Individual differences in ability to encode complex affects

Based on past theory and research, three complex affective communications, sympathy (compassion), pride and seduction, were selected for focused study. 62 undergraduates were measured on relevant personality variables and were videotaped while attempting to encode both basic emotional expressions and the three complex affects. Groups of raters rated the success of each attempted portrayal. Other raters judged the facial expressions employed. Analyses revealed the characteristics of successful senders as well as the errors made by unsuccessful communicators. Significant positive intercorrelations between participants abilities to encode each of the complex affects and correlations between encoding complex and basic emotional messages suggested that there may be a general ability to express affect. Correlations between the personality measures and encoding ability showed that dominant and exhibitionistic individuals and emotionally expressive women and men who were good social actors, were better encoders of complex affect. These results have implications for understanding the emotional subtleties of social life and the differential social success of various individuals.