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Smiling Signals Intrinsic Motivation
[I’ll Know What You’re like When I See How You Feel: How and When Affective Displays Influence Behavior-based Impressions]

Author

Listed:
  • Yimin Cheng
  • Anirban Mukhopadhyay
  • Patti Williams
  • Zeynep Gürhan-Canli
  • Eileen Fischer
  • Margaret C Campbell

Abstract

The nature of a person’s motivation (whether it is intrinsic or extrinsic) is a key predictor of how committed they are to a task, and hence how well they are likely to perform at it. However, it is difficult to reliably communicate and make inferences about such fine nuances regarding another person’s motivation. Building on the social functional view of emotion and the evolutionary and psychophysical characteristics of facial expression of emotions, this research suggests that displayed enjoyment, as evidenced by the size and type of someone’s smile, can serve as a strong nonverbal signal of intrinsic motivation. Taking the perspective of both actors and observers, five studies show that people infer greater intrinsic motivation when they see others display large Duchenne (vs. small) smiles, and that actors intuit this relationship, strategically displaying larger and more Duchenne-like smiles if they have an accessible goal to signal intrinsic (vs. extrinsic or no specific) motivation.

Suggested Citation

  • Yimin Cheng & Anirban Mukhopadhyay & Patti Williams & Zeynep Gürhan-Canli & Eileen Fischer & Margaret C Campbell, 2020. "Smiling Signals Intrinsic Motivation [I’ll Know What You’re like When I See How You Feel: How and When Affective Displays Influence Behavior-based Impressions]," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 46(5), pages 915-935.
  • Handle: RePEc:oup:jconrs:v:46:y:2020:i:5:p:915-935.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/jcr/ucz023
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    Cited by:

    1. Shuqair, Saleh & Filieri, Raffaele & Viglia, Giampaolo & Mattila, Anna S. & Costa Pinto, Diego, 2024. "Leveraging online selling through social media influencers," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    2. Yang, Bi & Mattila, Anna S., 2020. "Consumer responses to savings message framing," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    3. Yoo, Jenny Jeongeun & Song, Sangyoung & Jhang, Jihoon, 2022. "Overhead aversion and facial expressions in crowdfunding," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    4. Kirk, Colleen P. & Rifkin, Laura S., 2020. "I'll trade you diamonds for toilet paper: Consumer reacting, coping and adapting behaviors in the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 124-131.

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