Purpose

This study aims to examine the relationship between consumers’ emotional expressions and their self-construals. The authors suggest that because an independent self-construal can reinforce the free expression of emotion, the expression of extreme emotions is likely to become associated with feelings of independence through social learning.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper includes five studies. Study 1A provided evidence that priming participants with different types of self-construal can influence the extremity of their emotional expressions. Study 1B showed that chronic self-construal could predict facial expressions of students who were told to smile for a group photograph. Studies 2–4 found that inducing people to either manifest or to simply view an extreme facial expression activated an independent social orientation and influenced their performance on tasks that reflect this orientation.

Findings

The studies provide support for a bidirectional causal relationship between individuals’ self-construals and the extremity of their emotional expressions. They show that people’s general social orientation could predict the spontaneous facial expressions that they manifest in their daily lives.

Research limitations/implications

Although this research was generally restricted to the effects of smiling, similar considerations influence the expression of other emotions. That is, dispositions to exhibit extreme expressions can generalize over different types of emotions. To this extent, expressions of sadness, anger or fear might be similarly associated with people’s social orientation and the behavior that is influenced by it.

Practical implications

The paper provides marketing implications into how marketers can influence consumers’ choices of unique options and how marketers can assess consumers’ social orientation based on their observation of consumers’ emotional expressions.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is the first to demonstrate a bidirectional causal relationship between individuals’ self-construals and the extremity of their emotional expressions, and to demonstrate the association between chronic social orientation and emotional expression people spontaneously make in their daily lives.

中文翻译：

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脸是心灵的指标：理解自我构念和面部表情之间的关联

目的

本研究旨在检验消费者的情绪表达与其自我构念之间的关系。作者认为，由于独立的自我建构可以加强情绪的自由表达，极端情绪的表达很可能通过社会学习与独立感相关联。

设计/方法/方法

该论文包括五项研究。研究 1A 提供的证据表明，以不同类型的自我建构启动参与者可以影响他们情绪表达的极端程度。研究 1B 表明，长期的自我建构可以预测被告知要为集体照微笑的学生的面部表情。研究 2-4 发现，诱导人们表现出或仅仅观看极端面部表情会激活一种独立的社会取向，并影响他们在反映这种取向的任务中的表现。

发现

这些研究为个人的自我构念与其极端情绪表达之间的双向因果关系提供了支持。他们表明，人们的一般社会取向可以预测他们在日常生活中表现出的自发面部表情。

研究限制/影响

尽管这项研究通常仅限于微笑的影响，但类似的考虑也会影响其他情绪的表达。也就是说，表现出极端表达的倾向可以概括不同类型的情绪。就此而言，悲伤、愤怒或恐惧的表达可能与人们的社会取向和受其影响的行为类似。

实际影响

本文就营销人员如何影响消费者对独特选项的选择以及营销人员如何根据对消费者情绪表达的观察来评估消费者的社会取向提供了营销启示。

原创性/价值

据作者所知，这项研究首次证明了个体的自我构念与其极端情绪表达之间存在双向因果关系，并证明了人们长期自发的情绪表达与慢性社会取向之间的关联。他们的日常生活。