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  • Nature Human Behaviour

Amplification in the Evaluation of Multiple Emotional Expressions over Time

By: Amit Goldenberg, Jonas Schöne, Zi Huang, Timothy D. Sweeny, Desmond C. Ong, Timothy Brady, Maria M. Robinson, David Levari, Jamil Zaki and James J. Gross
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Abstract

Social interactions are dynamic and unfold over time. To make sense of social interactions, people must aggregate sequential information into summary, global evaluations. But how do people do this? Here, to address this question, we conducted nine studies (N = 1,583) using a diverse set of stimuli. Our focus was a central aspect of social interaction—namely, the evaluation of others’ emotional responses. The results suggest that when aggregating sequences of images and videos expressing varying degrees of emotion, perceivers overestimate the sequence’s average emotional intensity. This tendency for overestimation is driven by stronger memory of more emotional expressions. A computational model supports this account and shows that amplification cannot be explained only by nonlinear perception of individual exemplars. Our results demonstrate an amplification effect in the perception of sequential emotional information, which may have implications for the many types of social interactions that involve repeated emotion estimation.

Keywords

Social Interactions; Facial Expressions; Emotions; Behavior; Perception

Citation

Goldenberg, Amit, Jonas Schöne, Zi Huang, Timothy D. Sweeny, Desmond C. Ong, Timothy Brady, Maria M. Robinson, David Levari, Jamil Zaki, and James J. Gross. "Amplification in the Evaluation of Multiple Emotional Expressions over Time." Nature Human Behaviour (forthcoming). (Pre-published online 6/27/2022.)
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About The Author

Amit Goldenberg

Negotiation, Organizations & Markets
→More Publications

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More from the Authors
  • Social Interactivity in Live Video Experiences Reduces Loneliness By: Benjamin T. Kaveladze, Robert R. Morris, Rosa Victoria Dimitrova-Gammeltoft, Amit Goldenberg, James J. Gross, Judd Antin, Melissa Sandgren and Melissa C. Thomas-Hunt
  • Megastudies Improve the Impact of Applied Behavioural Science By: Katherine L. Milkman, Dena Gromet, Hung Ho, Joseph S. Kay, Timothy W. Lee, Pepi Pandiloski, Yeji Park, Aneesh Rai, Max Bazerman, John Beshears, Lauri Bonacorsi, Colin Camerer, Edward Chang, Gretchen Chapman, Robert Cialdini, Hengchen Dai, Lauren Eskreis-Winkler, Ayelet Fishbach, James J. Gross, Samantha Horn, Alexa Hubbard, Steven J. Jones, Dean Karlan, Tim Kautz, Erika Kirgios, Joowon Klusowski, Ariella Kristal, Rahul Ladhania, Jens Ludwig, George Loewenstein, Barbara Mellers, Sendhil Mullainathan, Silvia Saccardo, Jann Spiess, Gaurav Suri, Joachim H. Talloen, Jamie Taxer, Yaacov Trope, Lyle Ungar, Kevin G. Volpp, Ashley Whillans, Jonathan Zinman and Angela L. Duckworth
  • Slice Labs: Creating a Fraud-free Online Insurance Platform By: Amit Goldenberg and Max Bazerman
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