 32 · 2017: 36 · 2016: 30 · 2015: 45 · 2014: 21 · 2013: 26 · 2012: 25
FWCI: 6.60
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: closed
Locations: Emotion (publishedVersion)
PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics: Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Face Recognition and Perception
Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior
Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Emotions and Moral Behavior
Keywords: facial expressions, fear expression, anger expression, approach behavior, avoidance behavior, threat perception, social signals
MeSH terms: Adult, Anger, Avoidance Learning, Facial Expression, Fear, Female, Humans, Interpersonal Relations, Male, Pattern Recognition, Visual, Psychomotor Performance, Reaction Time, Sex Factors, Social Perception

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review

The effects of fear and anger facial expressions on approach- and avoidance-related behaviors

Abstract

Overview

Integrity signals

Verification

Claims the paper makes

Claims other papers make about this one

Citations

Cites

Cited by

Related

Metadata

Record

About these checks