This book provides an overview of theoretical thinking about the communicative scope of emotional expressions as well as an overview of the state of the art research in emotional psychology. For many years, research in emotional psychology has been primarily concerned with the labeling of emotion expressions and the link between emotion expressions and the expresser’s internal state. Following recent trends in research devoting specific attention to the social signal value of emotions, contributors emphasize the nature of emotion expressions as information about the person and the situation, including the social norms and standards relevant to the situation. Focusing on the role of emotion expressions as communicative acts, this timely book seeks to advance a line of theoretical thinking that goes beyond the view of emotion expressions as symptoms of an intrapersonal phenomenon to focus on their interpersonal function. The Social Nature of Emotion Expression will be of interest to researchers in emotional psychology, as well as specialists in nonverbal behavior, communication, linguistics, ethology and ethnography.

Emotion is a defining aspect of the human condition. Emotions pervade our social and professional lives, they affect our thinking and behavior, and they profoundly shape our relationships and social interactions. Emotions have traditionally been conceptualized and studied as individual phenomena, with research focusing on cognitive and expressive components and on physiological and neurological processes underlying emotional reactions. Over the last two decades, however, an increasing scholarly awareness has emerged that emotions are inherently social – that is, they tend to be elicited by other people, expressed at other people, and regulated to influence other people or to comply with social norms (Fischer & Manstead, 2008; Keltner & Haidt, 1999; Parkinson, 1996; Van Kleef, 2009). Despite this increasing awareness, the inclusion of the social dimension as a fundamental element in emotion research is still in its infancy (Fischer & Van Kleef, 2010). We therefore organized this special Research Topic on the social nature of emotions to review the state of the art in research and methodology and to stimulate theorizing and future research. The emerging field of research into the social nature of emotions has focused on three broad sets of questions. The first set of questions pertains to how social-contextual factors shape the experience, regulation, and expression of emotions. Studies have shown, for instance, that the social context influences the emotions people feel and express (Clark, Fitness, & Brissette, 2004; Doosje, Branscombe, Spears, & Manstead, 2004; Fischer & Evers, 2011). The second set of questions concerns social-contextual influences on the recognition and interpretation of emotional expressions. Studies have shown that facial expressions are interpreted quite differently depending on the social context (e.g., in terms of status, culture, or gender) in which they are expressed (Elfenbein & Ambady, 2002; Hess & Fischer, 2013; Mesquita & Markus, 2004; Tiedens, 2001). The third set of questions has to do with the ways in which people respond to the emotional expressions of others, and how such responses are shaped by the social context. Studies have shown that emotional expressions can influence the behavior of others, for instance in group settings (Barsade, 2002; Cheshin, Rafaeli & Bos, 2011; Heerdink, Van Kleef, Homan, & Fischer, 2013), negotiations (Sinaceur & Tiedens, 2006; Van Kleef, De Dreu, & Manstead, 2004), and leadership (Sy, Côté, & Saavedra, 2005; Van Kleef, Homan, Beersma, & Van Knippenberg, 2010). This Research Topic centers around these and related questions regarding the social nature of emotions, thereby highlighting new research opportunities and guiding future directions in the field. We bring together a collection of papers to provide an encyclopedic, open-access snapshot of the current state of the art of theorizing and research on the social nature of emotion. The state of the art work that is presented in this e-book helps advance the understanding of the social nature of emotions. It brings together the latest cutting-edge findings and thoughts on this central topic in emotion science, as it heads toward the next frontier.

Emotion is a defining aspect of the human condition. Emotions pervade our social and professional lives, they affect our thinking and behavior, and they profoundly shape our relationships and social interactions. Emotions have traditionally been conceptualized and studied as individual phenomena, with research focusing on cognitive and expressive components and on physiological and neurological processes underlying emotional reactions. Over the last two decades, however, an increasing scholarly awareness has emerged that emotions are inherently social - that is, they tend to be elicited by other people, expressed at other people, and regulated to influence other people or to comply with social norms (Fischer & Manstead, 2008; Keltner & Haidt, 1999; Parkinson, 1996; Van Kleef, 2009). Despite this increasing awareness, the inclusion of the social dimension as a fundamental element in emotion research is still in its infancy (Fischer & Van Kleef, 2010). We therefore organized this special Research Topic on the social nature of emotions to review the state of the art in research and methodology and to stimulate theorizing and future research. The emerging field of research into the social nature of emotions has focused on three broad sets of questions. The first set of questions pertains to how social-contextual factors shape the experience, regulation, and expression of emotions. Studies have shown, for instance, that the social context influences the emotions people feel and express (Clark, Fitness, & Brissette, 2004; Doosje, Branscombe, Spears, & Manstead, 2004; Fischer & Evers, 2011). The second set of questions concerns social-contextual influences on the recognition and interpretation of emotional expressions. Studies have shown that facial expressions are interpreted quite differently depending on the social context (e.g., in terms of status, culture, or gender) in which they are expressed (Elfenbein & Ambady, 2002; Hess & Fischer, 2013; Mesquita & Markus, 2004; Tiedens, 2001). The third set of questions has to do with the ways in which people respond to the emotional expressions of others, and how such responses are shaped by the social context. Studies have shown that emotional expressions can influence the behavior of others, for instance in group settings (Barsade, 2002; Cheshin, Rafaeli & Bos, 2011; Heerdink, Van Kleef, Homan, & Fischer, 2013), negotiations (Sinaceur & Tiedens, 2006; Van Kleef, De Dreu, & Manstead, 2004), and leadership (Sy, Côté, & Saavedra, 2005; Van Kleef, Homan, Beersma, & Van Knippenberg, 2010). This Research Topic centers around these and related questions regarding the social nature of emotions, thereby highlighting new research opportunities and guiding future directions in the field. We bring together a collection of papers to provide an encyclopedic, open-access snapshot of the current state of the art of theorizing and research on the social nature of emotion. The state of the art work that is presented in this e-book helps advance the understanding of the social nature of emotions. It brings together the latest cutting-edge findings and thoughts on this central topic in emotion science, as it heads toward the next frontier.

The Expression of Emotion collects cutting-edge essays on emotional expression written by leading philosophers, psychologists, and legal theorists. It highlights areas of interdisciplinary research interest, including facial expression, expressive action, and the role of both normativity and context in emotion perception. Whilst philosophical discussion of emotional expression has addressed the nature of expression and its relation to action theory, psychological work on the topic has focused on the specific mechanisms underpinning different facial expressions and their recognition. Further, work in both legal and political theory has had much to say about the normative role of emotional expressions, but would benefit from greater engagement with both psychological and philosophical research. In combining philosophical, psychological, and legal work on emotional expression, the present volume brings these distinct approaches into a productive conversation.

Recent years have seen the rise of a remarkable partnership between the social and computational sciences on the phenomena of emotions. This book reports on the state-of-the-art in both social science theory and computational methods, and illustrates how these two fields, together, can both facilitate practical computer/robotic applications and illuminate human social processes.

Emotional expressions are omnipresent, but how do they influence us? This book highlights the pervasive interpersonal effects of emotions.

Emotional mimicry has important social functions such as signalling affiliative intent and fostering rapport, and is considered one of the cornerstones of successful interactions. This multidisciplinary overview of research into emotional mimicry and empathy explores when, how and why emotional mimicry occurs.