Anger Facial Expression Gets People To Do What You Want
Christopher Philip
Harvard researchers Lawrence Ian Reed, Peter DeScioli and Steven A. Pinker have found evidence for what we at Body Language Project already know; that matching the emotion to the proper body language gets things done.
In the specific study, the researchers found that an angry expression coupled with a demand was more likely to be effective in manipulating others than a demand made with a neutral expression.
In the study, the researchers had subjects play an ultimatum game in which the ‘proposers’ decides how much money to offer a ‘responder.’ This involves a known amount of shared funds by which the proposer offers to split with the responder. In this game, the responder has the right to accept or reject the offer, but if the offer is rejected, then neither party receives anything.
The game itself often leads to feelings of anger and even spiteful responses, especially if the responder perceives the offers to be unfairly low.
The ultimatum game has been played out in many studies and it is commonly believed, say the researchers, that the proposer is usually more generous than rationality predicts since they anticipate, and therefore avoid, provoking the responder’s anger. However, during other experiments, little to no communication was permitted and so anger was assumed to occur between the participants.
In the current experiment, however, the researchers primed the proposer with a demand ostensibly delivered by the responder. In actual fact, it was displayed by a video recording. The specific demand was delivered in two different ways, one displaying anger and the other, a neutral facial expression.
The researchers predicted that the anger expression would lend more credibility to the demand and thus provoke the proposer to offer more of the spoils than when the demand was made with a neutral expression. The researchers note that in most cases, the participants converge on a split of 50/50 as people deem this to be ‘fair.’ However, the more the offers diverge from the mid-point (away from the favour of the responder), the more likely they are to be rejected.
The Experiment
In the first experiment, the proposer was paired with a videotaped responder. The threats consisted of a brief video clip of either a neutral or angry facial expression coupled with a written message demanding either 50% or 70% of the pot.
The results, as expected, showed that following demands of 50%, proposers did not give higher offers regardless of viewing angry or neutral expressions. Consistent with the hypothesis, it is likely that they responders deemed the demand to be fair and did not require additional credibility to accept the offer.
However, when the demand requested 70% of the pot, those viewing the angry expression were significantly more likely to comply (60.92%) than when viewing the neutral expression (54.77%).
Thus, the data supports the credible-signal hypothesis which says that when an unreasonable demand is made, those who view an angry expression are more likely to comply to the request than those viewing a neutral expression.
Discussing The Findings
“Our facial expressions are relatively more difficult to control than our words,” said psychological scientist Lawrence Ian Reed, Ph.D., first author on the research.
While our words can be clear, it is out emotions that lend credibility to our underlying motivation and the conviction with which we hold them. “In this way, facial expressions can carry the weight of our words,” said Reed.
We go into negotiations with much to gain, but also much to lose. Additionally, we come with ideas about fairness, but also about expectations. When paired against an “opponent” we are forced to weigh the factors most important to them and decide how strongly they are willing to stick to them.
As it turns out, emotional expressions serve an important role in showcasing the seriousness of our stance.
Interestingly, while the experiment showed a legitimate trend, the expressions we fabricated. However, more to the point, the expressions were pre-recorded.
“We created our anger expression by filming a deliberately posed expression rather than a spontaneously emitted one,” said Reed. “We were surprised to find that the expression had an effect even though it was literally faked.”
“The findings,” Reed said, “have broad relevance to all kinds of negotiations.”
“The idea that bargaining offers are mediated in part by emotions and motivations speaks towards the importance of emotions and their expression in any bargaining situation,” he said. “These include not only the division of resources, but also in buying a car or house, and/or disciplining students or children.”
Resources
Reed, Lawrence, Ian; Peter DeScioli and Steven A. Pinker. The Commitment Function of Angry Facial Expressions. Psychological Science. 2019 DOI: 10.1177/0956797614531027
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