Three studies are reported that examine the relationship between the nonverbal display of emotional affect and indices of the emotional state. Subjects were asked either to conceal or to exaggerate the facial display associated with the anticipation and reception of painful shocks that varied in intensity. Both self-reports of shock painfulness and skin conductance measures of emotional response showed significant changes paralleling the changes induced in expressive behavior; that is, the suppression of expressive responses decreased the magnitude of phasic skin conductance changes and subjective reports of painfulness as compared to the free expression or exaggeration of pain-related expressive response. The effects were obtained for shocks of varying intensities and for both male and female subjects. The findings support theories of emotion that assume that expressive responses serve a self-regulatory as well as a social-communicative function, and further suggest that the self-regulation is mediated neurally, rather than via a process of self-attribution. Finally, the results highlight the need for research on dissimulation in social interaction to consider the effects of acting upon the actor, as well as its effects upon the inferences of observers.
In a series of recent studies (Kanareff & Lanzetta, 1958, 1960;3 Lanzetta & Kanareff, 1959), imitative behavior was found to vary with such parameters as the probability of its reinforcement, the prevailing social sanctions toward such behavior, the presence or absence of a monetary reward, and the definition of the task. However, in each of these studies large individual differences in imitation were persistently evident. One possible source of such individual variation is the diversity in Ss' expectations of succeeding by performing independently. Studies of conformity behavior by Mausner (1954), Mausner and Bloch ( 1957), Kelman ( 1950), and Samuelson ( 1957) indirectly support this thesis. S's experience of his own successes or failures and those of ochers on an experimental task determines the degree of convergence in judgment on a new task. Evidently, the extent of Ys confidence in his ability to perform adequately on his own depends upon the degree of success previously experienced relative to that exhibited by others. The present study attempts to conuol confidence in ability to perform well independently of others by exposing Ss to a predesignated experience of success or failure on an individual prediction task prior to a critical task in which S is first exposed to a judgment. The critical task is a modification of Humphreys' light-guessing situation ( 1939). S predicts which of two lights will appear after being informed of the predictions allegedly made by another S. The predictions are, in fact, controlled by E. Since only one of two possible choices can be correct, there is inherent in the paradigm a strict dependency between the performance and the probability of reinforcement for imitation. The level of imitation had been found to increase with increasing probability of reinforcement in a number of studies (Kanareff & Lanzetta, 1958, 1960;3 Lanzetta & Kanareff, 1959). Considering the dependency between the partner's success and the probability of reinforce-
Two studies examined the effects of outcome uncertainty ( H), intensity, and delay on S's preference for information over no-information. Ss were instructed to depress either an information or no-information key on each of 60 trials prior to the scheduled occurrence of one of several possible (positive, neutral, mildly negative, strongly negative) outcomes. An information choice resulted in an outcome-correlated signal 0, 10, or 15 sec. prior to the outcome. Although unable to affect overtly application of the outcome when informed, S's preference for information increased with uncertainty but only limited effects of outcome intensity and delay were found.
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