Separate and combined effects of facial expressions and bodily postures on emotional feelings

The results of numerous experimental studies have provided ample evidence for William James' theory that emotional conduct is a sufficient condition for the occurrence of emotional feelings. Two further questions are addressed in the study reported in this paper. First, critics have speculated that the effects of peripheral feedback from expressive bodily movement may lead to generalized, diffuse pleasant or unpleasant experiences, rather than the specific emotional feelings consistent with James' position. Second, if the Jamesian account is correct, then the simultaneous combination of multiple, consistent sources of expressive bodily feedback should result in greater magnitudes of emotional response than those caused by separate, individual sources. The results of the present study replicate those of the only other study (Duclos et al., 1989) which has demonstrated specific effects of expressive behaviors on corresponding emotional feelings. It was also possible to demonstrate, via correlational analyses, that those people who are responsive to their expressions tend to be responsive to their postures as well, since subjects in this study received manipulations of their facial expressions and their bodily postures. The results of this study also indicate that matching combinations of facial expressions and bodily postures result in more powerful feelings of the corresponding emotional feelings than do either expressions or postures alone. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.