Should I Stay or Should I go: An Exploration of Spontaneous Postural Behaviours Following Threatening Emotion Perception

Emotional facial expressions can indicate behavioral intentions to others. Observing a threatening emotional expression (e.g., angry face) could prompt avoidance. However, the literature reports mixed findings with emotional expressions such as anger or fear being associated with both approach and avoidance. In this study (N = 152 participants, 93.9% women, 4.7% men, 1.4% other, Mage = 19.57, SDage = 3.25), we investigated how facial characteristics (i.e., gaze direction) and individual traits (i.e., Big Five and schizotypal personality traits) modulate behavioral responses to the perception of approaching emotional facial expressions (angry, fearful, sad, and neutral faces). We assessed motor responses using force plates to investigate spontaneous postural adjustments. Results show that angry and fearful faces elicit defensive responses characterized by backward body sway (i.e., avoidance). Although facial features further qualified those defensive reactions with averted gazes in fear stimuli eliciting a relative approach, we did not find conclusive evidence for the role of personality in these responses. Results are discussed in light of socio-functional and appraisal models of emotion perception. The present study underlines the relevance of studying postural sway to assess adaptive avoidance of threatening social stimulus.