THE STUDY OF THE EXPRESSION OF EMOTION IN FACE-TO-FACE-INTERACTIONS

The present article reviews current research about the expression of emotion in face-to-face-interactions. The investigation of facial behavior is called for because objective coding systems like the Facial Action Coding System (FACS) of Ekman and Friesen (1978) are available which make it possible to describe the observable affective events in some detail. Taking this as the point of departure, the first part of this article argues that important affective processes are better understood when they are examine in the context of social interactions. The second part delineates the approaches that have been used to investigate emotional interactions in the past. In order to compare and contrast the rather heterogenous empirical studies an epistemological model about affective processes in dyadic interactions is proposed. The model also helps to solve the problem of how to mediate between (fine-grained) observations and (theoretical) concepts. In addition, the most important forms of data analysis are presented. In the third part these ideas are used to classify and characterize the empirical studies selected. The overview indicates that there are very few ''real'' interaction studies, that is studies which observe facial behavior over time and describe it in its interactive context. Ecologically valid studies which code the expressive behavior with objective coding systems and place the observations in more abstract theoretical models about affective processes are wanted. The epistemological model may help in bringing this about.