SEX-DIFFERENCES IN SMILING AS MEASURED IN A PICTURE TAKING TASK

Previous research suggests females smile more than males in a picture taking task (Mills, 1984; Morse, 1982; Ragan, 1982). Experiment 1 sought to replicate this effect and, in addition, investigate if the gender of the photographer or instructions to smile would influence smiling in females and males. Subjects were told that their picture would be used in a subsequent facial perception study. Results showed that subjects instructed to smile smiled more than subjects given no instructions. There were no main effects for subject's or photographer's gender and no interactions. In Experiment 2, graduating students from the University of New Brunswick, Saint John, completed a questionnaire which assessed how much subjects wanted to smile for their yearbook picture, whether subjects selected a picture of themselves smiling for their yearbook, and how much the photographer encouraged them to smile. Experiment 2 showed that females wished to smile significantly more than males, and females selected a picture of themselves smiling significantly more than males. Males and females did not differ in the reported degree to which the photographer encouraged them to smile. Results from Experiments 1 and 2 suggest that sex differences in smiling as measured in a picture taking task depend critically on the situation in which the picture is taken. © 1991 Plenum Publishing Corporation.