Who may frown and who should smile? Dominance, affiliation, and the display of happiness and anger

Abstract

Three experiments were conducted to test the hypothesis that the social stereotype that anger displays are more appropriate for men and smiling is requisite for women is based on the perception of men and women as more or less dominant or affiliative. The first study tested the mediation model that men are rated as more dominant and women as more affiliative and that expectations for men to show more anger and for women to smile more are partially mediated by this difference in perception. Second, a vignette approach was used to test the notion that these expectations translate into prescriptive social norms that are based on levels of perceived dominance and affiliation rather than sex per se. The results strongly support this hypothesis for dominance and provide partial confirmation for affiliation.