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Are Spontaneous Expressions and Emotions Linked? an Experimental Test of Coherence

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Abstract

We measured facial behaviors shown by participants in a laboratory study in which a film was used to elicit intense emotions. Participants provided subjective reports of their emotions and their faces were recorded by a concealed camera. We did not find the coherence claimed by other authors (e.g., Rosenberg & Ekman, 1994) between the displayed facial expressions and subjective reports of emotion. We thus concluded that certain emotions are not a necessary or sufficient precondition of certain spontaneous expressions.

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Fernández-Dols, JM., Sánchez, F., Carrera, P. et al. Are Spontaneous Expressions and Emotions Linked? an Experimental Test of Coherence. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior 21, 163–177 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1024917530100

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