Body Shock

How is this woman feeling? This was a question posed to university students in a psychological study. By jumbling up several photographs – putting the same open-mouthed face on top of different bodies – many participants couldn’t spot her true emotion: fear. It’s clear to see that she’s afraid in the picture on the left. But mismatched, or incongruent, bodies and faces – such as an afraid face with a downhearted body posture (middle), or an aggressive posture (right) – were often judged incorrectly: her fear was disguised as sadness or anger. The study suggests that context is very important when judging a person’s emotional state – and that emotional perception can be as much about what our bodies are ‘saying’ as our faces.

Written by John Ankers

John Ankers

Writer

A former researcher in systems biology, John is now an online biology tutor and professional coach supporting the wellbeing of scientists and NHS professionals. He's writing, too, of course.

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• Catherine J. Mondloch
• Brock University, Canada
• Originally published under a Creative Commons Attribution license
• Published in PLoS ONE 8(9): e73605