HOW DO YOU LOOK WHEN FEELING ANXIOUS - FACIAL DISPLAYS OF ANXIETY

Although anxiety is a frequent and disabling emotional state, the disp lay of this affect through facial actions has not been previously stud ied. Participants were videotaped while describing an anxious past eve nt, and answering stressful and nonstressful questions regarding react ions to the anxiety-producing experience. High and low self-rated anxi ous segments were coded using the Facial Action Coding System (FAGS). Results showed that more facial movements involving elements of the fe ar expression and more eye blinks were displayed during high vs low an xious segments.?here was also an increase in total facial movement dur ing high vs low anxiety. Nonenjoyment smiles were exhibited-more often than enjoyment smiles, and females smiled less than males as anxiety increased. Facial actions indicative of other affect states (anger, sa dness) did not distinguish anxiety level. Level of anxiety could be di fferentiated on the basis of specific facial movements related to fear and arousal. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.