(Not) showing you feel good, can be bad: the consequences of breaking expressivity norms for positive emotions

Are there optimal levels of showing one feels good? Examining four positive emotions (gratitude, interest, feeling moved, triumph), we demonstrate in two pre-registered experiments (n = 901) that even for pleasant feelings, showing too much – or too little – can lead to negative social consequences....

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Main Authors: Manokara, Kunalan, Balabanova, Alisa, Đurić, Mirna, Fischer, Agneta H., Sauter, Disa A.
Other Authors: School of Social Sciences
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: 2024
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/180221
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author Manokara, Kunalan
Balabanova, Alisa
Đurić, Mirna
Fischer, Agneta H.
Sauter, Disa A.
author2 School of Social Sciences
author_facet School of Social Sciences
Manokara, Kunalan
Balabanova, Alisa
Đurić, Mirna
Fischer, Agneta H.
Sauter, Disa A.
author_sort Manokara, Kunalan
collection NTU
description Are there optimal levels of showing one feels good? Examining four positive emotions (gratitude, interest, feeling moved, triumph), we demonstrate in two pre-registered experiments (n = 901) that even for pleasant feelings, showing too much – or too little – can lead to negative social consequences. Expressers who downplay their gratitude, and to a lesser degree interest, are deprived of social contact and power. Restrained displays of feeling moved are also met with reduced contact. For triumph, amplified expressers are socially avoided, yet at the same time, those who downplay their victory are seen to be less powerful. We demonstrate the role of person-perception mechanisms (warmth and competence) as underlying explanators for these effects. Taken together, our findings contribute to the growing literature on the social consequences of emotional expressions, by pointing to divergent outcomes for norm violations relating to different positive emotions.
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spelling ntu-10356/1802212024-09-24T07:51:03Z (Not) showing you feel good, can be bad: the consequences of breaking expressivity norms for positive emotions Manokara, Kunalan Balabanova, Alisa Đurić, Mirna Fischer, Agneta H. Sauter, Disa A. School of Social Sciences Social Sciences Positive emotions Norm violation Are there optimal levels of showing one feels good? Examining four positive emotions (gratitude, interest, feeling moved, triumph), we demonstrate in two pre-registered experiments (n = 901) that even for pleasant feelings, showing too much – or too little – can lead to negative social consequences. Expressers who downplay their gratitude, and to a lesser degree interest, are deprived of social contact and power. Restrained displays of feeling moved are also met with reduced contact. For triumph, amplified expressers are socially avoided, yet at the same time, those who downplay their victory are seen to be less powerful. We demonstrate the role of person-perception mechanisms (warmth and competence) as underlying explanators for these effects. Taken together, our findings contribute to the growing literature on the social consequences of emotional expressions, by pointing to divergent outcomes for norm violations relating to different positive emotions. This research was funded by a Starting Grant from the European Research Council (Grant Number: SH4, ERC-2016-STG), awarded to the senior author. 2024-09-24T07:51:03Z 2024-09-24T07:51:03Z 2024 Journal Article Manokara, K., Balabanova, A., Đurić, M., Fischer, A. H. & Sauter, D. A. (2024). (Not) showing you feel good, can be bad: the consequences of breaking expressivity norms for positive emotions. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 113, 104600-. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2024.104600 0022-1031 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/180221 10.1016/j.jesp.2024.104600 2-s2.0-85186512907 113 104600 en Journal of Experimental Social Psychology © 2024 Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
spellingShingle Social Sciences
Positive emotions
Norm violation
Manokara, Kunalan
Balabanova, Alisa
Đurić, Mirna
Fischer, Agneta H.
Sauter, Disa A.
(Not) showing you feel good, can be bad: the consequences of breaking expressivity norms for positive emotions
title (Not) showing you feel good, can be bad: the consequences of breaking expressivity norms for positive emotions
title_full (Not) showing you feel good, can be bad: the consequences of breaking expressivity norms for positive emotions
title_fullStr (Not) showing you feel good, can be bad: the consequences of breaking expressivity norms for positive emotions
title_full_unstemmed (Not) showing you feel good, can be bad: the consequences of breaking expressivity norms for positive emotions
title_short (Not) showing you feel good, can be bad: the consequences of breaking expressivity norms for positive emotions
title_sort not showing you feel good can be bad the consequences of breaking expressivity norms for positive emotions
topic Social Sciences
Positive emotions
Norm violation
url https://hdl.handle.net/10356/180221
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