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03/19/2024 10:04:48 am

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Angry Expressions Show Universal Signs of Human Strength, Study Suggests

Researchers from California and Australia studied the expression of being angry and they have concluded that it reflects one's need of social power.

The findings about this research have been published online in the latest edition of the journal 'Evolution and Human Behavior'. Researchers from University of California Santa Barbara and Griffith University have examined this expression and said that the "anger face" expression is universal.  

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Lowering of the brows, thinning of the lips and flaring of the nostrils aren't just depicted in cartoons but according to the research, it is really how angry people look like.

They added that even blind children make such face even without seeing anyone's face when they are angry.

The lead author, Aaron Sell, who is a lecturer at Griffith University as well as a postdoctoral scholar from UC Santa Barbara's Center for Evolutionary Psychology, said that the research explains the expression as well as the seven distinct muscle groups functioning whenever someone is angry.

The researchers also associated the "anger faces" to strength because it motivates effective bargaining behavior during a conflict arises. Sell said that the greater the individual can impose his or her anger, the better the chances to convince the others he or she has more bargaining power.

They also studied strength itself and how it is associated to getting angry and getting into fights. They confirmed that men who are stronger tend to get angry more easily as well as get in a fight more often. Men who are stronger also resolve conflicts in a manner which is favorable for them.

The researchers then concluded that the idea of anger is a bargaining emotion. Saying that the anger face delivers more for the person who is angry, they backed it up with the statement that it makes the other person intimidated since the angry person is more capable of being harmful if not soothed.

The team also used a computer-generated faces to demonstrate how each of the individual components of the "anger face" makes people look stronger.

They altered the human's face and showed it to random people. Raise brows, raised cheekbones, chins pushed out and up made a person look stronger. The researchers called these "threat displays".

Anger is triggered whenever one refuses to accept a certain situation. The study further proves that the face immediately organizes itself to show the "angry face". 

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