Citation

Hughes SM, Nicholson SE. J. Soc. Evol. Cult. Psychol. 2008; 2(4, Spec Iss): 289-298.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, Northeastern Evolutionary Psychology Society, Publisher American Psychological Association)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Although very distinct emotions, facial expressions of those who are experiencing pain/agony appear surprisingly similar to those who are experiencing heightened sexual pleasure. We investigated whether sex differences exist between distinguishing facial photos of males and females expressing either pain or sexual pleasure. Photographs obtained from the internet of individuals expressing either emotion were individually shown to ninety-one participants in a slideshow, and participants were asked to identify the emotion. Overall, participants were more able to correctly identify an expression of pain as opposed to sexual pleasure. Participants also showed the highest degree of accuracy when it came to identifying females showing expressions of pain, but were the least accurate at identifying females with expressions of sexual pleasure, and this effect was more pronounced for female raters. Furthermore, participants took longer to respond to male pictures than to female pictures. These findings are discussed in terms of how sex differences in the perception of these facial expressions may be adaptive. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) (journal abstract)