Inferring Intentions From Emotion Expressions in Social Decision Making (Chapter 8)
Abstract
To engage in successful interaction, one must be able to attribute independent beliefs, desires, and intentions to others and predict their behavior (Amodio and Frith 2006). Inferring others mental states or theory of mind reasoning is especially important in mixed-motive situations, where others may or may not have compatible goals (Camerer 2003; Rilling and Sanfey 2011). Emotion expressions have been argued to serve important social functions, including communicating ones goals and intentions to others (Frijda and Mesquita 1994; Keltner and Haidt1999; Keltner and Kring 1998; Morris and Keltner 2000). This information shapes decision making, for example, by helping identify whether others are likely to cooperate (Frank 2004). The last 20 years have seen an increasing amount of experimental evidence demonstrating this interpersonal influence of emotion expressions in social decision making (for reviews see: Lerner et al. 2015; van Kleef et al. 2010),including effects on concession-making (van Kleef et al. 2004, 2006), emergence of cooperation (de Melo et al. 2014b), fairness (Terada and Takeuchi 2017; van Dijket al. 2008), trust building (Krumhuber et al. 2007), and everyday life (Parkinson and Simons 2009). Progress has also been made in understanding the pathways by which these effects operate. Broadly speaking, emotions can serve to evoke emotions in others via mechanisms such as contagion (Niedenthal et al. 2010) or canserve as information, revealing the experiencers mental state (Manstead and Fischer2001).
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 13, 2019
- Accession Number
- AD1154707
Entities
People
- Celso M de Melo
- Jonathan Gratch
Organizations
- University of Southern California