enduring contributions of the research of John T. Lanzetta and his colleagues .... Kleck, R. E., Vaughan, R. C., Cartwright-Smith, J., Vaughan, K. B., Colby, C. Z., ...
Motivation and Emotion, Vol. 20, No. 2, 1996
Introduction to the Special Issue 1 Craig A. S m i t h 2 and Gregory J. M c H u g o 2
This article provides an overview of the special issue of Motivation and Emotion, which will appear in two parts. This special issue examines the enduring contributions of the research of John T. Lanzetta and his colleagues on facial expression and emotion. In its entirety, the special issue consists of five articles and an epilogue. Part 1 (this issue of Motivation and Emotion) consists of the first three articles, and Part 2 (to appear as part of the next issue of Motivation and Emotion) consists of the ]~nal two articles and the epilogue. The first article provides an in-depth review of the Lanzetta research program, and describes this program as developing along four distinct lines that, respectively, cover work on (a) the facial feedback hypothesis, (b) the power of facial expression as an emotionally evocative stimulus, (c) the role of facial expression in empathy and counter-empathy, and (d) the relations between facial displays of powerful political leaders and observers" attitudes toward those leaders. Each of the subsequent four articles considers, in turn, the current status and future promise of one of these research lines as it has continued to grow and develop outside of the Lanzetta research program. Part 2 of the special issue concludes with an epilogue that highlights the major themes and conclusions that course through the entire body of research considered in this special issue.
Faces capture our attention and inform us; they seduce us, punish us, and reassure us. Much of our identity is bound up in our own face, and much of how we remember others is inseparable from their faces. Beauty 1We would like to express our appreciation to Basil Englis, Arvid Kappas, Bob Kleck, and Scott Orr, each of whom contributed to the development of this special issue in a variety of ways. 2Address all correspondence to either Craig A. Smith, Department of Psychologyand Human Development, Box 512 Peabody, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee 37203, or Gregory J. McHugo, NH-Dartmouth Psychiatric Research Center, 2 Whipple Place, Lebanon, New Hampshire 03766. 79 0146-7239/96/0600-0079509.50/0 © 1996 Plenum
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is often in a face, and one of life's most frightening possibilities is facial disfigurement. Our attention is reflexively and inevitably drawn to the faces of those around us, as we gain information from them, and we use our own face to express our feelings, thoughts, and intentions. That the power of faces is so great should not be surprising. The face is where most of our sensory organs are located, and it is the source of most of our communication with others. The wink of an eye, the flash of a smile, the steely stare of anger, the tears of pain, the giggle of joy, all come from the face and are part of the rich language of nonverbal communication. And, of course, from the face comes speech, with its linguistic and affective content, demanding our attention as we seek meaning in the utterances of others. This special, two-part issue of Motivation and Emotion is about faces and about the enduring contribution of a particular scientist, John T. Lanzetta, who began an investigation of facial expression and human emotion at Dartmouth College in the late 1960s. 3 John Lanzetta was fascinated by faces. He wondered about how our own face can change our emotions and about how the faces of others affect us. Through five articles and an epilogue, this special issue reviews the Lanzetta research program and explores its importance for contemporary research. John Lanzetta passed away in October 1989 of a rare form of bone cancer (Nuttin, 1990; Pepitone & Kleck, 1991). He was diagnosed in 1986, but he pursued his research until a few weeks before his death. The first article in this special issue flows from a number of discussions that John held with his students and collaborators during the period following his diagnosis. John's fervent wish was to produce a statement that summarized the contributions of his research program. This article is our attempt to produce h/s statement with as much fidelity as possible. We (McHugo & Smith) review many of the empirical publications that resulted from John Lanzetta's research program between 1970 and 1992. Most were published as individual research reports, or occasionally as reviews of one line of research (e.g., Lanzetta & McHugo, 1989; Lanzetta, Sullivan, Masters, & McHugo, 1985). As a result, the underlying themes and issues that motivated the program and integrated four individual lines of research into a coherent whole are not discussed explicitly. We present 3It should be noted that the focus of this special issue is exclusively on Lanzetta's research on facial expression and emotion, which was begun in collaboration with Robert E. Kleck after Lanzetta went to Dartmouth College in 1965. Not considered are earlier contributions made by Lanzetta and his colleagues in the areas of group behavior and decision making (e.g., Lanzetta, 1955; Lanzetta, & Driseoil, 1968; Lanzetta, Haefner, Langham, & Axelrod, 1954; Lanzetta, & Roby, 1960; see Pepitone & Kleck, 1991). These contributions merit a review of their own, and by focusing on the work on facial expression and emotion, we in no way mean to imply that this later work comprises Lanzetta's entire research career.
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the four distinct lines of research in a way that indicates how they grew out of one another and that highlights the intellectual themes and issues that run throughout. We review each of these lines as it was viewed within the Lanzetta lab. In setting the context for each line, we cite the literature that John emphasized in his writings and discussions, rather than attempting to review the literature that existed at that time and that has arisen since. In addition, because the review is integrative, we emphasize the continuity of issues, methods, and findings that existed across the studies. We start by describing the study that initiated this program (Lanzetta & Kleck, 1970), which examined the communicative properties of facial expressions. Its findings, both expected and unexpected, spawned the four lines of research that followed. Questions arose concerning the intrapsychic influence of facial expression on one's own emotional state. The first line of research pursued these questions by addressing what has since come to be known as the facial feedback hypothesis (e.g., Kleck et al., 1976; Lanzetta, Cartwright-Smith, & Kleck, 1976). The other three research lines returned to the examination of the interpersonal aspects of facial expression. The first, conducted with Scott Orr (e.g., Lanzetta & Orr, 1980, 1981; Orr & Lanzetta, 1980) examined the stimulus properties of emotional facial expressions. Lanzetta and Orr examined the degree to which the meanings conveyed by emotional facial expressions were relatively arbitrary and could be readily changed through learning and experience, vs. the degree to which these meanings were relatively specific and difficult to change. The third and fourth lines built upon the emerging results of the second line, but did so in a way that combined themes that were shared across the entire research program. The third line, conducted with Katherine Vaughan and Basil Englis (e.g., Vaughan & Lanzetta, 1980; Englis, Vaughan, & Lanzetta, 1982) examined the role of facial expression in empathy. These investigators examined the degree to which observing a particular facial expression in another person produced a similar (empathic) or discordant (counterempathic) emotional reaction in oneself, and sought to describe the conditions under which empathic vs. counterempathic responding would occur. The fourth research line bridged social psychology, political science, and ethology, as the Lanzetta team joined with political scientists Denis Sullivan and Roger Masters (e.g., McHugo, Lanzetta, Sullivan, Masters, & Englis, 1985) to pursue the findings and issues raised by the other three lines in an ecologically valid context. This was done by examining the effects of facial expressive displays produced by powerful political leaders on both partisan and nonpartisan observers. Each of the four articles that follow this review examines the legacy of the Lanzetta research program by considering a current area of research
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that has been influenced substantially by it. Each considers recent advances and discusses some of the important issues that await investigation. The first two of these articles appear in Part 1 of the special issue (which comprises this issue of Motivation and Emotion), and the latter two appear in Part 2 (which will appear in the next issue of Motivation and Emotion). First, Daniel Mclntosh provides a searching examination of work on the facial feedback hypothesis and draws upon this work to evaluate several distinct variants of the hypothesis. Next, Ulf Dimberg and Arne Ohman review their research on the stimulus properties of facial expressions. Their research, which developed largely in parallel with the work of Lanzetta and Orr (e.g., Ohman & Dimberg, 1978), remains vibrant, and the authors highlight a number of their more recent and intriguing findings. Their review concludes Part 1 of the special issue. Part 2 begins with an article by Robert Levenson, in which he reviews his work concerning the biological substrates of empathy and the role of facial expression in empathic responding--work that has begun to deliver on the promise of the earlier work of Lanzetta, Vaughan, and Englis. Next, Baldwin Way and Roger Masters present their most recent research concerning the impact of emotional expressions of political leaders. Way and Masters explore their work's broader implications and illustrate how Lanzetta's research not only is relevant to the psychological study of facial expression and emotion, but also has important implications for such disparate fields as political science and neuroscience. We (Smith, McHugo, & Kappas) conclude the special issue with an epilogue in which we take stock and highlight what we believe to be the most important themes that flow throughout these lines of research, both as pursued by Lanzetta and colleagues, and as developed and expanded by others. In discussing these themes, we show why they remain vital to contemporary research on facial expression and emotion, and thus how the legacy of John T. Lanzetta continues.
LANZETTA BIBLIOGRAPHY Complete listing of John T. Lanzetta's publications on human emotion and facial expression (arranged by date of publication). Lanzetta, J. T., & Kleck, R. E. (1970). Encoding and decoding of nonverbal affect in humans. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 16, 12-19. Lanzetta, J. T., Cartwright, Smith, J., & Kleck, R. E. (1976). Effects of nonverbal dissimulation on emotional experience and autonomic arousal. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 33, 354-370. Kleck, R. E., Vaughan, R. C., Cartwright-Smith, J., Vaughan, K. B., Colby, C. Z., & Lanzetta, J. T. (1976). Effects of being observed on expressive, subjective, and physiological responses to painful stimuli. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 34, 1211-1218.
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Colby, C. Z., Lanzetta, J. T., & Kleck, R. E. (1977). Effects of the expressions of pain on autonomic and pain tolerance responses to subject controlled pain. Psychophysiology, 14, 537-540. Orr, S. P., & Lanzetta, J. T. (1980). Facial expressions of emotion as conditioned stimuli for human autonomic responses. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 38, 278-282. Vaughan, K. B., & Lanzetta, J. T. (1980). Vicarious instigation and conditioning of facial, expressive and autonomic responses to a model's expressive displays of pain. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, 38, 909-923. Lanzetta, J. T., & Orr, S. P. (1980). Influence of facial expressions on the classical conditioning of fear. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39, 1081-1087. Vaughan, K. B., & Lanzetta, J. T. (1981). The effect of modification of expressive and autonomic responses to a model's expressive display of pain. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 17, 16-30. Lanzetta, J. T., & Orr, S. P. (1981). Stimulus properties of facial expressions and their influence on the classical conditioning of fear. Motivation and Emotion, 5, 225-234. Lanzetta, J. T., Biernat, J. J., & Kleck, R. E. (1982). Self-focused attention, facial behavior, autonomic arousal, and the experience of emotion. Motivation and Emotion, 6, 49-63. Englis, B. G., Vaughan, K. B., & Lanzetta, J. T. (1982). Conditioning of counter-empathic emotional response. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 18, 375-391. McHugo, G. J., Smith, C. A., & Lanzetta, J. T. (1982). The structure of self-reports of emotional responses to film segments. Motivation and Emotion, 4, 365-385. Orr, S. P., & Lanzetta, J. T. (1984). Extinction of an emotional response in the presence of facial expressions of emotion. Motivation and Emotion, 8, 55-66. Tassinary, L., Orr, S., Wolford, G., Napps, S., & Lanzetta, J. T. (1984). The role of awareness in affective information processing: An exploration of the Zajonc hypothesis. Bulletin of the Psyhchonomic Society, 22, 489-492. McHugo, G. J., Lanzetta, J. T., Sullivan, D. G., Masters, R. D., & Englis, B. G. (1985). Emotional reactions to a political leader's expressive displays. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 49, 1513-1529. Lanzetta, J. T., Sullivan, D. G., Masters, R. D., & McHugo, G. J. (1985). Emotional and cognitive responses to televised images of political leaders. In S. Krauss & R. M. Perloff (Eds.), Mass media and politics: Toward an information processing approach (pp. 85-116). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage. Lanzetta, J. T., & Orr, S. P. (1986). Excitatory strength of expressive faces: Effects of happy and fear expressions and context on the extinction of a conditioned fear response. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50, 190-194. Smith, C. A., McHugo, G. J., & Lanzetta, J. T. (1986). The facial muscle patterning of posed and imagery-induced expressions of emotion by expressive and nonexpressive posers. Motivation and Emotion, 10, 133-157. Masters, R. D., Sullivan, D. G., Lanzetta, J. T., McHugo, G. J., & Englis, B. G. (1986). The facial displays of leaders: Toward an ethology of human polities. Journal of Social and Biological Structures, 9, 319-343. Sullivan, D. G., Masters, R. D., Lanzetta, J. T., McHugo, G. J., Englis, B. G., & Plate, E. P. (1991). Facial displays and political leadership: Some experimental findings. In G. Shubert & R. Masters (Eds.), Primate politics (pp. 188-206). Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press. Lanzetta, J. T., & McHugo, G. J. (1989). Facial expressive and psychophysiological correlates of emotion. In G. Gainotti & C. Caltagirone (Eds.), Emotions and the dual brain. Experimental brain research (Series 18) (pp. 91-118). Heidelberg, FRG: Springer-Verlag. (also published as: J. T. Lanzetta e G. J. McHugo (1987). Correlati facciali, psicofisiologici ed expressivi deremozione. In C. Caltagirone e G. Gainotti (Eds.), Emozioni e specializzazione emisferica (pp. 117-147). Roma: Instituto Della Enciclopedia ltaliana.) Lanzetta, J. T., & Englis, B. G. (1989). Expectations of cooperation and competition and their effects on observers' vicarious emotional responses. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56, 543-554.
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Bush, L. K., Barr, C. L., McHugo, G. J., & Lanzetta, J. T. (1989). The effects of facial control and facial mimicry on subjective reactions to comedy routines. Motivation and Emotion, 13, 31-52. Hess, U., Kappas, A., Kleck, R. E., McHugo, G. J., & Lanzetta, J. T. (1989). An analysis of the encoding and decoding of spontaneous and posed smiles: The use of facial electromyography. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior 13, 121-137. MeHugo, G. J., Lanzetta, J. T., & Bush, L. K. (1991). The effect of attitudes on emotional reactions to expressive displays of political leaders. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 15, 19-41. Hess, U., Kappas, A., McHugo, G. J., Lanzetta, J. T., & Kleck, R. E. (1992). The facilitative effect of facial expression on the self-generation of emotion. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 1~ 251-265.
Representative publications on decision making Lanzetta, J. T., Haefner, D., Langham, P., & Axelrod, H. (1954). Some effects of situational threat on group behavior. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 49, 445-453. Lanzetta, J. T. (1955). Group behavior under stress. Human Relations, 8, 29-52. Lanzetta, J. T., & Roby, T. B. (1960). The relationship between certain group process variables and group problem-solving efficiency. Journal of Social Psychology, 52, 135-148. Lanzetta, J. T., & DriscoU, J. M. (1968). Effects of uncertainty and importance on information search in decision making. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 10, 479-486.
Obituaries Nuttin, J. M., Jr. (1990). In Memoriam: John T. Lanzetta. European Journal of Social Psychology, 20, 363-367. Pepitone, A., & Kleck, R. (1991). John Thomas Lanzetta (1926--1989).American Psychologist,
46, 150.
