Sex differences in the effect of smiling on social judgments: an evolutionary approach

Journal article

Behavioral research has become increasingly concerned with the adaptive significance of facial expressions, which can be regarded as evolved social signals. In an attempt to uncover the function of smiling behavior, the assessment of various evolutionary relevant traits was examined through people's judgments of neutral and smiling photographs. Pictures were rated for ten attributes: attractivenes, generosity, trustworthiness, competitiveness, health, agreeableness, conscientiousness, extroversion, neuroticism, and openness to experience. Although smiling faces received higher scores on several dimensions, the difference in judgments between neutral and smiling varied with the sex composition of the sender-receiver dyad. Overall, smiling influenced men's judgments in a larger extent than women's, especially when faces were female. Our data show that smiling positively affects the perception of personality traits in a way that could be adaptive to the sender of the signal.

Authors: Mehu, M; Little, A; Dunbar, R

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: NorthEastern Evolutionary Psychology Society
• Journal: Journal of Social, Evolutionary, and Cultural Psychology
• Volume: 2
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 103-121
• Publication date: 2008-09-01
• ISSN: 1933-5377
• Language: English
• Keywords: personality; social judgments; sex differences; smiling; evolutionary theory
• Subjects: Anthropology