form and function in facial and expressive behavior

Question 1

what does the face do when expressions of fear and disgust are made?

Answer 1

fear: eyes widen, nose flare, lowered lips, raised eyebrows

disgust: scrunched up eyes and nose, lowered eyebrows, raised lips

Question 2

how are the faces of fear and disgust evolutionary adaptive

Answer 2

-Egocentric function

-Theory of the function of fear is vigilance towards threats (ex: an animal confronted with a immediate threat in its environment and survival kicks in creating sensitivity toward detecting & locating threats)

-The authors of the chapter then predicted that the widening of sensory apertures (facial features such as the eyes & nose) would promote gathering sensory information around us

-Disgust is theorized to be a rejection of threat

Question 3

how is recognizing fear and disgust in others evolutionary adaptive

Answer 3

-Allocentric function (interpersonal function)

-Eyes were initially studied and viewed as an important source of social information

• emotional expressions influence processing of eye gazes
  -fear expressions facilitate faster judgements of averted gaze compared with direct gaze
  -The averted gaze enhances the perceived intensity of fear

-eye gaze effects are utilized to examine interpersonal function

-specific facial actions and their degree of expressivity are left up to social interpretation and context

-Darwin theorized our facial expressions originated for sensory function to provide egocentric benefits to the expressor (the one making the expression), which were then socially co-opted for a allocentric function to the expressors observer (others)
-Which makes the facial expressions predictors of a person’s mental state and what they are feeling