Abstract

FERNANDES, Ana Mércia et al. How do women evaluate facial expressions of happiness and pain?. Psicol. pesq. [online]. 2020, vol.14, n.spe, pp. 154-169. ISSN 1982-1247.  http://dx.doi.org/10.34019/1982-1247.2020.v14.30256.

The facial expression of pain can provoke different behavioral reactions. However, it is not clear whether the face of pain evokes slower or faster motor responses when compared with positive valence expression and its interaction with the gender of the person who demonstrates facial expression. The objective of this work was to evaluate the motor response pattern of women in a task of recognizing facial expressions of happiness and pain in female and male faces. In the experimental task, 32 students classified dynamic facial emotions of men and women among the options of happiness and pain, and manual reaction time (MRT) responses were recorded. The ANOVA indicated a difference between male and female faces only for the identification of pain (p = 0.001), but not happiness (p = 0.064). In this case, the pain was recognized more quickly on the male face (TRM = 625.1 ms) compared to the female face (TRM = 668.0 ms). It is considered that this pattern of motor response may be related to the detection of potentially threatening situations in the environment, with the possibility of being studied in people with chronic pain.

Keywords : Facial expression; Pain; Reaction Time.

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