GENERAL PROBLEM: On Emotion
SPECIFIC PROBLEM: To determine the role of gender in the assessment of appropriateness
of 6 Posed Photographs for the recognition of 6 Basic Emotion
BASIC CONCEPT: Emotions are complex reactions involving not only intense subjective
feelings, but also outward emotional expression and the ability to understand emotional
information from external sources. Research indicates that different portions of the brain play
a role in each of these components (Harrington, 1995). For that reason, we are able to
recognize the presence of various emotions in others and we are also able to communicate our
own feelings to them as well. The two-way process of communication mainly depends upon
non-verbal cues such as facial expression, bodily postures, and other observable actions.
In his groundbreaking work "On the Origin of Species" (1859), Charles Darwin was one of
the first to propose that there are a limited number of basic and universal human emotions.
Nearly a hundred years later, Paul Ekman suggested that there are six basic expressions of
emotion, corresponding to anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise. Each
expression is characterized by a unique subset of facial movements, and the ability to convey
them appears to be innate (Ekman and Wallace V. Friesen, 1971).
Facial expression of emotion has been studied in many ways using different stimulus materials.
It ranges from Posed Photographs (Frois-nuttman, 1930) or systematic drawings through fully
acted live expression to spontaneous expression (Frij, 1953). Typically, during recognition,
subjects are asked to provide verbal statements for emotional expression or they have been
given rating scales to complete or have had to match the posed photographs of emotional
expressions to stories.
Modern research suggests that six different basic emotions are individually represented clearly
on the man's face and they are present from an early stage of age. Those six basic emotions are
Anger, Fear, Happiness, Sadness, Surprise, and Disgust (Ekman, 1992). Subsequently, other
researchers have slightly enhanced the list by adding contempt (Rosenberg, 1995) and interest.
However, in the present experiment, the list of Ekman will be considered.
Face has been considered not only the primary center of emotion, it also influences
physiological and subjective components (Facial Feedback Hypothesis, 1962). The face
provides more than one kind of signal to convey more than one kind of message. It provides
three types of signals: Static (skin color), Slow (permanent wrinkles), Rapid (raising the
eyebrow). Face is not just a multi-signal system (rapid, slow, static) but also a multi-message
system. The face broadcasts messages about emotion, mood, attitudes, character, intelligence,
attractiveness, age, sex, race. Although facial expressions reveal much about others' emotions,
interpretations of such expressions are affected by the following affected factors:
a) the context in which the experience occurs,
b) various situational cues
c) the specific facial regions viewed, and whether the expressions are acted or natural.
However, in the present experiment, six posed photographs along with a neutral photograph
(developed by Prof. G. B. Saha, 1984) will be used in order to rate the appropriateness of six
posed photographs for recognizing the emotion by a group of male and female subjects.
The aim of the present experiment is to determine the effect of appropriateness of different
posed photographs for recognition of six basic emotions.
PRELIMINARIES:
• Sample Size: 92 (46 Males; 46 Females)
• Age range of the Sample: 21 years – 25 years
• Academic qualification of the Sample: Post Graduation
• Religion of the sample: Hinduism
• Socio-economic status of the Sample: Middle Socio-economic Status
• Occupation of the Sample: Student
• Date of the Experiment: 5.01.2026
• Time of the Experiment: 2:00 pm - 2:10 pm
MATERIALS REQUIRED:
1. Six posed photographs along with a neutral photograph (Developed by Prof. G. B.
Saha, 1984).
2. Stationaries.
PLAN OF THE EXPERIMENT:
S Independent
[Stimulus] Variable (IV)
(Visual) Male
Gender Differences
Female
O
[Organism] N= 92 (Males= 46; Female= 46)
R Dependant Response Category Response Measure
[Response] Variable (IV) (Verbal Reproduction) (Measured in terms of accuracy)
Assessment of 1- Least relevant In terms of Mean, SD
The Appropriateness 2- Somewhat relevant & ‘t’- value
Of different posed 3- Relevant
Photographs 4- Very Relevant
5- Most Relevant (Mean, SD for each
(Neutral, Happiness, photograph for both
Sadness, Anger, genders,
Disgust, Fear,
Surprise) t- value between two
Genders in accordance
The neutral photograph to each photograph)
should be placed
followed by other
photographs in a
random manner, for
5s each
EXTRANEOUS VARIABLE CONTROLLING TECHNIQUES
Noise Eliminated as much as possible
Illumination Held constant as much as possible
Recurrence of Stimuli Randomly selected
Practice effect Stimulus are randomly selected
Stimulus visibility & size of the Held constant; exposure of each stimulus for 5 seconds.
stimulus
INSTRUCTIONS:
"Please sit comfortably and be attentive. I shall present before you a picture of a neutral face
on the clean white slide in front of you. You just have to look at it and keep the expression (a
neutral face not depicting any specific emotional reaction) in your mind. After that, I shall focus
on the same position, some posed photographs one after another. Each of the pictures is
expressing different emotions. After perceiving each picture, your task is to tell clearly which
emotion is being revealed through that posed photograph, so that I can note it down on the
answer sheet. Then you have to write your judgement in the prescribed number category (from
1 to 5) which is describing the relative appropriateness of each posed photograph for describing
a particular emotion, and I will put a tick mark under that column.
Here, 1 = Least Relevant, 2 = Somewhat Relevant, 3 = Relevant, 4 = Very Relevant, 5 = Most
Relevant. You can tell only the number for each photograph and I will put a tick under that
number against that photograph. If you face any problem, do not hesitate to call me. Thank you
for your participation".
PROCEDURE:
1. Random assignment of six photographs, with the neutral photograph in the beginning,
in order to avoid presenter's bias.
2. Rapport was established with the subjects.
3. The photographs were placed in front of the subject and each photo was shown one by
one.
4. Each photograph was presented for 5 seconds.
5. Emotions not correctly recognized were not considered for final validation.
6. Finally, the data were collected and calculated accordingly based on the 92 samples
(Male = 46, Female = 46).
DATA RESPONSE MATRIX:
NO. OF EMOTION POSED PHOTOGRAPHS
INDIVI ANGER DISGUST HAPPINES FEAR SURPRISE SADNESS
DUALS S
F M F M F M F M F M F M
1 2 1 5 5 5 4 4 3 5 3 3 2
2 4 3 4 5 3 4 5 X 4 2 4 3
3 2 4 5 5 3 5 4 3 5 5 5 4
4 3 3 5 4 4 4 4 3 3 4 3 X
5 4 X 5 4 X 4 4 X 3 2 5 4
6 3 X 4 3 4 4 5 4 4 X 3 4
7 5 4 5 3 5 4 4 4 4 3 4 4
8 2 4 5 4 5 5 4 4 5 3 5 4
9 5 X 5 4 5 5 4 4 5 4 3 5
10 4 3 5 5 5 5 5 5 3 5 2 1
11 X 5 5 5 4 2 3 5 X 3 4 5
12 3 4 X 5 5 3 X 5 4 3 X 4
13 3 4 5 5 3 5 5 X 4 3 3 4
14 5 5 5 4 3 5 5 3 5 4 4 2
15 2 2 5 5 5 4 3 4 5 3 2 1
16 3 5 4 4 5 4 1 4 5 2 1 4
17 5 5 4 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 4
18 5 4 5 5 5 4 5 X 4 3 5 4
19 4 X 4 5 5 5 X 4 3 X 3 X
20 2 2 4 4 4 5 X X 4 5 1 1
21 4 4 5 5 5 5 4 4 5 5 X 3
22 X 4 5 5 4 4 5 4 X 2 3 4
23 4 4 5 4 5 4 2 3 4 2 3 4
24 4 3 4 4 3 5 X 5 2 4 2 X
25 4 5 5 5 4 5 2 4 3 3 3 4
26 4 5 5 5 5 4 4 5 4 2 5 3
27 2 2 4 5 3 4 3 X 3 3 4 4
28 3 3 3 5 2 5 5 4 4 4 4 4
29 2 4 3 3 5 5 5 X 5 X 4 3
30 3 3 4 5 5 4 5 2 4 3 3 1
31 3 5 3 5 5 5 5 2 4 5 4 4
32 4 5 5 4 5 X 4 X 4 5 3 X
33 4 X 4 5 3 X 3 3 2 2 4 2
34 4 3 3 4 3 5 3 4 2 5 4 3
35 2 4 4 5 5 4 3 5 5 4 4 4
36 5 4 4 3 4 5 4 5 3 3 3 3
37 4 3 4 4 3 5 4 5 2 4 X 4
38 3 4 4 4 4 5 4 4 X 3 4 3
39 4 4 5 4 5 4 1 4 1 3 4 4
40 5 4 4 3 5 4 3 3 5 3 5 4
41 5 4 3 4 5 5 4 X 5 4 3 4
42 2 3 4 4 5 4 2 4 4 3 2 4
43 5 3 4 5 5 5 4 X 4 4 4 3
44 2 5 5 4 5 3 4 1 5 5 5 2
45 4 5 4 5 5 4 4 4 3 X 4 4
46 3 3 4 3 5 4 4 3 4 4 5 4
CALCULATION AND COMPARATIVE CHART:
EMOTION SAMPLE FEMALE MALE
SIZE
Min Max Mean SD Min Max Mean SD t-
Value Value Value Value scores
ANGER M-41, F-44 2 5 3.5 1.07 1 5 3.4 1.43 0.37
DISGUST M-46, F-45 3 5 4.3 0.68 3 5 4.4 0.71 -0.98
HAPPINESS M-44, F-45 2 5 4.3 0.88 2 5 4.4 0.69 -0.62
FEAR M-36, F-42 1 5 3.8 1.08 1 5 3.8 0.97 0
SURPRISE M-43, F-43 1 5 3.9 1.05 2 5 3.5 0.51 2.25
SADNESS M-42, F-43 1 5 3.6 1.07 1 5 3.4 1.06 0.88
INTERPRETATION:
The above experiment was conducted to determine the effect of gender on the appropriateness
of different Posed Photographs for recognizing Six Basic Emotions from a sample of 92
individuals, 46 male and 46 female undergraduate and graduate students. Since the wrong
responses were eliminated from the sample, the size also changed accordingly.
From the obtained results, it can be interpreted that—
In case of the emotion of Anger, the sample size of males is 41 and in case of females it is 44.
The mean and SD for the male subjects were 3.4 and 1.43 respectively, whereas in case of
female subjects, it was 3.5 and 1.07 respectively. Females have a slightly greater mean response
score, while the responses given by the females are also more consistent than those given by
the male subjects. The obtained value of the t test was found to be 0.37. Since the obtained t
value is very low, it can be said that there is no significant difference between the mean scores
of male and female subjects. Thus, both the male and female subjects were able to recognize
the emotion expressed through the posed photograph in a similar manner.
In case of the emotion of Disgust, the sample size of males is 46 and in case of females it is
45. The mean and SD for the male subjects were 4.4 and 0.71 respectively, whereas in case of
female subjects, it was 4.3 and 0.68 respectively. Thus, males have a slightly greater mean
response score, while the responses of females are marginally more consistent. The obtained
value of the t test was found to be −0.98. Since the obtained t value is lower than the critical
values at both levels of significance, it can be said that there is no significant difference between
the mean scores of male and female subjects. Thus, both the male and female subjects were
able to recognize the emotion expressed through the posed photograph in a similar manner.
In case of the emotion of Happiness, the sample size of males is 44 and in case of females it
is 45. The mean and SD for the male subjects were 4.4 and 0.69 respectively, whereas in case
of female subjects, it was 4.3 and 0.88 respectively. Thus, males show a slightly higher mean
response, while females display slightly greater variability in responses. The obtained value of
the t test was found to be −0.62. Since the obtained t value is lower than the critical values at
both the levels of significance, it can be said that there is no significant difference between the
mean scores of male and female subjects. Hence, both males and females recognized the
emotion of happiness in a similar manner.
In case of the emotion of Fear, the sample size of males is 36 and in case of females it is 42.
The mean and SD for the male subjects were 3.8 and 0.97 respectively, whereas in case of
female subjects, it was 3.8 and 1.08 respectively. Both males and females show identical mean
response scores, though males are slightly more consistent in their responses. The obtained
value of the t test was found to be 0. Since the obtained t value is lower than the critical values
at both the significance levels, it can be said that there is no significant difference between the
mean scores of male and female subjects. Thus, both the male and female subjects were able
to recognize fear equally well.
In case of the emotion of Surprise, the sample size of males is 43 and in case of females it is
43. The mean and SD for the male subjects were 3.5 and 0.51 respectively, whereas in case of
female subjects, it was 3.9 and 1.05 respectively. Thus, females have a higher mean response
score, while males show greater consistency in their responses. The obtained value of the t test
was found to be 2.25. Although the obtained t value is higher compared to other emotions, it is
still lower than the critical values at both levels of significance. Hence, there is no significant
difference between the mean scores of male and female subjects. Both genders were able to
recognize the emotion of surprise in a similar manner.
In case of the emotion of Sadness, the sample size of males is 42 and in case of females it is
43. The mean and SD for the male subjects were 3.4 and 1.06 respectively, whereas in case of
female subjects, it was 3.6 and 1.07 respectively. Thus, females show a slightly greater mean
response score, while the consistency of responses is nearly the same for both genders. The
obtained value of the t test was found to be 0.88. Since the obtained t value is lower than the
critical values at both the significance levels, it can be said that there is no significant difference
between the mean scores of male and female subjects. Thus, both male and female subjects
were able to recognize sadness in a similar manner.
CONCLUSION:
From the analysis of the present data, it can be concluded that there is no significant role of
gender in the assessment of appropriateness of 6 Posed Photographs for recognition of 6 Basic
Emotions. For the confirmation of the trend of the present findings, the same experiment should
be repeated by involving a larger number of samples.
