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Children’s Responses to Authentic Versus Polite Smiles

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Children’s Interpersonal Trust

Abstract

Interpersonal communication between adults consists of complex patterns of verbal and nonverbal behaviors that simultaneously reveal information about underlying states, dispositional characteristics, and social motives. In “polite” interactions, further complexities are introduced by the pre sence of cultural rules regarding acceptable and unacceptable expressive displays. The ultimate product may involve a web of minor deceptions in which unfelt positive affect is displayed and negative affect is inhibited or masked. Our interest here is in one critical behavior within such “polite” systems—the smile. Perhaps more than any other aspect of nonverbal behavior, the smile may be used in the service of intentional impression management. Therefore, it is important to understand how the developing child comes to understand the various meanings of the smile.

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Authors
  1. Daphne Blunt Bugental
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  2. Hal Kopeikin
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  3. Linda Lazowski
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Ontario, P7B 5E1, Canada

    Ken J. Rotenberg

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© 1991 Springer-Verlag New York Inc.

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Bugental, D.B., Kopeikin, H., Lazowski, L. (1991). Children’s Responses to Authentic Versus Polite Smiles. In: Rotenberg, K.J. (eds) Children’s Interpersonal Trust. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-3134-9_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-3134-9_5

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-7808-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4612-3134-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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