Expressive Suppression

In psychology, expressive suppression is an aspect of emotion regulation. It is a concept “based on individuals’ emotion knowledge, which includes knowledge about the causes of emotion, about their bodily sensations and expressive behavior, and about the possible means of modifying them” (Niedenthal, 2006, 157). In other words, expressive suppression signifies the act of masking facial giveaways in order to hide a current emotional state. In fact, simply suppressing the facial expressions that accompany certain emotions can affect “the individual’s experience of emotion” (Niedenthal, 2006, 165). According to a study done by Kopel & Arkowitz (1974), repressing the facial expressions associated with pain actually decreased the experience of pain in participants. However, Niedenthal (2006) states that “there is little evidence that the suppression of spontaneous emotional expression leads to decrease in emotional experience and physiological arousal apart from the manipulation of the pain expressions” (165). In psychology, expressive suppression is an aspect of emotion regulation. It is a concept “based on individuals’ emotion knowledge, which includes knowledge about the causes of emotion, about their bodily sensations and expressive behavior, and about the possible means of modifying them” (Niedenthal, 2006, 157). In other words, expressive suppression signifies the act of masking facial giveaways in order to hide a current emotional state. In fact, simply suppressing the facial expressions that accompany certain emotions can affect “the individual’s experience of emotion” (Niedenthal, 2006, 165). According to a study done by Kopel & Arkowitz (1974), repressing the facial expressions associated with pain actually decreased the experience of pain in participants. However, Niedenthal (2006) states that “there is little evidence that the suppression of spontaneous emotional expression leads to decrease in emotional experience and physiological arousal apart from the manipulation of the pain expressions” (165). According to Gross & Levenson’s (1993) study in which subjects watched a disgusting film while suppressing or not suppressing their expressions, suppression produced increased blinking. However, suppression also produced a decreased heart rate in participants and self-reports did not reflect that suppression had an effect on disgust experience. While it is unclear from Gross & Levenson’s (1993) study whether suppression successfully diminishes the experience of emotions, it can be concluded that expressive suppression does not completely inhibit all facial movements and expressions (e.g. blinking of the eyes). Niedenthal (2006) argues that expressive suppression works to decrease the experience of positive emotions whereas it does not successfully decrease the experience of negative emotions. If the suppression of facial expressions does not diminish negative emotions that one experiences, why is it such a common practice? It may be that expressive suppression serves more of a social purpose than it serves a purpose for the individual. In a study done by Kleck et al. in 1976, participants were told to suppress facial expressions of pain during the reception of electric shocks. Specifically, “in one study the subjects were induced to exaggerate or minimize their facial expressions in order to fool a supposed audience” (Laird 27). This idea of covering up an internal experience in front of observers could be the true reason that expressive suppression is utilized in social situations. “In everyday life, suppression may serve to conform individuals’ outward appearance to emotional norms in a given situation, and to facilitate social interaction” (Niedenthal, 2006, 168). In this way, hiding negative emotions may cause for more successful social relationships by preventing conflict, stifling the spread of negative emotions, and protecting an individual from negative judgments made by others (Niedenthal 2006). Expressive suppression is a response-focused emotion regulation strategy (Niedenthal 2006). This strategy involves an individual voluntarily suppressing their outward emotional expressions. Expressive suppression has a direct relationship to our emotional experiences and is significant in communication studies. Individuals who suppress their emotions are seeking to control their actions and are seeking to maintain a positive social image (Niedenthal 2006). Expressive suppression involves reducing facial expression and controlling positive and negative feelings of emotion. This type of emotion regulation strategy can have negative emotional and psychological effects on individuals. Emotional suppression reduces expressive behavior significantly. As many researchers have concluded, though emotional suppression decreases outward expressive emotions, it does not decrease our negative feelings and emotional arousal (Niedenthal 2006). Different forms of emotion regulation affect our response trajectory of emotions. We target situations for regulation by the process of selecting the situations we are exposed to or by modifying the situation we are in. Emotion suppression relates to the behavioral component of emotion. Expressive suppression has physiological influences such as decreasing heart rate, increasing blood pressure, and increasing sympathetic activation (Dan-Glauser & Gross, 2011). Expressive suppression requires self-control. We use self-control when handling our emotion-based expressions in public. It is believed that the use of expressive suppression has a negative connection with a human’s well-being (Kühn et al., 2011). Expressive suppression has been found to occur late, after the peripheral physiological response or emotion process is triggered. Künh et al. (2011) compare this strategy to vetoing actions. This type of emotion regulation strategy is considered a method which strongly resists various urges and voluntarily inhibits actions. Kühn et al. (2011) also posited the notion that expression suppression may be internally controlled and that emotional responses are targeted by suppression efforts. One of the characteristics of expressive suppression, a response-based strategy, is that it occurs after an activated response. Larsen et al. (2013) claim expressive suppression to be one of the less effective emotion regulation strategies. These researchers label expressive suppression as an inhibition to the behavioral display of emotion. Regarding emotion regulation, specifically expressive suppression, there are two groups that can be characterized by their different response patterns. These two groups are labeled externalizers and internalizers. Internalizers generally “show more skin conductance deflections and greater heart rate acceleration than do externalizers” when attempting to suppress facial expressions during a potentially emotional event (Buck, 2003, 56). This signifies that internalizers are able to successfully employ expressive suppression while experiencing physiological arousal (Buck, 2003). However, when asked to describe their feelings, internalizers do not usually speak about themselves or specific feelings, which could be a sign of alexithymia (Buck, 2003). Alexithymia is defined as the inability to verbally explain an emotional experience or a feeling. Peter Sifneos first used this word in the realm of psychiatry in 1972 and it literally means “having no words for emotions” (Muller, When a patient has no story to tell: Alexithymia). Those who are able to consistently suppress their facial expressions (e.g. internalizers) may be experiencing symptoms of alexithymia. On the other hand, externalizers employ less expressive suppression in response to emotional experiences or other external stimuli and do not usually struggle with alexithymia. Men and women do not equally utilize expressive suppression. Typically, men show less facial expression and employ more expressive suppression than do women (Buck, 2003). This behavior difference rooted in gender difference can be traced back to social norms that are taught to children at a young age. Young boys are implicitly taught that “big boys don’t cry,” which is a lesson that encourages the suppression of emotional behavior in masculine individuals (Buck, 2003, 56). This suppression is a result of “the punishment and consequent conditioned inhibition of all expression of a given emotion” (Buck, 2003, 56). If a masculine individual expresses an emotion that is undesirable and society responds by punishing that behavior, that masculine individual will learn to suppress the socially unacceptable behavior. On the other hand, feminine individuals do not experience the same societal pressure to suppress their emotional expressions. Because feminine individuals are not as pressured to keep their emotions concealed, there is not a need for as much expressive suppression on their part.