A Bidirectional View of Context and Emotional Facial Expressions

Emotional facial expressions do not occur in isolation; they are embedded in social interactions and shaped by the situations in which they emerge. Contextual information, including the identity of interaction partners, cultural expectations, power relations, and surrounding events, influences how expressions are produced, perceived, and interpreted. Yet this relationship also operates in the opposite direction: facial expressions provide observers with information that helps them define the situation, infer intentions, and coordinate their responses.

This talk presents a bidirectional account of context and emotional expression, highlighting the dynamic interplay between person, expression, and social environment. Drawing on research on emotion communication and perception, it shows how expressions both reflect and actively construct social reality. It further considers how social norms guide the appropriateness and interpretation of emotional displays, and how these norms are learned through observing others. Facial expressions are thus understood as flexible social signals whose meaning develops through interaction.

The talk will consider applications of a contextual view of emotional expressions to intercultural communication, workplace interactions, and Human-AI agent social interaction.