Actual and perceived emotional sending and personality correlates

To ascertain whether actual and perceived emotional sending are distinct constructs, the present study investigated the relationship between subjects' ability to facially express six basic emotions and their perceived success at expressing these emotions. Sixty-eight subjects completed a number of standardized personality scales and were videotaped while attempting to portray six basic emotions. Immediately following the videotaping subjects were asked to rate their perceived success in the emotional-sending task. Observers then judged the emotional-sending videotapes to determine subjects' actual sending abilities. A confirmatory factor analytic model indicated that actual and perceived emotional-sending were distinct factors. Zero-order correlations between the traditional personality measures and the actual and perceived sending factors also supported this distinction. These findings have important implications for the construction of standardized measures of individual differences in nonverbal communication skills.This research was supported by a UCR intramural research grant and a UCR NIH Biomedical Support Equipment grant. The authors would like to thank Richard Lippa and Louise Prince.