Science University Research Symposium (SURS)
Publication Date
2025
College
College of Sciences & Mathematics
Department
Psychological Science, Department of
SURS Faculty Advisor
Lingfei Luan
Presentation Type
Poster Presentation
Abstract
Abstract
Facial expressions are one of the main communication styles that signify emotion and meaning across cultures and individuals. Despite it being one of our main forms of communication, in many social situations, people are required to suppress or control their emotional expressions to act in a socially acceptable manner. However, research has shown that a person’s facial muscles continue to exhibit subtle muscle and move in expressivity even when attempting to suppress emotions from others. To support this, Dimberg et al. (2002) found that electromyography (EMG) technology can detect these subtle facial movements even if they may be invisible to the naked eye. Furthermore, research has demonstrated that humans naturally mimic the facial expressions of others expressing emotions (Dimberg & Thunberg, 1998). Further research has shown a relationship between more pronounced facial mimicry when viewing emotional faces and higher levels of empathy (Dimberg &Thunberg, 1998; Rymarczyk et al., 2016). However, no previous research has directly examined whether individuals with higher levels of empathy have greater difficulty suppressing their automatic facial muscle mimicry responses. Therefore, this study plans to address this gap by investigating whether higher scores on an empathy quotient (EQ-40) has a positive correlation with increased involuntary facial activity measured by EMG when participants are asked to suppress emotional responses to emotion-inducing film clips. EMG technology was chosen for a physiological measure because of its unique ability to identify subtle muscle activity that other forms of measurement could not measure accurately. This study is applicable in real-world situations because it can help people understand the emotional responses of those who are classified as empathetic or not empathetic, which benefits the communication between society members as a whole. For our procedure, baseline facial muscle activity was measured, and activity was measured while participants watched two sad clips and two happy clips presented randomly in blocks with a neutral clip presented before each (ex: neutral clip, two sad clips, neutral clip, two happy clips). We predict to find greater “emotional leakage” from participants’ suppressed reactivity in those with higher levels of empathy compared to those with lower levels.
References
Dimberg, U., & Thunberg, M. (1998). Rapid facial reactions to emotional facial expressions.
Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 39(1), 39-45.
Dimberg, U., Thunberg, M., & Grunedal, S. (2002). Facial reactions to emotional stimuli:
Automatically controlled emotional responses. Cognition & Emotion, 16(4), 449-471.
Rymarczyk, K., Biele, C., Grabowska, A., & Majczynski, H. (2016). Emotional empathy and
facial mimicry for static and dynamic facial expressions of fear and disgust. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 1853
Recommended Citation
Dawes, Madison E.; Souder, Karlie; Broad, Eddie; Aye, Htoo; and Huai, Sian, "The Relationship Between Trait Empathy and the Involuntary Mimicry of Emotion: An Electromyographical Study of Facial Suppression" (2025). Science University Research Symposium (SURS). 307.
https://repository.belmont.edu/surs/307
