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Personality and the enactment of emotion

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Abstract

The meaning of personality traits for social interaction was investigated by exploring the personality correlates of abilities to pose emotions. This framework focuses on individual differences in socio-emotional skills. Thirty one males and 37 females were videotaped while attempting to communicate seven basic emotions nonverbally (i.e., using standard content communications), and sending success was measured by showing edited videotapes to judges. Hypothesized relationships between “acting” ability and scores on the Jackson Personality Research Form and the Eysenck Personality Inventory were then examined. The findings were seen to have implications for predicting individual strengths and weaknesses in social interaction as a function of certain personality traits and for understanding person perception.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of California, 92521, Riverside, CA

    Howard S. Friedman Ph.D. (Assistant Professor of Psychology), Ronald E. Riggio M.A. (Graduate Student) & Daniel O. Segall B.A.

Authors
  1. Howard S. Friedman Ph.D.
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  2. Ronald E. Riggio M.A.
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  3. Daniel O. Segall B.A.
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Additional information

This research was supported in part by NIMH Grant #RO3MH31453 and Intramural Research Grants from UC Riverside to Howard Friedman, and indirectly by the Biomedical Research Support Program of NIH (#RR077010-11). We would like to thank Louise M. Prince for her assistance.

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Friedman, H.S., Riggio, R.E. & Segall, D.O. Personality and the enactment of emotion. J Nonverbal Behav 5, 35–48 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00987053

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00987053

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