SOCIAL FEAR AND EXPRESSIVE REACTIONS TO SOCIAL-STIMULI

This study explored whether subjects high as compared to low in social fear react with a more negative emotional response, measured as facia l electromyographic (EMG) activity, when exposed to social stimuli (pi ctures of angry and happy facial expressions). It was found that subje cts who rated themselves as relatively high in public speaking fear ga ve larger negative facial EMG responses (Corrugator supercilii muscle activity) to angry faces than did the low fear subjects. Low fear subj ects, on the other hand, gave larger positive facial EMG responses (Zy gomatic major muscle activity) to happy faces than did the high fear s ubjects. It was further found that happy stimuli were rated as more ho stile and less friendly and happy by the high fear group. Consistent w ith earlier findings, it was concluded that the facial EMG technique i s sensitive to detecting different reactions among subjects relatively high and low in social fear.