Facial expressions play a crucial role in social communication, influencing how emotions are understood, communicated, and experienced. This thesis investigates the role of facial mimicry in social...Show moreFacial expressions play a crucial role in social communication, influencing how emotions are understood, communicated, and experienced. This thesis investigates the role of facial mimicry in social interactions between adults and children, focusing on how gender influences these reactions. The study specifically examines how adults mimic the facial expressions of happiness, anger, and sadness in boys and girls, using electromyography (EMG) to measure muscle activity. The research involved 56 adults (nine men, 46 women, and one non-binary individual) with an average age of 21.05 (SD = 3.18) years. Participants viewed images of children displaying various emotions while their facial mimicry was recorded. The findings revealed significant differences in the activity of the corrugator supercilii muscle for angry and sad faces compared to happy faces, which was associated with frowning. In contrast, the zygomatic major muscle, responsible for smiling, did not show significant variation in response to different emotions. Importantly, gender did not influence facial mimicry for either muscle in this study. These results suggest that emotions primarily influence corrugator supercilii activity, while zygomatic major muscle activity remains stable, regardless of the emotional expression observed. Gender did not significantly impact how adults mimicked children's facial expressions in this study. Further research with broader samples and additional methods is necessary to deepen the understanding of facial mimicry and its relationship with empathy. The study contributes to the broader understanding of social processes, such as empathy and social referencing, and highlights the importance of emotional expressions in the socialization process between adults and children. The findings emphasize the role of facial mimicry in the development of emotional and social competence, illustrating how adults’ emotional responses can influence children’s emotional regulation and social behaviors.Show less
This study aimed to investigate the effect of parental verbal threat information as an environmental learning mechanism on the familial transmission of social anxiety by studying its effects on...Show moreThis study aimed to investigate the effect of parental verbal threat information as an environmental learning mechanism on the familial transmission of social anxiety by studying its effects on fear beliefs about strangers. Additionally, this study considered the moderating role of social anxiety levels of the parent who provided the information to the child on the effect of verbal threat information. The sample consisted of 68 American children ranging from age 4 to 6. These children were told they had to perform for, and interact with two different judges (strangers). The children were provided with threat or safety information about the judges by their parent. Fear beliefs regarding each judge were assessed after the manipulation using an adapted version of the Fear Beliefs Questionnaire. Results indicated that verbal threat information from parents resulted in significantly higher fear beliefs in children about these judges than when safety information was provided. Parental general social anxiety did not moderate this effect. This is the first study to show that parental verbal threat information is effective in triggering higher fear beliefs about strangers in 4 to 6-yearold children than safety information. Thereby this study provides insight into the parent to child transmission of social anxiety via verbal threat information.Show less
