Self-other perception of the intensity of facial expressions of emotion: Do we know what we show?

Participants' self-reports of the intensity of their facial expressive responses to an amusing stimulus were compared with judges' ratings in 2 studies. In Experiment 1, 24 men and 24 women who were alone and assigned to either a spontaneous or facial attention condition perceived their facial behavior to be significantly more expressive than judges' ratings indicated it had been. In Experiment 2, 36 men and 36 women who presumed themselves to be under observation were assigned to an uninstructed, pose, or communicate condition. Self-reports of expressive responses to an amusing stimulus again significantly exceeded judges' ratings in the first 2 conditions but not when participants were told to communicate their feelings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)