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
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.
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In the citing paper
“Arm flexion (approach) is elicited by happy faces and faster arm extension (avoidance) is elicited by angry faces [31], [32]”
From A direct examination of the effect of intranasal administration of oxytocin on approach-avoidance motor responses to emotional stimuli (2013) · cites this paper as [31]
In the citing paper
“although it should be noted that the simple perception of affective stimuli has been sufficient to induce motivational tendencies in a large number of published studies [27], [31], [32].”
From A direct examination of the effect of intranasal administration of oxytocin on approach-avoidance motor responses to emotional stimuli (2013) · cites this paper as [31]
In the citing paper
“While anger and fear can elicit both approach (fight) and avoidance (flee) tendencies [31]”
From A direct examination of the effect of intranasal administration of oxytocin on approach-avoidance motor responses to emotional stimuli (2013) · cites this paper as [31]
Citations
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“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).”
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Research works printed but not linked: 1
- Matsumoto, 1988, Japanese and Caucasian facial expressions of emotion (JACFEE)
Cited by
Sorted by citations
The functional basis of face evaluation
Oosterhof, N. N., & Todorov, A. (2008) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.0805664105 · Cited by 1,819
Approach and avoidance in fear of spiders
Rinck, M., & Becker, E. S. (2006) · Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2006.10.001 · Cited by 706
Expressing fear enhances sensory acquisition.
Susskind, J. M., Lee, D. H., Cusi, A., Feiman, R., Grabski, W., & Anderson, A. K. (2008) · Nature Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nn.2138 · Cited by 595
Social Psychological Face Perception: Why Appearance Matters
Zebrowitz, L. A., & Montepare, J. M. (2008) · Social and Personality Psychology Compass · doi:10.1111/j.1751-9004.2008.00109.x · Cited by 672
Welpe, I. M., Spörrle, M., Grichnik, D., Michl, T., & Audretsch, D. B. (2011) · Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice · doi:10.1111/j.1540-6520.2011.00481.x · Cited by 445
Metadata
- Authors
- Marsh, A. A., Ambady, N., & Kleck, R. E.
- Affiliations
- Harvard University (US)
- ORCID
- Marsh, Abigail A.
- Venue
- Emotion
- Published
- 2005
- Volume
- 5
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 119-124
- ISSN
- 1528-3542 (ISSN-L)
- 1931-1516
- 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
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