Abstract
The aim of the two studies presented here was to add to our knowledge about the contribution of facial expression to the perception of leadership. We assessed participants' prototypes of leadership. In addition, participants were shown pictures of different facial expressions. First impressions of leadership from the facial expressions were compared to the participants' prototypes. The results indicate that the participants used all available information, including facial appearance, expression, context of communication, appropriateness, and authenticity of expression to form complex prototypes. When the facial expressions in the studies matched the participants' prototypes, first impressions of leadership were higher. Therefore, understanding what is inside the perceiver's mind is significant for understanding leadership perceptions. On the basis of these two studies, we recommend that leaders should be aware of the influence their facial expressions have on their followers' perception of their leader-likeness.
Introduction
It has been widely demonstrated that facial expression influences perception, impressions and image (Aguinis et al., 1998, Cohn and Ekman, 2008, Glaser and Salovey, 1998 and Krumhuber et al., 2006). In fact, many professions, such as flight attendants (Hochschild, 1983) or bill collectors (Rafaeli & Sutton, 1987), presuppose the use of specific facial displays as part of their professional identity. Leadership is another occupation where the expression of emotions is important. Famous leaders, such as Ronald Reagan and Martin Luther King, are renowned for their skills in communicating emotions (BBC NEWS, 2004, 06 5 and Ling, 2003, 04 01). In addition, the importance of leaders' emotional expressivity has been highlighted in studies on charismatic, transformational, and authentic leadership (Ashkanasy and Tse, 2000, Bono and Ilies, 2006 and Goffee and Jones, 2005). Furthermore, the use of positive emotions has been found to be important for leadership emergence (Kellett et al., 2006 and Wolff et al., 2002). However, our knowledge about the impact of these emotions, as conveyed by leaders' facial expressions, is still limited.
With respect to leadership, Kenney, Blascovich, and Shaver (1994) maintain that leadership lies in the perceivers' minds. Consequently, the understanding of perception plays an important part in understanding leadership. The studies presented here aim to add to our knowledge about influences on the perception of leadership; specifically, the contribution of facial expressions to first impressions.
In the area of leadership, prior research on expressions has mainly focused on political leaders' emotional displays (Bucy, 2000, Bucy and Bradley, 2004, Bucy and Newhagen, 1999, Masters and Sullivan, 1989 and Sullivan and Masters, 1988) and leaders' general emotional displays (Damen et al., 2008 and Lewis, 2000). However, to our knowledge, research on facial expression has not yet used sophisticated methods available in other psychological settings (Ekman, 1992, Ekman and Rosenberg, 1997, Hess et al., 2000 and Knutson, 1996). Research has shown that subtle differences between facial expressions, in terms of facial muscle movement and intensity, can make a difference in terms of the perceptual impact (Ekman et al., 2002 and Surakka and Hietanen, 1998). Consequently, the credibility of leadership research into emotional displays depends on the accuracy of the description of facial expressions (see Rosenberg, 2005).
Our research integrates psychological methods of investigating facial expressions and existing knowledge of leadership perception. Our aim is to explain in more detail how facial expressions create first impressions of leadership; that is, which facial expressions increase or decrease perceptions of leadership and how these facial expressions affect the perception of a leader's traits.
In the following, we draw on two different types of research to derive our hypotheses: (1) leadership impression formation as part of the wider area of perception, and (2) research on facial expression. Subsequently, we outline two studies examining first impressions of leaders' facial expressions. Finally, the general discussion and conclusions follow.
