Nonverbal display of emotion in public and in private : self-monitoring, personality, and expressive cues

Individual differences in the expression and regulation of emotion are important components of social skill. The present study focused on the concealing of spontaneous expressions of happiness after winning in a competitive situation against peers. In a repeated measures design, spontaneous expressive behaviors in response to triumph were secretly videotaped when Ss (N = 38) were alone in a room and when they were with 2 fellow competitors (confederates). Edited tapes were analyzed by naive raters and trained coders. As predicted, the social context strongly influenced the expressive behaviors of Ss, providing support for a social inhibition effect. More important, the self-monitoring construct (Snyder, 1987) was helpful in explaining individual differences in expressive regulation, with high self-monitors being successful at hiding their happiness when appropriate; and they did so in particular ways. Low self-monitors did not conceal their emotions. Other findings with regard to personality and sex differences were also uncovered.