An Exploratory Study of the Emotion-Expressive Behaviors of “Peace,” “Contentment,” and “Annoyed/Irritated”: Implications for Dead and Living Faces

Abstract

This study initially set out to explore the facial features (and their descriptions) of the emotion-expressive behaviors of “peace” and “contentment” but ended up with a third one, “annoyed/irritated.” The emotion-expressive behaviors of “peace” and “contentment” have been associated with the faces of deceased persons in a previous study. The pictures of two volunteers taken during a class on relaxation technique were given to 93 respondents made up of volunteer students from a small midwestern college and volunteer residents of a nursing home (see Appendix A and B). Participants were asked to choose from a list provided them the emotion-expressive behavior (“e.g., peace, content, hopeful, other”) that closely described each of the facial pictures presented. They were also asked to both identify and describe the facial feature(s) that closely matched the emotion-expressive behavior they had chosen. Most of the respondents identified Picture #1 as “peaceful” and Picture 2 as “annoyed/irritated.” The eyes and the mouth were more salient in describing both emotions. This study has implications for those who identify loved ones before viewing; for individuals who prepare deceased persons for viewing; for embalming educators; and for actors of these emotions.

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