LICENSE OR OBLIGATION TO SMILE - THE EFFECT OF POWER AND SEX ON AMOUNT AND TYPE OF SMILING

This experiment tested whether social power and sex affect amount and type of smiling. Participants were assigned to low-, high-, or equal-p ower positions and interacted in dyads. For high- and equal-power part icipants, smiling correlated with positive affect, whereas for low- po wer participants, it did not. Women smiled more than men overall and s howed more Duchenne smiling in the equal-power context, but they did n ot differ in the high-power context or low-power context. Results are interpreted as reflecting the license given to high-power people to sm ile when they are so inclined and the obligation for low-power people to smile regardless of how positive they feel.