The eyebrow frown: a salient social signal

Tipples, J.; Atkinson, A.P.; Young, A.W.

Abstract

Seven experiments investigated the finding that threatening schematic faces are detected more quickly than nonthreatening faces. Threatening faces with ∨-shaped eyebrows (angry and scheming expressions) were detected more quickly than nonthreatening faces with ∧-shaped eyebrows (happy and sad expressions). In contrast to the hypothesis that these effects were due to perceptual features unrelated to the face, no advantage was found for ∨-shaped eyebrows presented in a nonfacelike object. Furthermore, the addition of internal facial features (the eyes, or the nose and mouth) was necessary to produce the detection advantage for faces with ∨-shaped eyebrows. Overall, the results are interpreted as showing that the ∨-shaped eyebrow configuration affords easy detection, but only when other internal facial features are present.

Citation

Tipples, J., Atkinson, A., & Young, A. (2002). The eyebrow frown: a salient social signal. Emotion, 2(3), 288-296. https://doi.org/10.1037/1528-3542.2.3.288

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: 2002-09
• Journal: Emotion
• Print ISSN: 1528-3542
• Electronic ISSN: 1931-1516
• Publisher: American Psychological Association
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 2
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 288-296
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/1528-3542.2.3.288
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1627978
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.1037/1528-3542.2.3.288