The Facial Feedback

Hypothesis
Presented by: Mahrukh BSAP14F014

What is Facial Feedback Hypothesis

Theres a close link between the facial expressions we
show and our internal feelings.
The facial feedback hypothesis states that facial
movement can influence emotional experiences.
Every person has a different experience even when
viewing the same event. Events are an external stimulus
that can affect a persons emotional state. The act of
smiling or crying may be the reaction to stimulus. Stimulus
can come from internal factors as well as external factors
such as a person thinking something funny or thinking
something sad. As a general rule, people who smile are
happier however it is unknown if the smile is in reaction or
if the smile produces feelings of happiness.

 Example: A woman attending a get together will get

bore and dull if she is not interested in enjoying.

A woman attending a lifeless party forces herself to

smile and as a result feel happier.

Experiments by McCanne and Anderson

McCanne and Anderson asked female participants
to imagine positive and negative events.
Example: You inherit a million dollars
You lose a really close friendship
While imagine these events, they were told to
either enhance or supress tension in certain facial
muscles.
Specific facial muscles gets active when we smile
or frown.

Conclusion
This indicated after a few practical trials, most people
could enhance or supress muscle tension when told to
do so, and could do this without any visible change in
their facial expressions.
If they enhanced activity in muscles associated with
smiling, they would report more enjoyment of the
positive events. If they suppressed such activity, they
would report less enjoyment.
Participants reported less distress to the negative
events when they suppressed the muscle involving in
frowning.

Other Researches
Showed positive and negative video clips of two groups
of people who received injections of anti-wrinkled drugs.
One group received injections of Botox.

Botox is a common cosmetic treatment paralyzes facial

muscles that control expressions such as frowning.
Other group received injections of Restylane, a drug that
simply fills in wrinkles without paralyzing facial muscles.
They did this twice; 8 days before the injections and
again 14-24 days after receiving injections.

Conclusion
People receiving Botox should report weaker
emotional reactions to the video clips.
These findings suggests that feedback from
our facial muscles does indeed play a role inn
shaping out emotional experiences.
What we show on our faces influences what
we experience inside.